Opioids Would I become a codeine addict if I took it every day?

Hi. Just a question to anyone who might know. Would I get addicted to codeine (and go through withdrawals) if I was to take codeine every day. I don't mean recreational use, I just want to take it for back pain. My common sense says it's a bad idea, but I also know codeine's a pretty weak opiate so maybe it wouldn't be too dangerous (they do sell it over the counter). Is it a bad idea?

Yes.

If you mean the 30mg ones, then yes, i know this because i got withdrawals after taking 4 a day for a couple of weeks. And one thing you come to realise is the only way is up with opiates due to tolerance. Your pain will come back if you dont continue to up your dose. Not worth it.

Yes, absolutely. The dependency would not be as severe as with opiates that convert faster and more completely to more active metabolites, so the withdrawal would not be quite as severe as that from Heroin for example, but it will be plenty unpleasant and difficult to come off cold all the same.

Codeine every day for me went in this pattern.

60mg daily for chronic pain from 4 repeated Hamstring tears.

2 weeks later, 90mg a day. Week later 200mg a day.

Then 600mg - 1200mg - 1800mg.

Then I began Heroin. That got up to a gram a day.

I'm clean now, but yes, trust me, there is a reason your pharmacist tells you not to take codeine every day.

I think you're more likely to develop a tolerance and dependence to methamphetamine given your current use pattern.

Hello jobe, well...This is what i think a good idea would be:when the pain is really bad, take the codeine(you said smth about OTC, so i suppose that you have the 500mg paracetamol(or aspirin,etc.)/10 mg (or maybe 8 mg?) codeine, (and coffeine?) tabs. When the pain isn't so bad, maybe you should take an aspirin, or a couple of 500mg paracetamol tabs, or ibuprofen, any (non-opiod) painkiller. Of course i don't know, you're the only one who know your pain's level, i just wanna say that the less often you take the codeine, it's better for you, but of course you knew it, lol, you didn't wait for me, the fuckin smart ashole to tell you...but, if you have the 500mg paracetamol/30mg codeine tabs, that's an other story, cause it's way easier to get addicted, if you take them often (madog^^speaks very well). Anyfuckinway, allthough the codeine is a weak opiod, as you mentioned, you can get addicted (though for the OTC tabs it's not so easy, even if you use them daily-but not 10 tabs, or so, everyday-and you use them only for pain relief, not chasing a high, which means that you have to take more and more every day to achieve it). I'm not sure that i helped you, though i want to believe that i did, but i think that you know what to do. I wish you as less pain as possible, or better, no pain at all, my friend. I'm a chronic pain patient, and i know how fuckin horrible the pain can be...%)


MartinFn

Yes. It will.

Thanks guys. I won't do it.

jobe28 said:

Thanks guys. I won't do it.

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Good for you.

jobe28 said:

Thanks guys. I won't do it.

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Good answer! Seems like this is a job well done, result as intended.

A question to tripman..

Excuse me, maybe i'm a litl out of topic, but i have a question to tripman. You said that you took 600, then 1200, then 1800mg (codeine). I read somewhere that there's a roof codeine dose, about 400-500mg, more than this doesn't change anything. Obviously, this is wrong. Anyway, i'm on fent patch, (my dr. subscribes me 15 100 mcg/h for a month, one 100 every 2 days). As you understand, my tolerance is very fuckin high. Also i take h, and i have to take about 1 gram (together with the fent) of good quality brown to get high (not super high, but just enough high-lol-). ROA is snorted. So here is my question: Do you believe, from your experience, that an amount of, let's say, 2 gr codeine phoshate, would add a remarkable effect with my regular fent ? or, if the answer is no, do you believe that there is an amount of codeine that could do the trick (i'm talking about smth that would maybe add some euphoria, among with the fent, i'm not waiting to floor me fuckin down, of course!). Thanx,%)


MartinFn

MartinFn said:

