Codeine is an opioid pain-relief medicine used for the short-term relief of mild to moderate pain.

It is not usually recommended for the treatment of chronic (long-term) pain.

Codeine is only available on prescription from your doctor.

If you stop taking codeine suddenly, you may experience withdrawal symptoms.

Tolerance

Over time, you may develop tolerance to the effects of codeine. This means that your body needs more and more of the drug to feel the same pain relief or other desired effects.

In other words, tolerance makes the drug seem less effective to your body.

How quickly you develop codeine tolerance depends on factors such as:

your genetics
how long you’ve been taking the drug
how much of the drug you’ve been taking
your behavior and perceived need for the drug

Dependence

As your body becomes more tolerant of codeine, your cells begin relying on the drug to prevent withdrawal symptoms.

This is dependence. It’s what leads to intense withdrawal side effects if codeine use is stopped suddenly. One sign of dependence is feeling that you must take codeine to prevent withdrawal symptoms.

Dependence can occur if you take codeine for more than a few weeks or if you take more than the prescribed dosage.

It’s also possible to develop codeine dependence even if you take the drug exactly as your doctor prescribes.

Dependence is often a part of addiction, but they’re not the same.

Dependence vs. addiction

Dependence and addiction both cause withdrawal when the drug is stopped, but they’re not the same thing.

Dependence stems from long-term exposure to a drug, and people dependent on a drug will experience mild or severe withdrawal symptoms when they abruptly stop taking the drug.

Physical dependence on a prescribed opiate is a typical response to treatment and can be managed with help from your doctor.

Addiction, on the other hand, may follow dependence. It involves craving and compulsively seeking the drug. Addiction can change your brain circuitry, leading you to use a drug despite negative consequences and eventually to lose control over your usage. It often requires more support to get through.

Symptoms of withdrawal

Withdrawal symptoms may come in two phases. The early phase occurs within a few hours of your last dose. Other symptoms may occur later as your body readjusts to working without codeine.

Early symptoms of withdrawal may include:

feeling irritable or anxious
trouble sleeping
teary eyes
runny nose
sweating
yawning
muscle aches
faster heart rate
Later symptoms may include:

loss of appetite
nausea and vomiting
stomach cramps
diarrhea
enlarged pupils
chills or goosebumps
Many withdrawal symptoms are a reversal of codeine side effects.

For instance, codeine use can cause constipation. But if you’re going through withdrawal, you may develop diarrhea. Likewise, codeine often causes sleepiness, and withdrawal may lead to trouble sleeping.

How long withdrawal lasts
Symptoms may last for a week, or they may persist for months after stopping codeine use.

Physical withdrawal symptoms are strongest in the first few days after you stop codeine use. Most symptoms are gone within 2 weeksTrusted Source.

However, behavioral symptoms and cravings for the drug can last months. In rare cases, they can even last years. Everyone’s experience with codeine withdrawal is different.

Fuck codeine, dear. Buy yourself a 30g packet of poppy seeds from the supermarket. Cheap!

Throw them in the backyard this Christmas. Go on, just do it.

By May next year, you should have a blooming opium patch of white/purple poppies - divine!

Harvest them and cook them up in a jolly pot of boiling water. You'll get a bitter, green tea that will put you on the nod for about a week, no worries.

Sweet dreams.

I don’t need any opioids or other painkillers anymore. Some have so much paracetamol that liver damage could happen.