Wow. I was prescribed some codeine-based cough syrup once, and was paranoid and only took the recommended amount. Even so, it affected me fairly significantly, enough that I probably won't take codeine any more. That stuff scares me.
I think I'm just giving up on narcotics altogether. When I had my wisdom teeth removed several years ago, I was given some hydrocodone (Vicodin) for pain relief. After taking just a single dose, I started experiencing mild hallucinations and "time loss"-- I'd look up and realize that an hour or two had passed without my having moved. It freaked me out enough that I stopped taking it immediately and just suffered in silence.
I can't imagine why that whole experience didn't teach me to be more careful with the codeine... I guess I was just desperate to get some sleep, as I've been keeping myself awake with all the coughing for the past several nights. Still, I think I'd rather be sleep deprived than have those awful codeine dreams again!
I didn't take enough to get codeine dreams, thankfully I suppose, but I certainly did notice the increased difficulty in urination. That was surprising but I found it was a known side effect. But the thing that bothered me the most was that I found I took some after the coughing had mostly gone away, knowing that I didn't really need to take it, but I did anyway. After I realized what I was doing, and read that codeine is converted to morphine in the brain, I made myself stop. I think at the time I'd recently read a book where one of the characters was addicted to morphine. I won't voluntarily touch the stuff any more. :)
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I can't imagine why that whole experience didn't teach me to be more careful with the codeine... I guess I was just desperate to get some sleep, as I've been keeping myself awake with all the coughing for the past several nights. Still, I think I'd rather be sleep deprived than have those awful codeine dreams again!
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