Peaches Geldof

[maytoseptember]

My first experience of this as a concept was my ex husbands mother. When she was in a hospice dying, they couldn’t understand why the morphine (diamorphine?) wasn’t working until it was a level that would kill a person or two.

Turns out she’d been a codeine addict for 30 years and had an off the charts tolerance to opiates. After she died, the sheer number of boxes of codeine in her house when we cleared it was a sight to behold.

Whoa.

But that doesn’t actually surprise me. There were long running threads on Mumsnet that were full of codeine addicts. And there weren’t offering support to each other / encouraging each other to get help, they were usually frantically enabling each other. It was years ago now, but some sort of OTC painkiller brand got taken off the market and they were gutted because it meant they couldn’t get their hands on unrestricted amounts of codeine anymore.

There were also long running cocaine threads too. Full of women trying to support each other but mainly falling off the wagon “Tee hee, hubby has just texted his dealer!” “Ooh I’m jealous, enjoy!” etc

 

[BigMavis]

@Clairer86 so the clinical dose of methadone depends on where a person is in their addiction and they're weaned off?
I remember those threads on mumsnet.

 

[Raininvain]

If people are abusing CoCodamol then they can end up knackering their liver due to the paracetamol and would be better off going on a substitute prescription of Methadone or Subutex etc.
Just go to the G.P and tell them you want an appointment with the Drug team for a prescription/support they wont be shocked or anything.

 

[heatmagazine]

To be honest ive always been a bit confused about methadone- i didnt understand if it was just legal heroin, or a painkiller etc. My drugs worker told me Methadone saturates all your receptors in your brain and if users take heroin or other opiates on top of the methadone then they dont have the same effect (ie) you dont get as high.

I dont really feel anything on my methadone tbh, i certainly dont feel high. But it stops the opiate cravings and i dont feel as though im withdrawing. I remember when i used to mess about with my methadone prescription and i used to take 2 bottles instead of 1 and sometimes that used to make me feel a slight high but absolutely nothing like the way heroin or other opiates made me feel.

Some users who i knew refused to touch methadone, i think due to the effect heroin would then have on them. And also some users (including me probably) are simply swapping one addiction to another, because it is also addictive and some people use methadone as their drug of choice.

Methadone has a half life of 36 hours. It is one of the worst drugs to detox from. Toxicity wise it is a lot worse for you than medical grade heroin (can’t spell the word ) so a lot of seasoned users that have been in the system for years will not go on it. Socially it is very good, the more users stabilised on methadone, the less crime, less exploitation, better relationships with families and children - the list goes on. In detox units you’ll see heroin users get clean a lot quicker and less painful than a methadone user. But nothing ever compares to a Valium detox, I’ve done two of them, if I ever relapse on Valium again I’ll stay on it. It’s absolutely awful.
Methadone isn’t just used for addiction, it’s also prescribed as a pain medication with people with cancers etc would you believe?! I think it’s because of how long it lasts in the system!

 

[Raininvain]

Methadone is cheap as well so that will have a bearing on it.

 

[Clairer86]

@Clairer86 so the clinical dose of methadone depends on where a person is in their addiction and they're weaned off?
I remember those threads on mumsnet.

Yes i think so, but it seems where i live the blanket dose they put you on first is 30ml and then either up it or lower it depending on you. I started on 30ml and stayed there for a while and then i gradually went down to 20 ml- but this was done very slowly, and i went down 2 ml every fortnight. But i found 20ml just wasnt enough, i felt poorly and i ended up using heroin again. So now ive been on 30ml daily since May 2020 and its good for me.

Methadone has a half life of 36 hours. It is one of the worst drugs to detox from. Toxicity wise it is a lot worse for you than medical grade heroin (can’t spell the word ) so a lot of seasoned users that have been in the system for years will not go on it. Socially it is very good, the more users stabilised on methadone, the less crime, less exploitation, better relationships with families and children - the list goes on. In detox units you’ll see heroin users get clean a lot quicker and less painful than a methadone user. But nothing ever compares to a Valium detox, I’ve done two of them, if I ever relapse on Valium again I’ll stay on it. It’s absolutely awful.
Methadone isn’t just used for addiction, it’s also prescribed as a pain medication with people with cancers etc would you believe?! I think it’s because of how long it lasts in the system!

Thankyou for explaining that for me. My drugs worker is amazing but everytime ive asked her about what methadone is and does, i always end up more confused than i started with!

