To hell and back with Solpadeine!
I thought I’d relate my experiences with painkillers. If you get bored easily just don’t read on. If you found this post googling “solpadeine addiction“, you might read on and find some encouragement. In any case, if you think it takes years to get addicted, you’d better think again!
Over the past six days or so, I’ve travelled to hell but I believe I’m slowly returning to life now.
To recap the beginning (I’ve talked about it elsewhere on my blog): I’ve been having permanent headaches for about 3 months or longer, I can’t exactly pinpoint the start of it any more. Initially, I used to take ibuprofen (Irfen, Nurofen), sometimes paracetamol (Panadol). Sometimes they’d help, but more often they would just dull the pain, not really rid me of it. When it became more than just a nuisance, I saw a doctor (our family doctor was on holiday), who said it was probably due to my working long hours in the same position in front of the computer. And he recommended I should take Solpadeine instead of the other painkillers…
For a while, Solpadeine (a combination of paracetamol, codeine and caffeine) worked really well. Their effect lasted about 7 hours a stretch, and two doses a day of 2 capsules each helped me to function pretty well – never mind that my sleep patterns got “patchy”. Then I noticed that 7 hours decreased to 5… and I read up on Solpadeine on the internet. Googling “solpadeine addiction” opens up a whole world of terror to you!
Well, the headaches just wouldn’t let up; in mid-May I spent three days in hospital where all findings including x-ray and CT scan where found to be normal. A couple of weeks later I started physiotherapy and went swimming several times a week after work. Nothing seemed to have a lasting effect though. Regarding the danger of addiction I fooled myself by taking Solpadeine first thing in the morning (by then I woke up regularly between 4 and 5 am) and at lunchtime switched to Panadol , or sometimes Irfen… And on and on it went… you get the picture.
Last Wednesday, after having slept just 2 hours the previous night, I went to my doctor and cried (quite literally) for help. In the end he gave me Paxetin (paroxetine), an antidepressant, and told me to stop immediately all painkillers including Panadol. That’s when above mentioned hell came into the picture. After the first day I couldn’t eat anything, my mouth got so dry I couldn’t swallow anything except for water and grapes, which became my exclusive diet for 4 days. I tried half a bite-sized ‘Bounty’ chocolate and just couldn’t get it through my throat. On top of all that, headaches and muscle pains became horrendous.
My husband was abroad till early Saturday morning; I spent all days and nights until he came back wandering restlessly between the living room sofa and my bed, depending on heat and noise levels (because how Murphy’s Law just loved it, the village feast was being celebrated right in front of our doorstep!). Saturday morning I took a deep breath and made myself go to the photography course, the first time I’d left the horizontal since Wednesday! I pottered through somehow, but after a couple of hours I had to give up shooting, I just sat there in the shade watching the action, hoping time would pass quicker than normal.
On my return home, I collapsed in pain and exhaustion. I assure you I’m not making this up, I was totally out of it. Late afternoon I phoned my doctor but he was at some event and couldn’t discuss things over the phone with me, he said, “well take the Solpadeine then, but they really are not the solution!” Well, I really thought so too! Saturday night was worse than anything I had experienced until then. The pain in my head and shoulder/back muscles was practically matching the petards exploding outside the door, like I was connected to some kind of electrical device firing at random locations of my body.
The only reason why I did NOT resort to Solpadeine again was the awareness that I’d been off them for four whole days already. It dawned on me that perhaps my original headache might not really exist any longer but that I was “merely” (ha!) suffering withdrawal from the bloody meds!
Somehow the night passed, and Sunday morning I decided to get rid of the paroxetine, too. I hardly moved away from the sofa all day, taking Panadol at minimum intervals of 6 hours and drinking enormous amounts of water.
Well, that was yesterday. The pain hasn’t disappeared but it did let me sleep for a whole four hours in one go last night. I couldn’t believe I was waking up to bright daylight!
The last time I took two Panadol was eight hours ago, and I’m desperately clinging to all sorts of distractions from taking the next dose – I’m certain that the paracetamol has to go from my system, too! I forced myself to watch silly videos, doze off, write this post, finally have a look at my photos of Saturday and edit a few. At times I’m just staring into space, but that’s ok too, no?
It’s so strange; yesterday I was absolutely certain that I was going to quit the course, cancel my trip to Munich, and maybe never get back to normal again. And only 24 hours later I’m for the first time seeing a strong light at the end of the tunnel. I’m going to beat this shit!
