Codeine Addiction Treatment 

Codeine is an opioid. 

If you take it for more than a few days, the brain becomes used to you using it. To protect itself, your brain will change the way it works. 

This is known as tolerance. 

When this happens, you will need increasing amounts of Codeine to have the same effects as the amount you started with. 

If you stop using it, the brain will struggle to make immediate adjustments. As it does it will dump large quantities of  a naturally occurring bodily chemical called Norepinephrine into your system. This chemical causes the symptoms known as withdrawal. 

No. 

Forget what you see on television and in films. 

Locking yourself in a room with some toilet roll, bottle of water and a bucket is not safe. 

When your brain realises you have stopped taking Codeine, within 15 hours, it will start dumping large quantities of Norepinephrine into your system. This is what causes the symptoms known as  withdrawal. 

These can be extremely debilitating. 

When you experience these symptoms, your brain will tell you what you already know: If you take Codeine you will feel better. 

The problem is, even after a day, if you take the same amount of Codeine as you had been taking, your brain will not be able to cope and you may overdose:Accidentally. 

The loss of bodily fluid caused by Opioid withdrawal can be fatal. It is not as simply as just drinking water: That can just make things worse as you will not be replacing electrolytes. 

Codeine is a very short acting drug. 

It has, what is known as a, half life of around three hours. 

This means that, within three hours, 50% of it’s effectiveness has gone. 

The normal calculation is to times this half life X 5 to work out when the problem will start. This , with Codeine, will be 15 hours. 

Yes. 

There are a small number of centres that use a SMART or STRENGTH model of group therapy. 

We can give you a list of centres to speak to. 

Yes. 

There are some centres that use individual therapy with no groups to attend. 

We can give you a list. 

You can have a weeks admission to a fully CQC registered addiction treatment centre for £1,975. 

There are no hidden charges. 

Everything is included: 

• Medication 
• Clinicians, nurses, therapists, support staff
• Meals
• Accomodation
• Hotel services
• Aftercare

 £6,950 

This includes: 

• Clinicians, nurses, support staff and therapists
• All therapy sessions and groups
• Meals
• Accommodation 
• Medication 
• Aftercare

There are no hidden charges

Yes. 

There are a number of centres that use SMART as the therapy model. 

We can give you a list. 

Your local authority is responsible for addiction treatment in your area. 

Some local authorities provide the service themselves. Most contract services out to a private company, a charity or buy in NHS services. 

If you register with your local free to use service you will be assigned a keyworker. 

You will need to attend every meeting and group session before they will consider applying for funding for you to attend residential rehab for free. 

It is, usually, very rare for someone to be allocated funds for rehab if they are addicted to Nitrous Oxide. 

 

As clinicians we would not recommend this. 

While we can signpost you to an addiction specialist GP or a consultant psychiatrist in addictions who can provide this, such an approach won’t address the reasons you were taking Codeine. 

We appreciate that, for some, this is preferable but it will cost many times more than residential treatment. 

It may require 24/7 nursing support in the home which will be very cost prohibitive. 

Accident and Emergency departments are not funded or geared up for addiction treatment. 

The staff will probably take some physical observations and they send you home with some safety advice and contact details for local addiction services. 

Only in extreme circumstances will they treat you and only until you are safe to go home. 

If you were admitted and that is the very rare exception to the rule, they would treat your symptoms only and not provide a detox. Again, as soon as you are well enough to leave you will be discharged. 

The first signs of Codeine withdrawal may start in as little as 8 hours, though, usually, they start a few hours later. 

You may experience: 

• Anxiety 
• Runny nose
• Yawning
• Sweating
• Restlessness
• Feeling of doom

Between 24-48 hours: 

• Muscle aches and bone pain
• Stomach cramps
• Chills
• Gooseflesh skin
• Insomnia
• Flu like symptoms

48-72 hours: 

• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Deep muscle pain 
• Cravings will peak at this time

After 4-7 days your appetite will start to return and you will start to feel generally better. 

After the first week and especially for the next seven days, your sleep can continue to be interrupted with continued low mood. 

The cravings can last for several months. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Codeine addiction, like any addiction, has four elements of treatment: 

• Detox: To safely come away from physical dependency
• Therapy: Dealing with underlying issues that led to addiction and learning how to regulate emotions 
• Relapse prevention skills: Navigating triggering situations to avoid relapse. 
• Aftercare: All centres provide a minimum of a years aftercare with a weekly, post discharge meeting and a dedicated support line. 

