Low dose codeine and constipation

[redglow]

SWIM has found that just by taking less than 30 mg of codeine she gets a very disgusting constipation the day(s) after. Is this a rare reaction to codeine with such a low dose or is it normal?

On the other hand, if this is normal, those people that take 200-300 mg of codeine what kind of constipation do they experience? Incredibly exxtreme constipation? Or is the level of constipation still the same whatever the dose?

By the way, does the constipation come directly from codeine or is it the result of its morphine metabolite? If you took an equipotent dosage of morphine, would you get a similar constipation?

[Tortoise]

Hello Redglow. I'm not sure if it's reasonable to expect such a small dose of codeine to cause constipation like that, although Swim did have a friend who was using a smallish amount daily for a week only to find that she was blocked up for about 4 days after! Swim regularly takes high doses (300mg to 400mg) and finds that he then skips his ritual 11am visit to the shrine the following day. He then either has to visit the shrine later that evening or early the day after.

These days it doesn't cause too much of a problem for him, because if he's bingeing a little too hard he'll just take some laxatives and extra fibre. He learned this lesson well from his early days of codeine use when he developed some embarassing plumbing issues as a result of constipation.

[erriksen]

Codeine is often prescribed up to 60mg a day for things like IBS. It slows things down, so to speak. So in that range it shouldn't cause any great problems.

SWIM has found on higher doses (250-300mg) for a few consecutive days can cause a delay in a day or so in bowel movements and many false visits to the porcelain throne.

[pedosintalgon]

SWIM noticed that allmost all the bad effects of codeine tend to decrese with continuous use, probably becouse your body is getting used to the substance. When he started taking codeine about two years ago at 90-150 mg per dose he experienced heavy constipation. Now, when his dose has risen to 260 mg, he doesn't find it all that difficult to answer nature's calls.
Of course, this cannot be made into a general rule.
As far as I know, the morphine that codeine gets des-O-methilised into is the couse of constipation.

[Tortoise]

That's strange because I have heard from a very reliable source that constipation is the side-effect of opiates that is slowest to develop tolerance.