Codeine Withdrawal?

Hi there, I'm new to this forum. I normally post under the anxiety forum.

Quick background - I suffered with chronic pain for years in my ovaries, pelvis and back due to endometriosis and adenomyosis. I have been taking codeine since 2006. After treatment and a laparoscopy last year, I am finally getting to the point where the pain is easing and I'm not in anywhere near as much pain as before. I have been taking 30mg of codeine between 6-8 a day.

I have depression and anxiety issues and last week I woke up feeling so ill. My anxiety went through the roof. To cut a long story short, because I felt so rotten I cut down on the amount of codeine to about 2-3 a day. I had bad insomnia (I only had about 7 hours from early Tues to Sat night), nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, hot and cold fever symptoms and dizziness. My brain was going 100mph and I was too alert. I am now wondering if this was down to the reduction of codeine. Do these sound like withdrawal symptoms?

Many thanks for reading,

A x

Thank you for your reply. I've been so dizzy today and can't watch TV or look at my iPhone/iPad screen for long. Hopefully this won't last too much longer.

Thank you Rick. I still have codeine here as I am still taking 2-3 a day for my pelvic pain. I won't be taking the maximum of 8 a day again as I don't need to. I'm just hoping the withdrawal symptoms won't last too long.

A x

Welcome to CP and ask your Dr if he could write you a script for a clonidine patch to use while tapering your dose. It will help stabalize your b/p,which may be the cause of your dizziness,settle down that ill flu like feeling as well as your stomach so you can eat and drink both of which are important. Its not a narcotic or controlled med so you wont have any issues when its done. I expect the worse of your w/ds are going to take 7-10 days to get past and you should start to feel a lot better. The concentration part is the hardest but it too will be better.

Good luck and congratulations on a successful procedure.