Just been reading about Lil Peep’s death and went down a bit of a ‘lean’, codeine, prescription pain killers rabbit hole. I know over prescription is a big thing in the States, but do you reckon its getting that way here now too? Anyone have any experience with them?
I was prescribed 2 weeks worth of codeine for a badly dislocated shoulder/ligament damage a few years ago, and I had to chuck the lot away before the pain subsided because I started enjoying the sensation of being on it. Dread to think what would have happened had I not managed to deal with the pain in other ways tbh.
As a migraine sufferer I’ve routinely had access to pretty strong stuff as well as diazepam and the sort for anxiety in the past. Never found these things to be too addictive tbh (though there is a clear high with stronger codeine along with the pain reduction properties). It really depends on the individual I think.
Doctors are very strict with diazepam/xanax in the UK so my experience is that it’s fairly well regulated.
Think probably one of the darkest periods of my life was when I’d get through a line or two of xanax over a night out. Became a horrible, violent cunt.
I don’t even know about general medical culture but just in my experience of recreational use it’s fairly worrying.
didn’t realize that xanax had addictive properties - thought it was quite widely prescribed for anxiety related conditions?
yeah, have a relative that takes small doses of diazepam for chronic pain and they seem to deal with it well. on the other hand, I do know a few people (all of them over 50 actually) who have struggled with dependence on pain killers.
Definitely does as with any painkiller, and a fair portion of people coming off heroin use will use it as a buffer and obviously just switch to that. Can see why it’s used for anxious people because it definitely made me lose inhibitions but such a dangerous thing to give out imo.
Was on oxycontin for a while after having lung surgery. Hated it, couldn’t wait to get off. Was just in a daze all day, not really asleep but too drowsy to concentrate on anything
I think I got through a week of Codeine, and got to the point where I was looking forward to the next dose / would time it just before getting into work etc. A week.
Cocodamol is usually over the counter so it’s pretty available and could easily be abused! The stuff for my migraines is 4 times the strength of that but they keep it on a tight leash.
Know someone with severe depression who had an unrelated injury and of course they gave them cocodamol and they got in trouble with it, so silly how they don’t take a look at the entire history before prescribing it.
You can get pure codiene without prescription in the UK. It’s called Codeine Linctus and is a cough syrup. Thought it’s EXTREMELY difficult to convince a pharmacy you need it. I used it when I had whooping cough and they wouldn’t let me have it until I had a coughing fit and started make whooping noises in front of them
From experience, as someone whose suffered with depression and anxiety for a long time and been very suicidal at several points in my life and had frequent panic attacks and a disorder that causes panic attacks (batphobia) in unfamiliar surroundings with tall buildings where something like Diazapam would be extremely useful… they never prescribe me it. The UK Doctors are very strict about dishing it out abusabal meds from experience,
It’s strange, they’re absolute rock hard at giving out addictive medicines for people looking to help their MH. But for people with maybe bad MH who have a physical injury it’s practically open day.
I think it’s because one’s temporary whereas one is assumed to be chronic. I’m not going to lie, I’m still gutted about the Diazapam thing, they either don’t know how servere it can get or don’t believe me (though I’ve had it since I was a young kid when drugs wouldn’t have been on my mind AND they know this :P) It makes going to major cities scary as hell for me and I need to usually get drunk to enjoy myself. O.o
yeah, that was my experience too. hospital didn’t even ask whether I had any MH issues / warn me about the addictive nature of the drug. only found out after I looked into it myself after feeling fucking buzzing and just generally blissed out for a few days on the codeine.