Excuse me, maybe i'm a litl out of topic, but i have a question to tripman. You said that you took 600, then 1200, then 1800mg (codeine). I read somewhere that there's a roof codeine dose, about 400-500mg, more than this doesn't change anything. Obviously, this is wrong. Anyway, i'm on fent patch, (my dr. subscribes me 15 100 mcg/h for a month, one 100 every 2 days). As you understand, my tolerance is very fuckin high. Also i take h, and i have to take about 1 gram (together with the fent) of good quality brown to get high (not super high, but just enough high-lol-). ROA is snorted. So here is my question: Do you believe, from your experience, that an amount of, let's say, 2 gr codeine phoshate, would add a remarkable effect with my regular fent ? or, if the answer is no, do you believe that there is an amount of codeine that could do the trick (i'm talking about smth that would maybe add some euphoria, among with the fent, i'm not waiting to floor me fuckin down, of course!). Thanx,%)


MartinFn

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I believe he was "trolling". No one jumps from codeine to heroine lol, I think he was making a joke over the fact that codeine is laughed at amongst heroin users.

pbuilder said:

I believe he was "trolling". No one jumps from codeine to heroine lol, I think he was making a joke over the fact that codeine is laughed at amongst heroin users.

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As i have said before about heroin users, just because codeine users didnt trade up to heroin thats not something to laugh at, that is something to wish you had've done instead of shooting up.

Don't get me wrong, I don't do heroin by any means but I read the, you know your a junkie thread when... And someone got pretty much laughed at because he stole codeine from his grandma's medicine cabinet and was talking about smoking weed every day.

But anyways, I hadn't realized that was a mod that posted that so it is likely actual valid information, crazy how someone can go from codeine to heroin tho o-O. That's no self control at all imo, and just straight stupidity. At least most people slowly make their way up the opiate pill line before they start grabbing smack but I guess some people just decide they want to ruin their life and go straight for the grand slam.

Thats why those on the pathetic drug codeine should be praised.

pbuilder said:

Don't get me wrong, I don't do heroin by any means but I read the, you know your a junkie thread when... And someone got pretty much laughed at because he stole codeine from his grandma's medicine cabinet and was talking about smoking weed every day.

But anyways, I hadn't realized that was a mod that posted that so it is likely actual valid information, crazy how someone can go from codeine to heroin tho o-O. That's no self control at all imo, and just straight stupidity. At least most people slowly make their way up the opiate pill line before they start grabbing smack but I guess some people just decide they want to ruin their life and go straight for the grand slam.

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Just because one opiate is stronger than another does not mean that the withdrawals will be any easier. For instance I find dope withdrawals to be a lot worse than methadone withdrawals IMO, but methadone is many times more potent than heroin. It's not that rediculous to jump from codeine to heroin if you think about it. If you can't afford or find oxycodone, morphine, or hydrocodone, heroin would be the only thing to really turn to. IMO dope is dope, codeine might be weaker than heroin, and heroin might be weaker than oxymorphone, but if your addicted to anyone of them, it's going to suck. The only advantage to being addicted to a weaker opioid/opiate, is that when you're forced to switch to a stronger one, you'll be able to use a smaller than normal amount to stay straight for a while, but in the end it gets you to the same place.

Znegative said:

Just because one opiate is stronger than another does not mean that the withdrawals will be any easier. For instance I find dope withdrawals to be a lot worse than methadone withdrawals IMO, but methadone is many times more potent than heroin. It's not that rediculous to jump from codeine to heroin if you think about it. If you can't afford or find oxycodone, morphine, or hydrocodone, heroin would be the only thing to really turn to. IMO dope is dope, codeine might be weaker than heroin, and heroin might be weaker than oxymorphone, but if your addicted to anyone of them, it's going to suck. The only advantage to being addicted to a weaker opioid/opiate, is that when you're forced to switch to a stronger one, you'll be able to use a smaller than normal amount to stay straight for a while, but in the end it gets you to the same place.

