bob123456

I am addicted to codeine. Been taking it for 5 years, up to about 300 mg a day now. Its over the counter, so mixed with a lot of Paracetamol, I know, not good for the liver. It has got to the point where it is making me feel more sick than good, mentally and physically. I am going to try stop by tapering off. To try motivate myself, and keep my sanity, I am going to post my progress here. I am going to start by cutting back by 2 pills a day, every week. So week 1, 28 pills a day, week 2, 26 pills a day, etc,etc. There is 10 mg of codeine in each pill I take, so the withdrawal symptoms should be very slight, I hope.

Thank You.

hope778

Hi bob - welcome. Good for you for reaching out. Huge first step! I cannot say that I've been in your shoes, however I love someone who is struggling very similarly. Many people here who understand the struggle. Also many people here who have come out on the other side. Keep posting, and keep going! You've got it.

Soberwolf

Hello & Welcome Bob

AnvilheadII

i have no experience with pills...but i do know that 28 pills of ANYTHING per day is a LOT. tapering is a good idea but at this rate you'll still be taking TWENTY pills a day when a month is up. which is still a small ton. i understand wanting to avoid w/ds but some discomfort IS inevitable.....

wishing you the best.

bob123456

Yes, I have given this some thought and see that this would take too long. What I am going to do is stop taking during the day and only take 8 pills at night, and taper off from 8 pills a night. I don't think I could handle the nights without codeine just yet. Its been 13 hours since my last pill and 13 hours till I am going to allow myself my next dose. So lets see if I can make it through through the day, I am confident that I can.

bob123456

Day 1 target reached. Stayed clean for 26 hours, 2 more hours longer than planed. Withdrawal symptoms, not as bad as I expected. Going to take my "allowed" dosage now. 8 pills tonight, will keep it at that for a week then down to 6 a night. I am going to do this.

hope778

AnvilheadII

i'm really relieved to hear you ratcheted the INTAKE count down!!! I wish you continued success. the sooner you get off those things, the better!!!!

CobraCommander

are you taking it for pain at all, or just a addiction? i was taking 5 to 8 15mg oxycodone per day for over 10 years for my knee and back. i did enjoy the buzz but mostly it was so i could walk around. i found the withdrawals put me in more pain so it took me years to stop. the days that i didnt have as much pain i still had to take the pills because of those damn withdrawals

what you said is the right step. your configuring out a plan that works for you and to me thats step one. buy yourself a notepad. i tell everyone that. if you never wrote your times down before now is the time to start. this will help you determine how much you do per day, and how far apart. each day you can stretch out longer and less meds.

for me the first thing i noticed was how less i could take per day and that the difference wasnt really that much. i think i first went to 4 pills a day. i eventually got to a point where i was cutting pills to make the mg smaller.

anyways it took me about 8 months lol. it took me like almost a month just to drop a quarter or half less per month. but i had extreme pain in my ribs and back and knee.

at the end i ended up finding a dr to help me that ive been going to weekly then monthly because of my anxiety.

everyones body reacts different. you could get over it in a few weeks, for me its taking about a year for the mental part.

make sure your hydrated and prepare before going cold turkey, when you go through the 2 weeks of hell your going to want to have a fridge stocked, and over the counter stuff. i developed a 3 month cough so i had a mound of ludens cough drops. tons of water. i lost my appetite for like 2 weeks so i forced myself to eat toast. get a big list of movies or netflix or something. some melotonin to help sleep (i took tylenol pm but dont recomend it).

if possible have someone help you out like a family member, or bf/gf. you may get to weak to do anything. i couldnt even get out of bed.

and lastly its always good to see a dr first, explain your situation, and see what they say. they might give you something temp to help calm you down etc.

the first day or 2 that you take nothing you will feel so accomplished. you might feel sick but youll feel like you wanna stand on your porch and yell to the world i made it 2 days! which prob dont seem like alot to the world but to you its a huge accomplishment. everyday in the notebook write down how long its been. i still remember hitting 27 hours and then 49 hours. glad im past that lol.

Soberwolf

Congrats on making a xday 1 Bob

bob123456

bob123456

End of a clean day 2, no pills today Going to take my "allowed" 6 for the night. Leg pains are pretty bad, its like I ran a marathon or something. Horrible, horrible pills, they are a big problem in my country, no script, no doctors visit, over the counter and dirt cheap.

hope778

Keep going, bob. You're doing it. Any option for a doctor to assist you with withdrawal symptoms? Or possibly look into vitamins/supplements. My AH went the supplement route during withdrawal at one point which seemed to help ease discomfort. Just remember your body is reacting and rebuilding - and will thank you for this!

finaltime

BOB! You are doing great!! I am 12 days off opiates (10 days today sober used melatonin and diarrheaa meds to help with dt) I was taking 70-100 5mg pills a day for a few months. It's no fun run getting off them, but once you get to the other side its amazing. I am not able to do it alone though, I attend NA/ and AA when there are no meetings in china. I tried the taper route, Didn't work for me. I have always had to rip the band aid off and go cold turkey. Wouldn't recommend that as the ct route is awful, but over with shortly and when I taper my mind is so obsessed by more pills. Is there NA by you? If you could get to a meeting you would find amazing support.

Keep posting. Its helping all of us.

CobraCommander

for the leg cramps take hot baths, not showers and soak and stretch them. itll temp make the pain go away for about a hour. i had to do this repeatedly. i would be so weak, sleep a hour, wake up in pain and have to crawl into the tub even though it was the last thing i wanted to do for the 6th time of the day

also they have otc leg cramp pills, it basically has potassium supplements in it. they come in a small bottle at cvs but there is a few diff brands. this seemed to help me. i cant say they are miracle pills, but they did take the edge off at least 10% combined with a hot bath. when having the worst of leg cramps anything is better then nothing.

i also tried legatrim pm, which is basically tylenol pm but helps with leg cramps. these seemed to not do anything for me and didnt help me sleep either so i didnt take them because i didnt wanna mix otc stuff. but it may help

there is alot of natural herbal leg cramp pills out there. you could honestly walk into gnc and tell the worker your detoxing and ask whats some good vitamins and etc to help. my friend worked at gnc and said they are trained on the products so they have a pretty good idea of what is good to take

or just try a multivitamin

i also got alot of pins and needles feelings, my hand or leg would become numb for most the day. i guess its your nerves getting back to normal. i also had a bad case of restless leg syndrome after the cramps went away. still happens once a week or so. but no where nearly as bad as before

bob123456

Day 3 goes into the books as been pill free!. Just taken my "allowed" taper dose for the night, kind of need it tonight, bad headache, though I was going get these earlier, and worse. Good think is legs are starting to behave. This Monster has no chance against me.

AnvilheadII

good to hear, Bob....you got gumption! not to sound like your mother, but make sure to hydrate....lots and lots of water. they way that many headaches are just a side effect of being dehydrated. keep up the good work!

hope778

That's right.

PurpleKnight

Welcome to the Forum Bob!!

bob123456

End of day 4 - CLEAN . Time for taper dose, headache again, they will be with me for a week or two, this I know, tough, I danced with the devil and expected to get burnt. I am am kicking this Monster backside.