Hi Bethany,
I sympathise with where you are. Its not easy being a parent and anything to take the edge off is soo tempting. I find that the average GP doesn’t have a clue about addiction of any kind and so my response will be coloured by that.
In my opinion no-one else can do this but you and your desire to do so. You need to harden your will to acheive the outcome of being clean and each moment of difficulty is a victory.
The hard truth with all opioids is that any feeling of happiness or euphoria is transient, and the more you have, the greater the price. I’m sorry. I reached a point that any dose of codeine would not give pleasure but the side effects were appalling.
In my opinion what you need to do is remove any temptation from your life. So calculate how many tablets you need to taper off, and dispose of the rest. Don’t be over ambitious with the taper – a gentle reduction is always better. Then accept you will have about a month where you will suffer a bit each day. Mornings are worst. But in a month you could be free.
Be aware jumping back on to get rid of the withdrawal feeling can create ‘kindling’ which can be catastrophic for withdrawal effects.
But also, if you fail first time – you can try again. It took me 4 attempts.
I hope this helps. My thoughts are with you.
Generally I found a 30mg a day reduction acceptable. Each person is different.