Strange tolerance question

[curious_24]

I've been taking around 200mg codeine, two or three times a day for around 2 years. Recently I ran out of codeine syrup so had to survive on 64mg, three times a day. This was fine, a bit of a headache for the first couple of days and some RLS but nothing too severe. After a week of this new regime, I aqcuired some more syrup and took about 120mg to test the waters. Good job I did as it hit me like a freight train! Major euphoria and sedation and then a very drowsy afterglow for a few hours (now i should mention that I am lucky in that even after 3 years of regular use, I could still feel doses as low as 50mg!).

Any ideas why my tolerance has dropped so much in just a week? I thought that tolerance took many months to gradually subside?

Am I just broken??

 

[Addyman]

Could be one of three things

1) You experienced a placebo effect

2) Everyone is different, and somehow your tolerance just decided to drop

3) The unknown

 

[effie]

The fact that you can still get something from 50mg codeine after 3 years means that you must have a ridiculously low natural tolerance, and an apparent inability to increase your tolerance by much or placebo plays a part! It's pretty unusual.. so count yourself lucky, and be very careful if you ever try a stronger opioid!

Often, after a short amount of time off after a long spell on, the first time you take opiates again it feels a lot stronger as your body isn't used to it (and it removes any unpleasant WD symptoms) but it is rare for this to be sustained for long.