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yea but methadone doses are adjusted accordingly, what does high potency have to do with withdrawls? If that were true the fentanyl would be the devil of all withdrawls, 100x worse then heroin.

The fact is if you are using codeine and run out and start getting withdrawls you just stop using. No rational person, even going through withdrawls is going to say... "oh im outta codeine, I guess I'll just go buy my first bag of heroin of the street...". That is unless they have a death wish.

And yes codeine withdrawls are a joke compared to most other opiate withdrawls because codeine has a ceiling effect, which is quite low (400-600mg) at which any more will just go to waste, and not be converted to morphine by the liver which is what gives it it's effects. Thus, the maximum amount of actual morphine you can get out of codeine and the maximum possible dose is actually a very very small amount, if I remember right 5% of the codeine thus 20-30mg morphine. You think that 20-30mg morphine withdrawl calls to start up on heroin?

Never wonder why you are an addict if that's your mind-set.

Alright, I guess you do have a point as I did not know that codeine had a cieling effect. Amd i myself have never been addicted to codiene either. But I still think that someone facing withdrawals from any opiate would probably turn to any other opioid to get relief.

I just don't really see it as any different than people switching from any other prescription painkiller like hydrocodone or oxy to heroin. Sure codeine is weaker, but it's still an opiate just the same, ceiling effect or not. And to the person addicted to codeine, those withdrawals will still suck ass, even if they are less intense, but that person wouldn't know that in the first place.Of course the smart thing to do would be to try and taper down off the codeine and quit, but addictions really not that simple, and when you're addicted to the high, as well as trying to ward off physical withdrawal, switching to a stronger opiate makes some kind of warped sense.

Heroin is only more dangerous than drugs like oxycodone,because it's a black market product, and the purity of the dope varies, and it's often cut with some crappy shit. But it's not really much stronger than oxycodone mg per mg. And I don't think anyone would get flamed for moving up from codeine to oxycodone. The point I'm trying to get across is that switching from any prescription pain killer to heroin seems like a shitty decision in general, but it happens all the time. Some people just move up the chain faster, based on cost and availability.

pbuilder said:

The fact is if you are using codeine and run out and start getting withdrawls you just stop using. No rational person, even going through withdrawls is going to say... "oh im outta codeine, I guess I'll just go buy my first bag of heroin of the street...". That is unless they have a death wish.

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While I agree that the jump from codeine to heroin is a large one, something to consider is the geographic location of the person. What I mean is, in some areas heroin is a lot more socially accepted than other places. In the US, there is usually the vicodin -> percocet -> oxycontin -> heroin "opiate ladder" that most people climb, with a few other pharmaceutical opiates (tramadol, codeine) that may come before the vicodin, and other opiates (oxymorphone, morphine, fentanyl) that are interchangeable with the oxycontin step.

Tripman is from Australia I believe, where codeine is readily available (OTC I think), other prescription opiates like those in the US aren't as readily available there, so the codeine -> heroin leap isn't as unheard of there, as it is here in the US. Another thing is that not everybody buys it on the street. Someones brother might have some laying around and while everyone is sick, they might take some. I don't think they are going from CWE some codeine they got OTC, to heading to the ghetto to buy the heroin.

The UK doesn't have as many pharmaceutical opiates as the US either, and they have heroin base there which can and is commonly smoked, so I think that a lot of people there make the switch from codeine to heroin, or just go straight to heroin since the act of smoking something doesn't seem so serious. Also, heroin is prescribed in the UK in extreme cases, so that might have something to do with its acceptance.

A lot of people in the US that switch to heroin from prescription opiates don't seek out heroin on there own. I think that it is more common for there dealer to stop selling pills, and start selling heroin. You may call the dealer like usual, asking for pills, and he tells you that he is out, but has heroin which is a lot cheaper and does the same thing. You decline the offer at first, and try to find another pill source. Time goes on, you get sicker, still can't find any pills, and eventually give in and buy the heroin, "just this once." The rest as they say, is history.