It took me six years to finally get off the pills
I GREW dependent on opiates while undergoing six operations to ease pain caused by severe endometriosis and hip damage.
I was prescribed tramadol in 2010 after paracetamol and ibuprofen failed to help.
Over the next two years I went in and out of hospital for four operations.
Tramadol was the only thing that gave me enough relief from the constant agony to allow me to work.
But it had side-effects and sometimes I’d come off it to give my body a break. At these times, I’d lose my voice, run a fever and feel sick. Then there was the insomnia, palpitations and anxiety. I was an addict.
In 2012 my GP advised me to taper off slowly. It took six weeks to get from eight pills a day to none. It was so tough.
I had to sleep in my mum’s bed because I was so anxious.
My limbs were jumping, my heart racing. It felt like I was going to die.
By 2016, I was reluctantly back on opiates – this time codeine – after tearing my hip cartilage during pregnancy. It took two ops and 15 months of high-dose codeine before I finally felt some improvement.
Finally, I went cold turkey. This withdrawal proved to be the worst yet but I was determined to push through. What I’ve learned is how easy it is to become dependent, how hard it is to come off, and how little warning well-meaning GPS give you about both of these
things.