Hi summer winds I had a problem with codeine too. Like yourself I was prescribed it for chronic pain and was just relieved to have something that helped at first. I knew it could be addictive but naively thought it wouldn’t happen to me.
To cut a long story short I ended up with a 19 year long dependency . At my worst point I was taking 16 30 mg dihydrocodeine tablets a day. I’m pleased to say I’m free of them now, have been off them for almost 3 weeks after tapering off them slowly at a rate of 30mg per month.
You sound like you have great motivation and strength which is half the battle, I’m not gonna pretend it was easy, it was hard work and I had my slip ups at times but got there in the end and so will you . Just take it one day at a time and look after yourself.