Hey
@adamskides 
Welcome to the community my friend. I hope we're able to sort you out.
I understand that Tempromandibular Joint Disorder (TMJD) is an often elusive condition to treat effectively. I'd say it's actually fairly lucky that this relatively low dose of Codeine has worked. Conditions of the face like this are often notoriously painful and difficult to treat, I've struggled with Trigeminal Neuralgia in the past, so we share some basic issues in that our faces have hurt like hell.
I'll try to give you a little bit of perspective, as I can tell you're not a seasoned drug scholar.
Codeine (3-Methyl Morphine) is approximately 1/10th the potency of
Morphine, the prototypical Opiate. Morphine represents a point of perspective in that it is essentially the middle ground. There are stronger, there are weaker, there are Opioids with funky side effects etc. Morphine is always going to be the center of that little Venn-Diagram. Not to mention, for most of our history as a species, Morphine and Codeine were the only Opiates we ever really used, so history supports our enhanced knowledge of both Codeine and Morphine as they are the only two naturally occurring Opiates in nature (basically, I'm not trying to overload you here).
There is a common standard used both in the United States and much of Europe now call
Morphine Milligram Equivalency (MME) this means that all prescribers take whatever Opioid they're using and convert the relative potency to these MMM's. The
Standard Maximum Dosage of Morphine Milligram Equivalency is 200mg per day. This means basically any doctor can write for that quantity, but any more than that implies special circumstances and will require oversight from other prescribers (hospices can do whatever they want basically, they don't count).
As your maximum dosage per day is
8x30mg Codeine Phosphate = 240mg Codeine /10 = 24mg Morphine Milligram Equivalent. We can then decimalize this by dividing it by two, This implies that your usage of
Codeine/Morphine is in the
12th Percentile of usage within this scheme. It's definitely not light usage by any stretch. You are likely dependent and will face withdrawal when you quit. On the brightside, you're only in the 12th percentile.
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Maintaining the effectiveness of your Opioids for analgesia
The best way of doing so is by experimenting with less. For most people in pain, going an entire day without any Opioids is outside the realm of possibility. However, if you can shake it, I highly recommend it.
If it were me, the medication holidays would look something like this:
Day 1 - 24mg Codeine
Day 2 - 24mg Codeine
Day 3 - 12mg Codeine
Day 4 - 0mg Codeine
Day 5 - 24mg Codeine
Day 6 - 6mg Codeine
Day 7 - 3mg Codeine
You could do a week like this once a month perhaps. THis will certainly prolong effectiveness, but to completely maintain effectiveness long-term often means more aggressive holidays like taking 4 full days off a month for instance.
You don't need to follow this table exactly. It's meant to give you an idea of how I might try to accomplish this and I've had success with this sort of method in the past. You knoow yourself better. The idea is to take more Opioids when they're needed i.e. work, kids, responsibilities etc. and on days where you are not required to necessarily be at your best, take those days to hibernate and deal. It takes some strategy.
When I was doing this sort of thing, I would use
Gabapentin (Neurontin) on Saturday and Sunday fairly heavily while I went completely without Opioids. This is part of the strategy aspect to what we're doing. Gabapentin can greatly mitigate symptoms of Opioid withdrawal and also have fairly impressive analgesic properties in its own right. The idea is you only use the Gabapentin on these two days to help you recharge your Opioid tolerance. By only taking the Gabapentin for a couple of days, you won't have to deal with any of the negative consequences of chronic usage.
These are just some ideas for you to much on. If you want more information or advice or for me to extrapolate some of these ideas for you, just mention me in the thread and I'll make sure I pop backin.
