Codeine Withdrawal - Any Experiences?

[catembi]

My horse has been on a high dose of codeine for several months to control diarrhoea which was a side effect of having inflamed intestines. His insides are better now, so under vet advice we've been reducing the codeine by 5 pills every few days. Started out on 40 x 60 mg pills twice a day & we're now down to 20 twice a day.

The only thing is, the horse is miserable as sin. He's still just about eating (altho kind of disinterestedly) & putting on weight but is really dull & listless. Is he suffering from withdrawal?

According to the 'net, humans withdrawing from codeine can experience lots of side effects. Has anyone had to wean a horse off codeine & how did it go?

It's very upsetting that he was fully recovered & back in light work, only for him to go mopey. All input much appreciated.

 

[barkinghorse]

I know what codeine does to me!!
I feel listless and "out of it" give it a few days and see if he gets any better, if not, then i would call the vet for advice.
Keep us posted and fingers crossed he will be fine
Jo

 

[catembi]

Thanks for that - that's exactly how he looks - listless & out of it.

According to a drug addicts' site, symptoms peak in 48 hours & tail off in a week to 10 days... Feels like forever tho cos he's been so ill...& now he looks like he did when he was at death's door, which is worrying me a lot.

Why are horses so emotionally draining???

 

[catembi]

Well, so much for that...

We were doing so well - yesterday morning all was fine (apart from looking totally depressed) but yesterday evening we were doing gravy poo again. All over him, all over his rug, which I've just had washed & re-proofed cos I thought we were safely past the pooing for England stage...

Phoned the vet today & we're back up to 40 pills again starting this eve. Horse was lying in the corner of the field looking rough & covered in poo when I got home today, but now he's had his fix, I think he's perked up a fraction...or maybe that's my wishful thinking.

Tho I s'pose I'd rather he carried on being a junkie than started suffering from the most manic diarrhoea. Next time (if we survive long enough for there to be a next time) we've got to wean him off his habit v v slowly.

 

[Llwyncwn]

Have been following from your initial post and so glad he's improving. Have you tried arrowroot powder mixed in with his feed to dry him up a little? Its quite natural with no side effects. I have been using this for years and always seems to do the trick with runny tums. Might be worth a try.

 

[Alibear]

Not as bad as you but to get mac off his codiene we just had to reduce it by one tablet every day (not from both feeds a total of one a day). But he was having about half the number of tablets your boy is.

We did have a few false starts to where we had to up it again but a couple of tablets , wait for it all to settle and then start cutting back again.

Good news is he is now off it completly and fine, good luck.

 

[catembi]

Thanks guys...

Horse keeps laying down flat. More pills shortly. Is very slightly interested in food. I've contacted a homeopathic vet too & am waiting to hear from them.

Why can't I have a hobby that involves less heartache?? :-(

 

[Alibear]

Has the vet put him on anything to help his digestion? Pro/pre biotics etc?

Mac was on super strength ones for a while and he also does better on coligone and or Naff pink powders.
Coligone liquid can be quite soothing I believe, or good old aloe vera is good for inflamed intestines, works wonder on me!

 

[catembi]

He was on pro / pre biotics ages ago when we thought it was just a bit of spring grass tummy from the flush of autumn grass.

At the mo he's on a yakult twice a day & 25 ml of gaviscon twice a day. I got some coligone & then I compared the ingredients to gaviscon & they were virtually identical but gaviscon's cheaper & easier to get hold of, esp supermarket's own brand.

Had forgotten about aloe. Maybe it would be worth adding to the mix. The only thing is, with him being v fussy with his food, everything has to be administered with an old worming syringe, which is really p***ing him off...

A feature of this disease is the constant ups & downs. You just think you're getting somewhere, then all of a sudden you're not. :-(