Codeine - Effects on the Body

Effects on the Body

Most people who use codeine for its prescribed purposes experience few side effects. A bothersome cough disappears, perhaps with some drowsiness. Post-surgical pain decreases, perhaps with some nausea. When the medical problem goes away, the patient stops using the pills or cough syrup with no significant after-effects.

Ingesting the drug at higher-than-prescribed doses, some users may experience a sense of well-being, along with a loss of inhibitionsInner thoughts that keep people from engaging in certain activities. and feelings of drowsiness or light-headedness. Other users have reported the opposite effect: a sense of discomfort and restlessness. Because codeine is taken orally, the user might not feel the effects of the drug for a half an hour to an hour after ingestion. The sensations last several hours and then slowly diminish. Users might feel nauseated or their skin might itch. An overdose can cause users—especially children—to stop breathing. In the event that a codeine abuser stops breathing, rapid administration of the drug naloxone (Narcan) will reverse the effects of the opiate. However, the patient must be diagnosed by a doctor very quickly.

The most profound effect of codeine and other related opiates is psychological. Flooding the brain with opioids from drug use causes the brain to stop producing naturally occurring endorphinsA group of naturally occurring substances in the body that relieve pain and promote a sense of well-being., or pleasure-enhancing hormones. Then, when the effects of the drug wear off, the user may feel uncomfortable, anxious, and irritable. He or she might have trouble relaxing or sleeping. Many abusers take another high dose of the opiate in order to restore that feeling of well-being. Such abuse leads to serious problems with addiction.

Addiction to opiates like codeine can happen swiftly; withdrawalThe process of gradually cutting back on the amount of a drug being taken until it is discontinued entirely; also the accompanying physiological effects of terminating use of an addictive drug. can be a difficult and lengthy ordeal. Almost immediately, the codeine abuser who stops taking the drug experiences a host of unpleasant symptoms, including restlessness, anxiety, insomniaDifficulty falling asleep or an inability to sleep., muscle and bone pain, diarrhea, chills that produce goose bumps (hence the term "cold turkey"), and leg tremors ("kicking the habit"). The patient may yawn frequently and feel more sensitivity to pain. These flu-like symptoms usually last for a few days.

What makes opiate addiction so hard to beat is the lasting effects on the brain. The recovering codeine abuser will just "not feel good" psychologically as the brain readjusts to producing its own endorphins. Cynthia Kuhn, Scott Swartzwelder, and Wilkie Wilson described this situation in Buzzed: The Straight Facts about the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy. "There is a dysphoriaPronounced diss-FOR-ee-yuh; an abnormal feeling of anxiety, discontent, or discomfort; the opposite of euphoria. (the just-feeling-lousy feeling), which may be the reverse of opiate-induced euphoria. Withdrawing opiate addicts just feel bad, and they feel bad in a way that they know [taking more] opiates will solve. The craving for a fix can last for months, long after the physical symptoms have abated," or gone away.