 

[Eltonjohnsflorist]

I always think it’s interesting to compare illegal drugs like heroin with legal such as codeine or Valium.

Valium is apparently one of the hardest drugs to get off- to the point that there is no agreed successful withdrawal system or rehab protocol . Luckily it’s no longer prescribed medium to long term so the number of people getting addicted to it “legitimately” is greatly reduced, and you are left with a large group of older addicts who will die out in the next 30-40 years.

Because Valium is so addictive, and so cheap, these people will simply be prescribed it for the rest of their lives. As far as I am aware they don’t cause crime (they are usually highly anxious and often agoraphobic etc so this isn’t really the sort of behaviour that fits- and obviously, with a prescribed supply- they don’t need to commit crime to get drugs) and probably don’t cause many social problems.
Compare their lives to heroin addicts- the main difference is just that one is legal and one isn’t. Which is a weird, socially constructed difference that ultimately doesn’t mean much.

 

[Pixipoppy]

I read someone’s description of heroin addiction and the way he put it really changed my views - he said all humans have basic needs like eating, drinking, sleeping and keeping warm. As soon as you start to use heroin this becomes another basic need that didn’t exist before. Once you’ve been exposed to opiates it’s like your body decides it now needs them to function. It’s really scary and awful, I hate how addicts are viewed by society to be honest

 

[Clairer86]

Yes i think so, but it seems where i live the blanket dose they put you on first is 30ml and then either up it or lower it depending on you. I started on 30ml and stayed there for a while and then i gradually went down to 20 ml- but this was done very slowly, and i went down 2 ml every fortnight. But i found 20ml just wasnt enough, i felt poorly and i ended up using heroin again. So now ive been on 30ml daily since May 2020 and its good for me.



Thankyou for explaining that for me. My drugs worker is amazing but everytime ive asked her about what methadone is and does, i always end up more confused than i started with!

I just wanted to add about valium, well done for getting off it. I have never been on it myself but ive heard so many stories like what you said. I remember when i was at uni and being prescribed Zopiclone by the campus doctor. And my then boyfriend was absolutely thrilled about me getting them so he could take some of them. This was in 2009 and that was the first and last time ive been prescribed them. I presume zopiclone are pretty similar to valium? At the moment im on mirtazapine for my mental health/sleep issues and it was only the other day i found out they are from the same family as Benzos!

 

[Vanillaco]

Mitch Winehouse is a failed singer who was living his dreams through his daughter. If you watch the documentary ‘Amy’ you’ll see most of her friends blame him for her not getting the help she needed. He constantly stood in the way and told people she was fine when she clearly wasn’t!

These deadbeat dads are always the same. Adele's dad moaning on because she wont forgive him. I wonder how much 'forgiveness' he would have wanted if she worked in Sainsburys? None, I bet.

Exclusive: Peaches Geldof introduces baby Phaedra

Hello! Exclusive: new mum Peaches Geldof introduces Phaedra, her second son with Tom Cohen.

www.hellomagazine.com

Peaches mentions here that she didn’t go private. Both babies were born via C-section, and she stayed in hospital for a short while after. I think after her first the baby was in ICU.

Peaches reveals her terror during baby birth drama

New mother Peaches Geldof has revealed how she suffered a "terrifying" ordeal following the birth of her son when he was rushed into intensive care.

www.independent.ie

I wonder how many private hospitals would risk a birth of a baby who's mother was on a methadone programme? The baby would have had to be carefully monitored and go straight to intensive care. may private hospitals dont have that, so the baby would have had to be transferred to the nearest NHS hospital, wasting time and resources rather than just have the baby in an NHS hospital with an NICU

 

[heatmagazine]

I always think it’s interesting to compare illegal drugs like heroin with legal such as codeine or Valium.

Valium is apparently one of the hardest drugs to get off- to the point that there is no agreed successful withdrawal system or rehab protocol . Luckily it’s no longer prescribed medium to long term so the number of people getting addicted to it “legitimately” is greatly reduced, and you are left with a large group of older addicts who will die out in the next 30-40 years.

Because Valium is so addictive, and so cheap, these people will simply be prescribed it for the rest of their lives. As far as I am aware they don’t cause crime (they are usually highly anxious and often agoraphobic etc so this isn’t really the sort of behaviour that fits- and obviously, with a prescribed supply- they don’t need to commit crime to get drugs) and probably don’t cause many social problems.
Compare their lives to heroin addicts- the main difference is just that one is legal and one isn’t. Which is a weird, socially constructed difference that ultimately doesn’t mean much.

