“I was taking forty codeine tablets a day and calling it a bad back.”
Farming is hard on the body. I did my back at fifty and a chemist sold me codeine over the counter. Then another chemist. Then another. I had a route around three towns.
Forty a day. My stomach was destroyed. I was grey. My wife thought I had cancer.
Men like me don't talk.
Men like me don't talk. We'd rather die quiet. But my GP knew. He'd seen it before. He said, Pat, I'm not going to judge you, I'm going to help you come off these safely. And he did, slowly, over six months.
I'm three years off. I still have the back. I manage it with physio and swimming in Athlone twice a week, which my neighbours think is hilarious. Let them laugh.
Reading this hit close to home?
Support directory →