codeine

Former Member

hello. never posted here before, but thought i might get more honest/well informed answers that anywhere else.

due to my ongoing tooth infection saga, i've been prescribed codeine for the pain, but am quite wary about how monged out it'll make me.

up til now i've been alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen, normal dose, which works ok. the paracetamol works better, and brings my temperature down, but i'm wary of taking too much at once, cause my liver's slightly dodge, hence the ibuprofen interludes.

my doctor has given me the codeine for the odd occasion when the OTC painkillers make no difference (the pain comes and goes). she told me it might make me drowsy and nauseous, and would probably make me constipated, but i am well aware of doctors' tendency to gloss over side effects. and cause i'm horribly phobic of being sick, i'm worried about the 'it might make you a little nauseous' comment. does that mean just a little nauseous, or does it mean throwing my guts up? cause i'd rather be in pain.

so how will it really make me feel? my prescription is for 30mg tablets, to take 1 or 2 up to a max of 8 in 24 hours. and i have quite a low bodyweight, so normally am on lower doses than the norm. this seems like quite a lot.

Former Member

Hiya

I have the same dosage of codeine for the killer headaches I get. It can make you feel pretty groggy and tired and therefore I only use it if I really have to. Sometimes they make my head feel all fuzzy, but this may be due to the headache...I'm not sure. I wouldn't advocate trying to drive on them as they make dopey. I don't find they do an awful lot for the pain either, but then I'm waiting for scans and tests.

I would advise staying at home and taking it easy when you first take your tablets, just to see how you go, especially as you are low body weight, I'm pretty overweight and they certainley knocked me for six, without doing much for the pain!

ETA: they have made me feel a bit nauseous, but I've never actually been sick

Former Member

Im on Codeine for a long standing condition. It is a rather strong pain killer, and if your not used to it, it will knock you around. In my experience, ive found that taking any more than 4-5 in one day is a bad idea. So take as little as you can, and only when you need to. Just take one to start with and i imagine that should be enough. If not take only one more and leave it at that. It can make you feel really sick and rather out of it if you take too many . I made the mistake of taking 3 in the space of about 2 hours and it really scared me. Head went completely to another planet, stomach felt queasy, breathing became an effort...not very pleasant at all.

So basically :Small doses = very effective painkiller Big doeses = A bit dodgy.

Former Member

Is it a addictive drug?

Former Member

it's an opiate so it does have the potential for addiction but it never realy happens.
can make you very constipated so eat lots of fruit. hard on kidney and liver ...so drink lots of fluids ...water juice whatever.
i doubt you'll be physicaly sick though may feel a little woozy.
as for making you dopey ...it can but it can also prevent you from sleeping.
on the whole it's a pretty safe drug and most people don't suffer any unpleasantness at all.
remember to eat well and drink lots ...don't have on an empty stomach.

Former Member

Rolly, opiates in general are fairly kind on the body, that kind of dose wont cause any problems with the kidneys or liver unless taken over seriously long term.

As for the dose, 30mg isnt enough to make you sleepy I wouldnt think, 60mg might though.

Yes codine technically is addictive, however its actually really hard to get addicted even if you want to. High doses of codine will make you very itchy (100mg+) and the tolerance builds very fast. So you'd end up stopping taking it because of the itching before you could get addicted.

Rolly is most certainly right about the constapation though, when I have done 75mg+ in the past I havent been able to crap for a while. 1g of vitamin C will take care of that though.

You may also find it kills your sex drive, opiates are famous for this. And even if you have sex you might find it very hard to come if you are actually on the drug.

Former Member

I believe but dont hold me to this, that Ibuprofen and Paracetomol work on diffrent pain receptors so technically you cant over dose on a combination of the two, only if you over do one or the other. So to clarify you can take the recomended dosage of paracetomol and the recomended dosage of Ibuprofen without risk of an over dose. I got told this so you may have to do your own research to confirm it.

Former Member

thanks everyone!

haven't needed to take any yet, and hopefully won't for the immediate future, cause my antibiotics seem to be doing their thing, and am now coping on low dose paracetamol just fine.

have also been taking high strength vitamin C tablets, as i remember reading it can help with infections, and it has also made the plumbing keep working well.

so all is well at the moment. but at least i know if it gets worse again i have something to sort me out.

Former Member

Originally posted by Jinx
I believe but dont hold me to this, that Ibuprofen and Paracetomol work on diffrent pain receptors so technically you cant over dose on a combination of the two, only if you over do one or the other. So to clarify you can take the recomended dosage of paracetomol and the recomended dosage of Ibuprofen without risk of an over dose. I got told this so you may have to do your own research to confirm it.

Yep, your right, you can take 400mg Ibruprofen and 1000mg of Paracetamol at the same time without any problems. You shouldnt however mix Ibruprofen and Asprin because they are both NSAI group drugs.

Kaffrin; Yes, vitamin C can help with infections, its especially good for colds.

Jaded

Did the doc recommend you take the codine with food? Even half a banana or a biscuit can help with the nausea, if you can bear to eat.oh, and I love your av!

