A single mother has struggled with a co-codamol addiction for nearly a decade, which began after she was prescribed the medication following ovarian surgery.

Carrie Stafford, 30, residing in Manchester, found herself back on the painkiller carousel after being given the drug post-wisdom tooth extraction—trapping her in a relentless cycle of quitting and relapsing with the readily available medication.

Even after completing her prescription, she continued to consume the drug for an additional three months, despite no longer experiencing any pain.

During her most desperate times, the sales professional resorted to visiting numerous pharmacies, feigning back pain to acquire the potent painkiller.

Ms. Stafford confessed, “I was always aware that taking it so frequently and in high amounts could harm my body.”

“Yet, that awareness wasn’t enough to deter me at the time. Not at all,” she admitted.

‘It consumes your mind because you’re chasing it all the time. It has a chokehold on you because when you’re using it you’re thinking of when you can next take it, you’re thinking that you rely on it to get through the day.

‘It’s embarrassing because you know that you’re doing it to hide something. Sometimes the pharmacist would ask you what it’s for and I’d be like, ‘oh I’ve got back pain’ and make something up. 

Carrie would take eight pills a day—and up to 4g of paracetamol to get her coeidne fix 

Despite knowing that the dose she was on could do a significant amount of damage, she told herself it was ‘safe’ because she wasn’t exceeding what it said on the box 

‘But I found that they gave me a little bit of a euphoric feeling. I felt happier and lighter and just content,’ she added. 

‘Because I’ve always struggled with my mental health, I always feel like there’s a lot going on in my head and when I was taking them it silenced it a bit.’ 

Co-codamol is a mixture of two different painkillers, paracetamol and codeine—an opioid linked to hundreds of fatal overdoses in the UK over the past few years.

It is often used at lower doses to treat aches and pains including period pain, muscle pain and toothache, whilst the higher strengths are prescribed following injury or operation. 

Codeine is an opioid which is metabolised into morphine, a highly addictive painkiller, from which heroine is derived, by the liver. 

In the short term, they not only dull pain but can trigger feelings of calm and drowsiness. But in higher doses, they can also suppress breathing and affect the heart, with potentially deadly consequences. 

According to the NHS, adults can take one or two tablets of any strength up to four times in 24 hours. But it’s important to leave a gap of at least four hours between doses and not to exceed eight tablets within a 24 hour period. 

‘I was telling myself that if I wasn’t taking more than what the box said, I was safe,’ Ms Stafford recalled. 

The-mother-of-one was first prescribed codeine in 2016 following surgery to remove a football-sized ovarian cyst

Co-codamol tablets and capsules come in 3 different strengths, containing 8mg, 15mg or 30mg of codeine. All 3 strengths contain 500mg of paracetamol – the same as in a standard paracetamol tablet or capsule.

Since 2016, Carrie has been battling an addiction to the drug, chasing a feeling of euphoria 

‘Although I knew taking what I was taking was still dangerous, but because that’s what it said on the box, it kind of makes you feel like you’re okay.’ 

But even taking too much paracetamol can be extremely dangerous, the health service warns, because it can cause irreversible liver damage. 

Thankfully, the mother-of-one—who was first prescribed co-codamol in 2016 following a surgery to remove a cyst on her ovaries—is now clean, but at her worst she would hide the drugs around the house so she could take them without her husband knowing. 

She said: ‘People call it a secret addiction because people don’t necessarily see you taking it and they don’t see what it does to you. But it’s not obvious looking at somebody they’re taking it.’

But after being prescribed the powerful drug for the last time in May 2024, the sales worker knew something had to change.   

‘I started to realise that it wasn’t healthy, it wasn’t good for my body,’ she said. 

‘It makes you get really constipated and I also suffer from migraines, which the co-codamol can make worse. 

‘I was finding that the cons were outweighing the pros of taking it so I just went cold turkey like I’ve always done. 

Carrie is now sober and is determined to raise better awareness around the dangers of opioids 

Carrie said she used to hide the painkillers from her husband around the house, because she was so embarrassed 

‘It’s definitely a big thing and because it’s an opiate it’s obviously a very strong drug and it’s obviously addictive and it just gets people super easy.

‘I used to do a lot of driving for work and it would make me really sleepy so I was always having to keep up the caffeine and stuff. I was ignoring that because I’m thinking, that’s just a price to pay.

She continued: ‘It’s easy to get a hold of and because of how it makes you feel you kind of ignore the fact that it’s addictive and you’re just enjoying how it makes you feel.’

But now she is very wary of painkillers and, in a bid to raise awareness, has shared her journey on TikTok, educating others about the dangers of codeine. 

‘A week ago I got a water infection and I was in a lot of pain and I went to the chemist,’ she recalled. 

‘I was looking at the co-codamol thinking I just need to buy it because it will help me and then I was like “absolutely not”.

‘I knew that everybody would be mortified and pissed off at me if I were to buy it. I would have lost all of the days that I would have stayed off it and I’d be really disappointed.’

She now only takes paracetamol to manage pain and is urging others to be cautious when taking co-codamol, even if it has been prescribed by a doctor. 

Carrie shared a video on TikTok in which can be seen throwing away the addictive pills 

Nurofen Plus is a commonly abused OTC painkiller which contains codeine

‘It’s definitely a drug to be cautious with,’ she said. ‘You should only take it when you have pain or for whatever it is that you’ve been prescribed it for. Don’t take it for any other reason. 

‘To anyone who is in this position now and feels like they need to get out of it, absolutely reach out, speak to your GP. 

‘There are also so many charities that can help. Tell people in your family what’s happened because as soon as you tell people you know you’ve got that support around you,’ she pleaded. 

Her warning comes as three more mothers have shared their devastating experience of the powerful drug with the Daily Mail, with Carrie being just one of the estimated 500,000 Britons addicted to opioid painkillers. 

Pharmacists are instructed to sell codeine-containing painkillers only if other options have proved ineffective – and advise that they are to be used for no more than three days.

Guidelines also require them to ensure that tablets ‘are not intended for abuse or misuse’, so many will limit how much they sell to a single customer.

But, like the other people the Daily Mail spoke to, Ms Stafford believes the dangers of codeine are downplayed because they are so widely, and easily available. 

Experts agree the easy availability of addictive painkillers in high street stores needs to be examined, but warn GPs also need specialist training to help opioid addicts quit.