Nah us Valium addicts are just as much of a hinderance to society. Being off your head on Valium is the best way to go shop lifting and do other using behaviours because you’re not anxious and melt into the rest of the shop. Also your tolerance just goes through the roof, so you have to buy it on the street and their are a load of fake ones so it’s pot luck on what you get unless you use other people’s prescriptions and buy them off them. It’s more difficult to be prescribed benzodiazepines too as medical records are shared across drs and walk in clinics. I used to dress up in a dress suit and walk around with a cherry up my arse into the local walk ins and tell them I had a business trip planned to Australia and they would dish out a box of 28. At the end of my using it was so difficult to get hold of ‘legally’ due to the change in medical records. I’ve done all diazepam detoxes in rehabs, but I had to wean down via benzo reduction program to 30mg. Valium is also used heavily with stimulant users, crack heads will take a load to go to sleep or calm down as it makes you so paranoid. I’m not sure if peaches ever did crack or any other drug?

 

[Whoops i said it]

She wasn't on the methadone programme, she had relapsed. She had failed several drug tests so it's not accurate to say she was adhering to treatment. She should not have been in sole charge of her children alone.

It was on the police report posted a few pages that she was on a methadone programme. From the sound of it they had given her enough for the time till her next prescription (which was months ) Maybe that was why she kept the empty bottles so they couldn’t see how much she was using.

Is SS were involved there would be an inquiry of sorts. I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere nor any mention of SS being involved in the inquest etc. All professional opinion I’ve seen have been from the Drug’s programme, which could be private. Any service has a duty of care to report to relevant authorities if they see that person as a danger to themselves or others.

Again about Peaches using again, I only thought that information had come from Tom. Quite possible she used all her methadone, was unable to go back to where she was receiving treatment, so went back to heroin.

 

[Eltonjohnsflorist]

Nah us Valium addicts are just as much of a hinderance to society. Being off your head on Valium is the best way to go shop lifting and do other using behaviours because you’re not anxious and melt into the rest of the shop. Also your tolerance just goes through the roof, so you have to buy it on the street and their are a load of fake ones so it’s pot luck on what you get unless you use other people’s prescriptions and buy them off them. It’s more difficult to be prescribed benzodiazepines too as medical records are shared across drs and walk in clinics. I used to dress up in a dress suit and walk around with a cherry up my arse into the local walk ins and tell them I had a business trip planned to Australia and they would dish out a box of 28. At the end of my using it was so difficult to get hold of ‘legally’ due to the change in medical records. I’ve done all diazepam detoxes in rehabs, but I had to wean down via benzo reduction program to 30mg. Valium is also used heavily with stimulant users, crack heads will take a load to go to sleep or calm down as it makes you so paranoid. I’m not sure if peaches ever did crack or any other drug?

Oh yes sorry I was thinking of “legitimate” users- people who were prescribed it many years ago for their anxiety and are now obviously addicted and their mental health is so affected by the addiction they’ll never come off it. Cheaper and easier to keep prescribing, every GP surgery has these patients and there is no point trying to do anything else with them.

 

[Lifeofeden]

My first experience of this as a concept was my ex husbands mother. When she was in a hospice dying, they couldn’t understand why the morphine (diamorphine?) wasn’t working until it was a level that would kill a person or two.

Turns out she’d been a codeine addict for 30 years and had an off the charts tolerance to opiates. After she died, the sheer number of boxes of codeine in her house when we cleared it was a sight to behold.

Oh my gosh thats heart breaking, what a shame. I really don't think most people are fully aware how bad things are, I cant believe it happened to me, and here I am years and years later trying to stop them again, doctors give them out so easily. I do take mine for legitimate reasons but was abusing them by taking too many every day for years.

 

[Mustard]

You can buy some Cocodamol over the counter.

 

[Lifeofeden]

You can buy some Cocodamol over the counter.

Thats right 12.8mg is highest strength and at a 10er a packet they aint cheap, thats for nurofen plus or solpadiene max. U can also buy the 8mg co codaomol in chemist. So accessible

 

[lalalanded]

It was on the police report posted a few pages that she was on a methadone programme. From the sound of it they had given her enough for the time till her next prescription (which was months ) Maybe that was why she kept the empty bottles so they couldn’t see how much she was using.