Former Member

I wouldnt think you would get nausea with codine, its an easy drug on the body. Unlike some of the other painkillers you could have been given, Voltarol or Taramadol for example.

Jaded

My partner gets cramps if he takes codine on an empty stomach, maybe he is just a bit sensitive to it?

Former Member

Hmm, interesting, obviously everyone reacts differently to each drug.

When I did codine I was specifically told to do it on an empty stomach to gain most effect. But then my advice wasnt from a qualified medical proffessional.

I didnt really think it was all that and I've not done it again.

Jaded

JimV kindly pulled the following off Erowid for me, but please note that it applies to the recreational use of codeine :eek2:, which even Bongbudda says was rubbish -

It is usually a good idea to take the drug on an empty stomach, and if nausea is experienced or you get hungry (not likely) you can have something to eat. On an empty stomach the effects will become noticeable within 15 min depending on the dose. With higher doses the effects can begin in as little as 7 min. The effects peak at around 1 hr with the experience nearing it's end at around the 3 - 4 hr point. Again with higher doses effects may last 4 - 6 hours.

from http://www.erowid.org/pharms/codeine/codeine_faq.shtml

Apparently the medical advice is to take with or just after food.

Former Member

I made a reply to this but it appears to have been wiped, was it you ladyjade or was it the problems of yesterday?

I didnt really think codine was rubbish, it did was it was supposed to, you feel warm fuzzy and unable to worry about anything. But, its not really a high as such and, well it just left me feeling lazy.

Jaded

Are you suggesting that I censored you? How rude.

Actually, the boards were down from 2.30 am yesterday until mid afternoon, so anything that was written is lost to the ether I'm afraid.....

Former Member

I presumed it wasnt you LadyJade, I just thought I would ask.

Former Member

Ok, here's some codeine info that isn't vague or plain incorrect :

1) Opiate nausea - Lie down! This can't be overstated, opiate nausea isn't like other kinds of nausea. If you feel sick on opiates, lie down. 99% of the time you'll stop feeling sick.

2) Itching - no surprises here. The higher the dose, the more likely you are to experience a slightly manic urge to itch all over.

3) Constipation - your guts contain opioid receptors. Taking codeine stimulates them and makes you constipated, as would injecting smack or eating foods high in opioid peptides (clue : processed carbs). The level of constipation caused by a daily theraputic codeine dose isn't massive, and can be drastically reduced by making some appropriate dietary changes.

4) Feeling "spaced out" - well, that's supposed to be the good bit. Should only be noticable with doses above 60mg taken at once, and even then it's VERY subtle compared to the more powerful opiates. Lie down, close your eyes, put some music on, it can be quite nice. If it's unpleasant, see below.

5) Codeine sensitivty - some people have almost an allergic reaction to codeine. If a theraputic dose makes you feel really ill and dizzy, to the point where it's not worth it for the pain killing effect, you're probably one of these people. Opioid sensitivty is complex and varies massively from person to person. There's nothing you can do about it, so go back to the doc, describe the side-effects and tell them you think you might be sensitive to codeine. There's other stuff to try.


6) Addiction - Generally speaking, codeine has one of the least potentials for abuse out of the opioids. That doesn't mean it isn't addictive though - it's both physically and mentally addictive. If you end up taking recreational doses daily, or taking it specifically to dissolve your problems and worries, you'll very likely end up with a habit. The withdrawl isn't too bad though, again, magnitudes worse than the powerful opiates.

7) Dose - Depends on a ton of factors (opioid sensitivty, tolerance, metabolism, etc), but 30mg is considered an average pain killing (theraputic) dose, 60mg a high pain killing dose, and 100-300mg a recreational dose. The body can't metabolise anything above 300-400mg, so there's no point taking more than that.

All in all, if you've got something painful going on in your mouth (which I appreciate is fucking annoying), and your doc has given you codeine for it, then go ahead, take it. You won't regret it, the pain killing properties of opiates are very effective and quite unlike any other class of painkiller.

Oh and by the way, are these plain codeine tabs or a codeine/paracetamol mix? (co-codamol, tylex, etc). If it's just plain codeine, continuing to take, say, 500mg paracetamol with each codeine dose is absolutely fine.

Former Member

Originally posted by spicetek
Ok, here's some codeine info that isn't vague or plain incorrect :

Your information was good and interesting, but I cant help but feel the above is a needless dig.

Jaded

Thanks for that spicetek, do you have a source for the info that you could link to, and can you point out which bits of info were incorrect, for future reference?

Former Member

Originally posted by spicetek
Ok, here's some codeine info that isn't vague or plain incorrect :

Oh and by the way, are these plain codeine tabs or a codeine/paracetamol mix? (co-codamol, tylex, etc). If it's just plain codeine, continuing to take, say, 500mg paracetamol with each codeine dose is absolutely fine.

thanks for that

they're just plain codeine, but the doctor told me to take them with my normal lot of paracetamol as and when i need to. still haven't needed to, but i have a pretty high pain tolerance level, and am still getting to the point where it's almost unbearable, so will be either pilled up or dead soon, i should imagine. bloody dentists.