Medicine cabinet junkies

Do you have a secret addiction? Because you can buy these drugs at your local chemist, do people take the addiction less seriously? Is it socially acceptable to take these legal medicines on a daily basis? Or should it be compared to illegal drug abuse, such as using cannabis or heroin?

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Comments

[KellyAnne]

It makes me feel slightly better about my own situation when i read articles like this, to know i am not the only one going through this horrible addiction. I have been addicted, going on for 3 years, to Solpadol (30mg codiene/500mg Paracetamol), Nurofen Plus (12.3mg codiene / 200mg Ibruprofen), Zimovane 7.5 mg (sleeping tablets).
It started when i accidentally took a double dose of solpadol by accident, which i used to get prescribed for menstrual pain from my GP. I got a warm fuzzy feeling from this, and being a person who is always restless, i found it to calm me and help me sleep. So i would treat myself to 6 of these pills all at once usually on a sunday to chillax. then it got to 2 days and then 3 you know how it goes i then i had to up my dose to 10 at once but would never exceed this. only after 6 months of doing this, i did have breaks inbetween, did i look up on the internet how dangerous this actually was and how common!!
anyway i got a grip and travelled all the way to australia to try get away from my demons because i also started to do quite a bit of partying at the weekends and taking cocaine. i was in a downward spiral.......
i thought i would just forget about it all whilst i was travelling. THINGS GOT BAD. i wasnt registered under a doc in oz so i had no way of getting solpadol so i found nurofen plus and built up a habit where i would take 7 in thr morning, 7 at lunch and 19 before bed!!!!! i dont know how i did not die. i had a few funny episodes where i thought i was going to die but luckily i saw a gp who tested my liver and everything was ok.
he put me on codiene just on its own and zimovane sleepers. and to gradually withdraw. all was going well but i decided oh im fit and healthy so i can push my limits again. so i abused my perscription and topped it up with nurofen plus.
at one point in my travels i was working on a farm in the middle of the outback away from the real world the closest chemist was 3 hrs away!!!!!!! so i thought great i could treat it like rehab. but where theres a will theres a way and i sought my tablets from everywhere on the internet, i just couldnt escape th feelings of needing the codiene. i got very ill and now im back at home.
my GP knows everything he's been great trusts me to reduce my codiene perscription, but i am in denial. i havent changed and i have started to get pain in my upper stomach and my liver aches so does my back. iam my own worst enemy, the thing is i no longer take these tabs for the buzz they once gave me, its just psychological. im petrified ive done serious irreversable damage.
hen i dont have any tabs for a few days i think great, im feeling great i'll treat myself to a few (7-12 usually)...its silly. Ive told all my friends and family about it but they all seem to ignore the situation???...my mum even has pain pills easilly accessible in her cupboard.
I am an itelligent independant woman with a good life, an exciting life, a great partner, family and friends i dont want for anything i have no reason to destroy myself like this. the ironic thing is i have a unbelieveable fear of death.
But today i think its just clicked, i think i scared myself because i felt unwell today i did some research and im sure i have all the symptoms of paracetamol poisoning, liver failure, im at the docs in the morning demanding a blood test.
I'll get over this, ive enrolled on a new college course bought a puppy chihuahua, took art classes and yoga classes, go on evening bike rides anything to occupy my 100miles an hour mind.

take care x x

[Kay C]

My mum was an addict to co-proxamol tablets and would regularly double or triple up doses to make her feel normal. She nearly committed suicide on them once. I just thank God that I was there to help her.

[Dan B]

i'm not addicted to any particular kind of drug... just anything which I find in the medicine cabinet is good enough... addiction started since I was around 15 and now I have been told that I'm risking liver failure... i don't touch alchohol but the pills help me keep sane - odd but who said that addictions make sense??

[Deanha Neely.]

i have bieng a heroin addict for the last 7 years and its bieng hell but luckyly i have bieng strong enough to try and beat it and iam on day 3 of staying clean i have bieng taking my daily perscription of methadone given to me to help me by my drug worker and my doctor.hopefully i will beat this hell ive lived for so long now and as to your question in your magazine about shoul we treat all addictions the same i think we should but this is only my appinion i feel it doesnt matter wheher the drugs are legal to buy in a chemist or illegal to buy on the streets as no matter what were addicted to we all have a problam and need help i have being lucky enough to find help in my drug worker and ive managed to get a perscription that keeps me feeling well and not have to feel the physical withdrawl symptoms i would of have to deal with if i didnt get help and tried to do it cold turkey but its not only a drug worker i need its self belief and strengh to carry on every day and not go back to hell so wheteher its codine or crack n heroin people are addicted to were all pelple and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as if we have that inner strengh to fight what ever problams or addiction we are stuck with we can do it just belive in yourself and stay strong
because if you dont belive in yourself who else can possibly belive in you????

[mightyatom]

I have been addicted to night nurse capsules for nearly a year now. I had been taking sleeping tablets for nearly 20 years and a new doctor helped me stop but when I had problems sleeping I took a whole packet of the capsules to help me sleep. I know I am addicted but have no idea how to stop.