Is SS were involved there would be an inquiry of sorts. I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere nor any mention of SS being involved in the inquest etc. All professional opinion I’ve seen have been from the Drug’s programme, which could be private. Any service has a duty of care to report to relevant authorities if they see that person as a danger to themselves or others.

Again about Peaches using again, I only thought that information had come from Tom. Quite possible she used all her methadone, was unable to go back to where she was receiving treatment, so went back to heroin.

The thing is even if she was getting her addiction treatment privately, the babies were born addicted (this is speculation of course but I can't see how they wouldn't have been) on the NHS so there must have been social services involvement of some sort (but interestingly, I wonder if there was some falling through the net between private and NHS??).

 

[Clairer86]

I just wanted to add about valium, well done for getting off it. I have never been on it myself but ive heard so many stories like what you said. I remember when i was at uni and being prescribed Zopiclone by the campus doctor. And my then boyfriend was absolutely thrilled about me getting them so he could take some of them. This was in 2009 and that was the first and last time ive been prescribed them. I presume zopiclone are pretty similar to valium? At the moment im on mirtazapine for my mental health/sleep issues and it was only the other day i found out they are from the same family as Benzos!

Nah us Valium addicts are just as much of a hinderance to society. Being off your head on Valium is the best way to go shop lifting and do other using behaviours because you’re not anxious and melt into the rest of the shop. Also your tolerance just goes through the roof, so you have to buy it on the street and their are a load of fake ones so it’s pot luck on what you get unless you use other people’s prescriptions and buy them off them. It’s more difficult to be prescribed benzodiazepines too as medical records are shared across drs and walk in clinics. I used to dress up in a dress suit and walk around with a cherry up my arse into the local walk ins and tell them I had a business trip planned to Australia and they would dish out a box of 28. At the end of my using it was so difficult to get hold of ‘legally’ due to the change in medical records. I’ve done all diazepam detoxes in rehabs, but I had to wean down via benzo reduction program to 30mg. Valium is also used heavily with stimulant users, crack heads will take a load to go to sleep or calm down as it makes you so paranoid. I’m not sure if peaches ever did crack or any other drug?

Sorry for quoting you and repeating my post but i thought i had replied to you this.

 

[Lavendergreendillydilly]

This has opened up some really interesting conversations about attachment parenting and drug addiction. Name a drug and I know someone who was addicted to it and it probably started because of another drug, whether that was alcohol or hash or whatever. I myself am a valium addict. I stopped taking all other drugs apart from alcohol and benzos in 2010 and I still drink on social occasions (so not at all in the last year really) but I was taking valium ever single day up until 3 years ago. A friend thought I was a secret alcoholic because I was always slurring and even nodding off in normal situations and he came to my flat one day to look for empty bottles. When I convinced him I wasn't an alcoholic he was adamant i go to the doctor in case there was something wrong with my health so I had to tell him. He'd been down a similar road so he swooped in pretty swiftly. I started taking it in 2004 because it helped me come down after nights on K and MDMA and all the rest. Then I was taking it to cope with next-day anxiety after nights out. I thought everyone took valium to get through the day, honestly. I thought it was normal. I used to take it in the morning with my B12 drops and vitamin D tablets. I was treated with anti-convulsants, therapy and I did the 12 steps. It took months for me to accept I was an addict because it was medicine for my anxiety to me and it was, like codeine, accepted that people would take it every day. I thought it didn't affect my life but looking back I'd lose weekends to it, I felt Ill all the time, I lost a big contract in work because I made a big blunder forgetting something important, my memory was pure shite. I missed a week of work once because I couldn't get my hands on any and I thought I was dying..i locked myself in thr flat for 6 days until i asked a neighbour for two pills saying I kept having panic attacks. I forgot the name of one of my bests mates girlfriends so often she thought I was just being a witch and that caused issues . Quitting my job in PR and setting up a very different business helped as well I think. I mean the drugs I took- everything excluding crack and heroine and this pill they give you at the doctor's a little too easily could have ruined my life. Thanks to OP for starting it and to everyone who has shared their experiences.

 

[Clairer86]

Thats right 12.8mg is highest strength and at a 10er a packet they aint cheap, thats for nurofen plus or solpadiene max. U can also buy the 8mg co codaomol in chemist. So accessible

Yep thats what i used to. Nurophen plus was my favourite because it had 12mg of codeine per tablet. So i used to take 6 of those and then 6 Syndol-because that had 10mg of codeine per tablet. But you are correct, its expensive doing that and thats one of the reasons i moved onto heroin as it was cheaper, more accessible, and more effective for me.