Is this withdrawal?

[perryade]

Hey there you knowledgeable people. So my doctor recently advised that I cut my daily dose of Codeine from 600mg per day to 400mg and then taper by about 15mg per day. I've felt kind of weird since I started doing it, very, very foggy thoughts, feeling confused and a little bit of a headache that comes and goes but only on the right side of my head. I've also been getting muscle twitching which is alarming. So is it possible that these symptoms are due to withdrawal?

They honestly don't feel like it really but then again I've only ever experienced cold turkey WD; I've never tapered. Would going from 600mg per day to 400mg even cause any symptoms? I thought it wouldn't and so did the doctor, but then again she also said that the euphoria you feel is a placebo (maybe she was just trying to discourage me). I'm honestly worried because when I typed those symptoms into google guess what came up? Brain tumor, bleeding of the brain, pancreas cancer etc. Any ideas or experiences?

 

[Crashing]

It's most likely withdrawal. Euphoria is a direct effect that opiates provide, and placebo has nothing to do with it. As you taper down, you will notice more side effects, but they'll eventually go away after being completely off of codeine for a week or so.

 

[perryade]

Thanks. I hope it is. I just get really anxious after making the mistake of googling symptoms. Not long ago I searched for a problem with my vision (I had a slight floater (floater lol)) and the answers I found were "brain tumor" and "eye cancer". Wonderful. I think I'm somewhat of a hypochondriac. I can't help but worry about the damage drugs have done to my body.

 

[Azure Cloud]

Once you stabilize on your new dose all withdrawal symptoms should disappear.
Do you need to drop the dose everyday? The more slowly the taper, the less pronounced the symptoms should be. However in that case you will be dragging the whole ordeal out longer.

Good luck man. You'll be thru the worst of it soon enough.

 

[perryade]

Yeah, I need to drop it everyday she said. I honestly don't think she knew what she was on about, either that or she doesn't have much foresight. I was taking 200ml of Codeine Linctus per day which is 600mg of Codeine Phosphate. At first she said to lower it by 1ml per day, but that's over half a year which seemed a little extreme. Then she said to lower it from 600mg per day to 400mg because it's "very dangerous" and won't give me any symptoms.

After a long sleep last night I'm feeling better today although for some reason I couldn't recall George Orwell's name a minute ago which has scared me the crap out of me since you know, he's George Orwell, who would forget his name? I hope that this is a symptom of mild withdrawal or a symptom of the Codeine itself. Has anyone else noticed their memory being affected by Codeine?

I don't know if it's just that it causes you to be less motivated in learning new things or in recalling them (or whether my anxious over thinking is causing my brain to basically lock up, I know there's a psychological phenomenon that can cause this) but I've noticed that when I'm using it my recall is terrible. That's one of the reasons I want to stop. Anyone else noticed this? When I first started using it I was REALLY motivated and euphorically immersed in every subject I came across. Now I just can't concentrate and if I do I have to try very hard to remember anything. Bear in mind I was recently anemic from Ibuprofen causing stomach bleeding and I know that can affect memory.

But yeah I'm feeling a lot better today, it's been around 3 or 4 days since I lowered the dose. I'm considering just going cold turkey to be honest, as you said Azure Cloud, you're just dragging it out. Finding Nurofen all those years ago has seriously messed up a lot of stuff. I genuinely feel for those on stronger opiates.

 

[Azure Cloud]

Codeine can cloud the mind but opiates in general have a very low neural toxicity profile. I've never seen anyone with permanently affected mental acuity that only abused opiates.

I feel stupid as all during withdrawals but once it is over, it is like I can't remember my brain ever working so fast and clearly. There is a certain levity to life that I never noticed before doing drugs that I am very aware of. once I've been clean for at least a couple of weeks.

Man you so got this!

 

[Captain Brewster]

Someone doing 600mg of codeine daily for a prolonged period will produce withdrawals if they suddenly stop.

Tapering makes the symptoms a bit more bearable, but in turn, will drag the whole process out for a longer period of time.