Yes. 

While Methadone remains the gold standard of any Opioid detox, it is not the only medication that can be used. 

Sometimes, your clinician can use Codeine to detox you as well as other options such as Methadone or Buprenorphine. 

One of the advantages of Methadone is that, because it comes in liquid form, it is very straightforward to reduce the dose. 

Yes. 

Buvidal is a new way of using an existing drug called Buprenorphine (also known as Espranor and Subutex). 

Buvidal is an opioid but works slightly differently to Methadone. 

It is an injectable form of Buprenorphine. 

While it was invented for long term maintenance treatment, it is now widely used for detox. 

You would have one injection, a week, for a month then one monthly dose. 

The choice is to then, the following month, is to revert to the weekly injections and reduce the dosage and/or convert to oral Buprenorphine (as the dose in tablets can be even smaller) or simply not have another injection. 

If you stop the injection, because it is so long acting you will detox, usually, without noticing. 

 

Naltrexone implants can help, once you have detoxed, to stay abstinent. 

While they are not illegal in the UK they are not licenced on the NHS so you would need to find a private doctor to provide this service. 

As clinicians we do not recommend this  treatment because it does not address the reasons why you were taking Codeine. 

Many people have them removed before they expire. 

The success rate, using implants, is low. 

Unlikely. 

It is highly unlikely that an addiction clinician would agree to provide a 7 day detox. 

This is because you are likely, after 7 days, to be experiencing significant cravings. 

Within hours of you stopping Codeine, your brain starts to re-adjust. 

This means that if you start taking Codeine again your brain will not be able to process the same amount as it did: Even the day before. 

This is when people overdose. While it will be accidental the potential for fatality is the same. 

Possibly. 

Addiction treatment, in the UK, is usually an add on to a policy. 

In any event, if you are covered you will normally need a pre-authorisation code from your insurance company. 

Please check with your insurance company. 

All NHS GP surgeries are private companies. 

They provide medical services under a contract, part of which requires them to reduce and stop long term opioid prescribing. 

The NHS reviews data (not your personal medical records) and your surgery has financial incentives to reduce this prescribing. 

Your GP will invite you in for a conversation. 

If you keep missing this appointment they will reduce and stop your script: By default. 

No. 

All free to use addiction services are the responsibility of your local authority (whom you pay your council tax to). 

Your local authority are free to pay a private company to provide it, a charity or to contract in the NHS: It is entirely up to them. 

If you register with your local free to use service, you will be allocated a key worker (someone who is usually in long term recovery themselves). 

You will be expected to attend all meeting and groups aligned to your care plan. 

Due to budgetary constraints, only those in extreme need (very poor physical and mental health) will be put forward to the local authority funding panel will be considered for free rehab. 

Even if the NHS is paid to run the service, they still have to get funding approval from the local authority funding panel. 

 

There are only a handful of GP surgeries in the UK that are commissioned to provide free to use addiction services by the local authority. The same rules apply when it comes to providing free rehab. 

You can’t. 

The NHS only provides free to use addiction services if they are commissioned to do so by your local authority. 

If the NHS has been commissioned in your area, they can only provide a Methadone or Buprenorphine detox for Codeine addiction. 

Methadone is the gold standard for any Opioid addiction. 

There is a lot of misinformation surrounding Methadone. 

If you use free services you have to attend regular meetings with your keyworker and the inhouse clinician. You will also be expected to attend group sessions. 

Your medication has to be started off by you attending a pharmacy, daily, for a period of time. 

Eventually, you may be allowed to collect your medication on a weekly basis from the pharmacy. 

There are very strict Home Office rules. 

If you do not collect your medication for three  days: Your prescription is cancelled and you have to go back to see your keyworker. 

 

 Ibogaine is not safe to use. 

It’s use, in centres overseas, has been associated with multiple deaths. 

It is illegal to supply Ibogaine to anyone in the UK. 

No reputable clinician in the UK, or centre, would offer it. 

It is not a proven treatment for Codeine addiction. 

No. 

Ayahuasca is illegal in the UK because some of it’s constituent ingredients are class A drugs. 

There have been multiple deaths associated with this substance in overseas clinics. 

There is no known medicinal use for Ayahuasca. 

No reputable clinician and/or treatment centre in the UK would recommend or use it.