Mother-of-two, 36, opens up about secret 20 year addiction to codeine

For two decades, Chloe Montgomery’s daily life was propped up by super-strong painkillers – and she went to great lengths to make sure her loved ones never suspected a thing. 

Now aged 36, the  property sales executive, who lives near Glasgow, was first prescribed co-codamol as a teenager to help manage painful migraines, but as the years went on, she found she needed them just to function. 

She said: ‘At that age I very quickly got hooked on them, especially as I was new to taking them.

‘They gave me that light, fuzzy feeling that made you feel better. A bit like having a high I would imagine.’ 

She found that the tablets did help shift her debilitating headaches, but the pain returned once the medication wore off – a common symptom of opioid withdrawal known as ‘rebound headaches’. 

‘Because I took them my migraines were better to an extent. I did have a bit of a rebound headache but at the time because I was so young I didn’t understand,’ said Ms Montgomery.

‘My GP kept prescribing them on repeat. I just phoned up every three or four weeks and they’d just give me another box of 100 and this just went on for years and years.

‘There was never any review as such like “maybe we should try and lower your dose or maybe not give you as many or try a different sort of medication”.

‘They just left me on them for years and because I was at this point addicted to them I just kept taking them.

‘You’re masking your life and it’s like a blanket over you. It’s just a constant fuzziness and you get fuzziness up the back of your head and you can’t concentrate.’ 

Ms Montgomery’s family were unaware of her addiction – although they knew she was regularly taking the prescription pills, regularly quizzing her about what aches and pains she was combating.

”I think they know I took pain killers everyday but I don’t think they think I’m addicted to them as such,’ she said. 

‘They probably think I could stop it tomorrow if I wanted to. I try not to take them in front of the kids.’ 

Ms Montgomery would take between eight and 10 tablets a day, but over the last three years she says she noticed a ‘sense of panic’ if she was running out and would have to buy lower doses from the chemist if she ran out before the month ended.

‘I’d use them to get through the work day,’ she said. 

There’d be some days where I’d be driving and drop my kids at school and I’d realise maybe halfway that I’d forgotten them and I’d need to turn back and go and get them.’

As she built up a dependence, Ms Montgomery started taking the painkillers every two and a half hours as her body became more immune to them, despite the recommended time being every four to six hours. 

However, in February 2026 she was confused not to receive her repeat co-codamol prescription as usual – and ‘shocked’ to discover this was due to a national shortage. 

A medicine supply notification on the shortage of co-codamol 30mg/500mg tablets was issued on 13 January 2026 and supplies will be limited until the summer.

While people are generally advised to reduce their dosage by one to two tablets each week they might be forced to reduce this more quickly due to the shortage.

‘I was shocked to hear [about the shortage],’ Ms Montgomery said. 

‘It was a sense of panic because you feel like you’re dependent on them and need them and then all of a sudden they’re saying you can’t have them anymore.’

Co-codamol is a combination of two painkillers – codeine and paracetamol – that is often prescribed if over the counter drugs such as ibuprofen won’t be potent enough.

Codeine is part of the opiate family and is known to be an addictive substance. For this reason, the NHS warns that people who take it for longer than three weeks should be placed on a ‘treatment plan’ by their doctor to minimise dependency risk.

The other ingredient is paracetamol which can seriously damage the liver and kidneys if too much is taken, and can even lead to a fatal overdose. 

Codeine addicts often describe the drug as making them feel like they are cocooned from real life, or that popping one of the pills simply ‘takes the edge off’ the day.

Jan Gerber, founder of A-list rehab clinic Paracelus Recovery in Switzerland, previously told the Daily Mail that the psychological addiction of codeine makes it just as hard to give up as its pain relieving qualities.

He said: ‘Addiction, tolerance and dependence build quite quickly and within a few weeks, you’re hooked.

‘Codeine also gives a warm fuzzy feeling, it can really calm you down, improve sleep, or simply help you to fall asleep.

‘It can help lessen anxiety, and especially for people who are very stressed or emotionally in a bad place, that effect is like, “wow, my God, that feels amazing”.

After getting one last prescription, Ms Montgomery was forced to go cold turkey on 18 March and despite the withdrawals being ‘horrific’ she hopes in the long term  that not having access to the medication will end her addiction.

She said: ‘It’s been horrific, the night sweats and the headache I got. My hands are physically shaking. I’m hoping over the next few days I start to feel better.

‘When they gave me that last box she said “start taking not as many every day”. That’s easier said than done when you’re addicted to them and you’ve taken them for so long so I didn’t do that because I couldn’t.

‘You’re not supposed to just stop taking them and you’re supposed to wean yourself off them, especially after that high a dose over that amount of years.’

She had previously considered giving up co-codamol in 2018 after suffering with stomach ulcers and going into intensive care for a perforated bowel – which she thinks could’ve been linked to the painkillers – but she wasn’t able to kick the tablets. 

After receiving her final prescription Ms Montgomery booked another appointment with her GP to seek support for handling pain caused by a slipped disc. She was given Ibuprofen gel.

But despite the pain, and her long-standing habit, she is adamant that she won’t start taking lower strength versions of the drugs. 

She said: ‘As much as the next week is going to be horrific, I just need to get through it. I think it’s just the best way for me.

‘I’ve never ever tried to come off like this before. They do make you really tired and constipated and they’re not good for you.

‘I’m hoping once that’s lifted and I start to feel better I realise I actually feel better without them.’

Ms Montgomery has been publicly documenting her progress on TikTok, and one video captioned ‘day three of no co-codamol’, has gone viral with more than 113,000 views.

In the clip you can hear her exasperatedly saying ‘it’s not easy but I know in the long run I probably will be glad that this shortage happened’.

She said: ‘As much as it’s my fault for keeping taking them over the years when you’ve got an addiction and someone is giving you it and it’s so easy for you to get it they do need to take responsibility for that.

‘I’ve got two children myself and knowing what my life’s been like and being so reliant on them I’d be raging in a few years if my son or daughter went to the doctors and they started prescribing them opioids to that extent.

‘I’d say it’s good to talk about it. For years I’ve never spoken about it to anyone. I’ve never once said ‘I’m addicted to painkillers’. I just feel like you need to actually talk about it and admit it to people and have other people’s support.

‘I would say whether you are weaning yourself off them or going cold turkey speak to someone about it.

‘Just try and stick with it even though you’re going to feel horrific for a couple of weeks.’