Any UK Over The Counter Pill Addicts?
 

My main drug of choice was my prescription pain pills, now I hardly ever fill my script, having 200 pills in the house at one time normally means I'll do em all, and the paracetamol makes me ill (they are 30/500). I cant beleive the strength you can get OTC, I live in London and can basically get whatever I want any day I want. I cant believe more people dont realise this is happening, I often see people in the queue buying the same as me. The companies must love it, I wonder what percentage of their profit comes through the misery of addicts. I know if they didnt sell them I would find a way, but how comes its made so easy? I can do my shopping on the hight street, visit 3 shops and end up with a hundred pills with nearly 15mg of codeine each.

Tomorrow I am attempting quitting.....again, I feel terrible everyday and the withdrawals are brutal, anyone else in the same boat? Any success stories? Let me know

If you're talking codeine, there's been a few threads around over the years.
Are you going to see a Dr and taper?

D

I used to take pills. ..lots and lots of pills. However I'm in the USA and here everything is so regulated and controlled. I'm grateful though. I always knew if I had access like that I would very quickly overdose. It wouldn't have been a question of if but when. I was way out of control.

Its crazy to me that other places in the world have such minimal safe gaurds.

Yeah tell me about it, in west London a couple of pharmacies have a lot of american customers that always buy OTC Codeine.

I was in the same position as you. I luckily saw a GP who happens to specialise in opiate tapering. He has put me on a regime, and is lowering the dose by tiny amounts every two weeks. It's going to take months but so far I've had no withdrawal and look forward to being free. I do hope you can find a good Dr that can do the same for you.

Im on 4th day of cold turkey, not going great though only slept until 2am this morning, really tired and legs are painful. And yesterday I stopped at traffic lights and forgot how to drive for a minute or two, luckily I was outside the city where the people on the roads are a little more forgiving. The worst part is ive got pills indoors, that i have incase it gets too bad. My girlfriends started to notice, especially where I cant settle at night because of the leg pain. Im a lot more alert though but even that seams scary in a weird way, everythings clearer....hard to explain.

This is the hardest day yet, im literally taking it one hour at a time, thinking I'll just keep busy then if I have to have em they are still there but I'll try my hardest not to. I think I could manage if I could just get some sleep

Things will get better IWTL - hang in there :)

D

Hi there IWTL. I am in exactly the same boat as you. Today is day 10 and feeling much more positive. Yes I have been here before. Many times. But one day it will stick. Let me know how you are doing

That seems so crazy to me they sell that over the counter in uk. I know they used to in Canada as well. Don't companies in those countries drug test for opiates? In the us if you test positive for opiates and can't provide a doctors prescription, you fail. Im pretty sure anything from heroin to codeine, all break down to the same thing that will make you fail an opiate drug test, which means an employer in countries where it's otc would have no way of knowing if you were doing heroine or getting Tylenol 3 for headaches. Crazy

They sell it over the counter here in Australia too, although it looks as though that may change next year.

D

The problem with this is all the tylenol will kill you. Please be careful. In the US almost 500 people die and 26000 are hospitalized from tylenol overdose a year

How many people overdose on acetaminophen each year?

After I had an appy at age 22 I was given Codiene as my take home pain med and I developed a RASH...first time I ever had a rash to any kind of med...so I stopped taking it and just stuck with plain Tylenol...

After my first knee surgery in '91 I was given Darvocet as my pain med...stuff was pretty much worthless and just made me feel icky,...so I had once again to stick with plain Tylenol..couldn't take Ibuprofen [I was pregnant at the time] because of chance it could decrease amniotic fluid. Goodness that was painful.. I was also worried about how having surgery and given the anesthesia meds would affect my baby .. My orthopedic surgeon told that generally speaking they do NOT LIKE to operate of pregnant women ...

My third and fourth knee surgeries were a piece of cake compared to the first knee surgery and I didn't have all that much pain...this was quite a nice SURPRISE and relief combined ...I felt very cared for by my Dr. ..he iso good at figuring things out... what a brilliant, gifted man!!

Anyways-got through the whole ordeal and had a beautiful baby girl who is now an amazing young lady .. just amazing..she is a mental health counselor and has a true calling to hep people ..she loves it and is very happy ..which makes me happy...

I Walk The Line:

I sure hope you are walking the line because if you don't your wife might BLOW UP...and when that happens it ain't pretty! (wink)

:You_Rock_