The REAL dangers of codeine

[pbuilder]

Theres quiete a few. Overdose is one of them. Everyone thinks it's hard to but it's actually easier than you think. Since Codeine has a ceiling effect of about 420mg's or so alot of people will take more and more to try and get higher. Some of these people die.

Also it obviously like all opiates it can lead to addiction.

Actually, the whole ceiling dose for codeine has been blotched as for the most part bullsh*t. This myth came about because it was believed that the majority of codeine's effects simply were coming from the codeine being converted to morphine by enzymes in the liver, to which their was only enough at one given moment to convert 400-600mg of codeine into morphine. But if I remember correctly, i think it has now been discovered that another metabolite from the codeine actually is what gives it primarily all of its effects, and thus, their is no real ceiling dose.

EDIT: fail on my behalf for not reading the whole thread, what this guy said:

Codeine does not have a "ceiling effect" as many think. The "ceiling effect" notion comes from the assumption that codeine doses in excess of 400 mg saturates CYP 2D6, thus preventing codeine from converting into morphine. That is simply wrong because more than 80% of codeine is metabolized into codeine-6-glucuronide (which is responsible for the analgesia and histamine-related effects), only about 3-5% of ingested codeine is O-demethylated to morphine which is quickly excreted, anyways.

Codeine can be dangerous mostly to those that are completely opiate naive. It generally has a high incidence of side effects - histamine-related effects (rash, breaking out in hives, redness and itchiness), severe constipation, and of course, respiratory depression.

 

[headoff]

I'm also really worried about the fact that I'm having a big operation soon.
I'm going to have a load of painkillers dumped on me... just as I've started to have an interest in codeine.
Could be really bad timing...

 

[Pjkt2501]

You need to be 100% up-front with your doctor / whoever is doing the medicating for this. They work under very precise limits, and having an existing tolerance to what they use is going to mess up their titration / dosing. This even means if you stop using completely; it's still in your history.

 

[holyservant]

You need to be 100% up-front with your doctor / whoever is doing the medicating for this. They work under very precise limits, and having an existing tolerance to what they use is going to mess up their titration / dosing. This even means if you stop using completely; it's still in your history.

I agree 100%. It's EXTREMELY important to be totally honest with your doctor about your previous drug use when you're going to have surgery! Otherwise you could end up with some nasty complications or in a lot of pain because they aren't giving you the correct dosage of meds.