Irish woman reveals pain of her 84-pills-a-day CODEINE addiction

We may complain about the barrage of questioning we're faced with when we attempt to buy codeine-based painkillers at a pharmacy, but it's all for a good reason.

One Irish woman has spoken out about her two-and-a-half year struggle with codeine, which at its peak saw her taking up to 84 tablets every day.

"Two and a half years ago, I broke my ankle. I was told to take a codeine-based tablet," Bray woman Stacey Dutton explains in a Facebook post. 

"After three weeks of taking these, my ankle healed but I still continued taking the pills. I had become addicted to the codeine.

"It went from 12 a day but up to November last year, I was taking 84 a day."

Stacey goes on to explain how her addiction issues led to her life falling apart – though from the outside she appeared to be coping well.

"From a stranger's eyes, I was fine, nothing was up, I was a happy 23-year-old. But from my best friends and family's eyes I had changed big time."

"I had lost everything – a great job, my home, but most importantly I lost my [boyfriend] Chris."

Finally, just last month, Stacey decided to seek help.

"Over December I came off everything with the help of my family and a doctor. I went from 1030mg of codeine a day to just 120," she writes.

"Right now, I am packing my bag for rehab, that’s where I’ll be for the next six months.

"Codeine is not seen as a huge problem because, let's face it, you can buy it anywhere in any chemist but I'm telling you now it has ruined my life."

Stacey says she shared the post to alert others and to let anyone with a similar problem know that they're not alone.