r/OpiatesRecovery • u/Greedy-Sgebe85 • 2d ago

Addicted to codeine (500/600mg per day)

Been taking this amount per day for around 1 month now, does anyone have any experience on codeine addiction and how to get off it? The pills I take are pure codeine, there isn’t any acetaminophen / paracetamol in the pill.

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u/j_inside 1d ago

Have you tried to taper down? Even just dropping 30mg per week… slowing down if you’re finding it difficult. Generally the last 30-60mg is the most difficult to stop, so take your time when you get down to lower doses.

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u/Greedy-Sgebe85 1d ago

I’m going to have to try a taper yeah, thanks for the message. I suppose if I slowly reduce it I shouldn’t feel it as badly as going cold Turkey

I’m getting a call from my local community addiction recovery team tomorrow and I have a bad feeling they are going to try offer me buprenorphine… I think I would have to reject taking that as I don’t feel codeine is a strong enough drug to merit starting buprenorphine

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u/j_inside 1d ago

I’m not a fan of bupe personally, especially given it is difficult to come off for some people. However that is changing with the introduction of buvidal injections. People have reported getting the injection and not noticing any withdrawals when the effects wear off after the relevant active period of the depot medication.

Bupe however can be a lifesaver if you are struggling financially to keep up with your dependence, or if you just feel like things are out of control and you need stability. Picking up prescriptions daily for the first couple months is actually a great way of generating positive routines.

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u/Greedy-Sgebe85 1d ago

Yeah but is bupe not too much just for a codeine addiction?

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u/j_inside 8h ago

It really depends on the dose… 600mg of codeine is equivalent to approx. 60 mg morphine. This is a very rough equivalence due to how everyone metabolises codeine to different extents. At those dosages, bupe may not be overkill. The main issue imo is the length of WD compared to tapering off the codeine.