Nicola Sturgeon’s sister, 50, reveals secret addition to painkillers

When Gillian Owens suffered whiplash from a fairground ride, she had no idea the biggest rollercoaster of her life awaited her: addiction to super strong painkillers. 

Ms Owens, now 50, was prescribed co-codamol by her GP in 2012 to treat pain caused by ‘throwing her neck out’, but soon found herself relying on the medication to help navigate a toxic relationship following the collapse of her marriage and to fall asleep at night. 

Speaking in an emotional TikTok video, Ms Owens – the younger sister of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – said her addiction could have killed her. 

She said: ‘It ruined my life for two years. I have terrible guilt and I carry my guilt everyday with it.

‘I either would’ve ended up dead because I would’ve gone for something stronger or I wouldn’t have had my family in my life.

‘I started taking them when I needed them but the very most I’d probably have was about six a day [at the beginning].

‘At that point my marriage had ended and I was very vulnerable and ended up in a relationship that became very stressful.’

Within four months she says she was taking 12 pills every night and continued to be prescribed 100 tablets every fortnight by her GP for the next two years.

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”.

‘That fuzzy feeling then becomes the primary reward rather than killing the pain, and that becomes dangerous.’

And it’s a feeling Ms Owens knows too well. 

She said: ‘When I started taking the co-codamol I thought “do you know what, I’m more chilled out now. I’m not as uptight as I thought I’d be”.

‘They helped the stress levels and I felt like I could cope basically. What happened was the pain got better eventually.

‘I didn’t need them throughout the day but what I found was I wasn’t sleeping well anyway so I thought I’d take them at bedtime. 

‘But by this point two wasn’t enough, it wasn’t giving me that feeling.

‘After about three or four months I was on 12 of the strong ones every night so I was basically overdosing every night on them. I got high basically, that’s how I felt.

‘I was also on anti-depressants so I was taking them and I got given diazepam as well so I was on a cocktail every night.’

Her addiction meant she would ‘panic’ if she ran out and she ‘begged and borrowed’ tablets from her friends as her prescription was never enough to meet her nightly need – and in hindsight she sees she could have become addicted to even harder opiates.

‘All I thought about everyday was getting to my bed to have co-codamol. Everything was focused on that. It was really bad,’ she said.

‘I didn’t want to see anyone or speak to anyone. I hated the world. I just craved them and knew that I couldn’t.

‘I was only two years addicted to them but if I’d been longer I probably would’ve struggled more to come off them.

‘At this stage I knew I had to get something stronger. If I was offered something in the street I would’ve taken it.’ 

Ms Owens, who lives in a town outside of Glasgow, Scotland, began underperforming at work which alerted her colleagues that something wasn’t quite right.

Her family also noticed that she was ‘sleeping the days away’ under the influence of the pills.

‘I took blood samples and I probably did less work than I normally would and I was getting mixed up with things,’ she said.

‘I worked in a hospital and a couple of people said “are you alright”. My work suffered and everything was starting to suffer. 

‘I felt it really affected my brain, my memory and my mind. To the point now I do have short term memory loss and terrible brain fog.

‘I would sleep the days away, I wouldn’t be doing housework and I wouldn’t have dinner ready for my kids.’

After finally being pushed to give up the prescription drug by a concerned family member Ms Owens completely ditched the pills instead of following a programme.

She decided to go ‘cold turkey’ for two weeks in January 2020 and quit her addiction and now works as a spiritual life coach. 

Now she says she feels ‘freer’ without the drug and fears she could’ve died if she’d she carried on taking it.

Ms Owens said: ‘Potentially it [co-codamol] could ruin someone’s life for good.

‘I just went cold turkey and it was all the withdrawal symptoms you hear about. It was horrendous.

‘After I came off them I looked up and apparently a doctor was supposed to put you on a programme and really monitor you on them. But there was none of that.

‘Since giving them up, there’s been a lot of trauma in my life. My kid’s dad passed away but I didn’t go for co-codamol.

‘I’m in control of my life way more now than I ever was. It’s a feeling of freedom because they consume you.’

The mother-of-two decided to speak out about her addiction to encourage others to seek help and contact their GP to follow a programme enabling them to quit.

In her TikTok video ‘my addiction almost lost me everyone’, which has since gone viral with more than 25,000 views, she admits she could have died.

‘I would’ve probably by now either not be here or not have my kids, my family and my grandson in my life,’ she said.

Following the Department of Health and Social Care’s notice on 12 January that co-codamol 30mg/500mg tablets will be in short supply between February 2026 to July 2026, Ms Owens hopes it might help addicts give it up.

Ms Owens said: ‘It’s terrible and I can’t believe the amount of people that have messaged me that have been on co-codamol for years and are still doing it. It makes me so angry.

‘Many drug addicts start off with prescription drugs. They are too readily available still nowadays and eventually some of them go on to the hard, dangerous stuff. They totally ruin lives.

‘When I read [about the co-codamol shortage] I had this feeling inside of me like ‘oh my god, would I have coped with that?’.

‘I hope it does help people come out of their addiction but at the same time people will be petrified. It’s a frightening experience because you’re not in control of your life basically.

‘I know there’s people out there still struggling and I genuinely feel for anyone going through it.

‘I think it’s important for people to speak out and let people know it’s okay to reach out to someone.

‘I always say go to your GP and go on a programme and don’t just go cold turkey.’