It’s very easy to stop taking the codeine! Staying stopped is the hard part LOL. That’s what I was taught in AA anyway. I spent most of my life addicted to one drug or another – most recently codeine and tramadol. I don’t want to get into any sort of competition or comparison but I was consuming a LOT of codeine each day…a LOT. It still astounds me how my liver and kidneys recovered from this onslaught! Recovery from any addiction is hard…and codeine addiction is no different. It’s a flipping opiate for Pete’s sake…and withdrawal / recovery is very similar to heroin withdrawal! Anybody who kicks this addiction is doing bloody well. I have been clean from all drugs for several years now and I think it’s almost like waking from a coma or horrible dream. In my humble opinion (don’t shoot me down) Cold Turkey is a risky way to stop – I tried and failed many times. Eventually after I decided that I no longer wanted this life of dependency I tried the tapering approach. I counted out my remaining tablets and made a tapering plan – reducing by one tab each day until all tablets were gone. The withdrawal was still bad but this approach worked for me and it has been a few years now since I took anything stronger than a paracetamol. Physical symptoms go away fairly quickly…mental takes a bit longer…psychological longer still. Your body / brain / psyche will try every trick in the book to make you start using again – just try and reinforce the reasons you want to stop and you CAN do this. AA helped me quit destructive drinking and forums like this can help you quit this vile addiction. Good luck to you all . it can be done. If I could do it then you can too. Goos luck one and all!!
