{"id":333198,"date":"2025-12-08T21:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/333198\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T21:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:39:12","slug":"man-recovering-from-over-the-counter-drug-addiction-urges-others-to-get-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/333198\/","title":{"rendered":"Man recovering from over-the-counter drug addiction urges others to get help"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Michael Main is receiving treatment for an addiction to over the counter medication <\/p>\n

A Belfast man who is currently receiving treatment for an addiction to over the counter medication has warned others of the dangers they pose. <\/p>\n

Michael Main said he started taking ibuprofen and codeine products around 12 years ago for pains in his legs and migraines. <\/p>\n

He said his addiction had gotten so bad, he ended up in hospital to get operations for a perforated ulcer and to remove part of his bowel. <\/p>\n

Consultant addiction psychiatrist Dr Joy Watson said addiction to over-the-counter drugs is “an increasing problem in Northern Ireland”.<\/p>\n

‘Missed work for a month or two’ <\/p>\n

“It was the norm for me to be in and out of hospital all the time,” Mr Main told BBC News NI. <\/p>\n

“I sort of put it to the back of my mind and at that point I was only using the medication to function to get through my day.” <\/p>\n

He said he suffered from, “loss of weight, loss of appetite, no real drive and no real up and go”. <\/p>\n

Mr Main admitted he kept what was happening a secret from most people in his life.<\/p>\n

“I split up with my partner, she was the only one that really knew at the time, she tried to help as much as she could”. <\/p>\n

His addiction also affected his career, “I maybe missed work for a month or two, I would take a lot of days of sick so I would”. <\/p>\n

Dr Watson said: “What we do see is people who maybe start of using it [over-the-counter drugs] for genuine reasons and it helps them in the short term.”<\/p>\n

“But they’re just using it more and more for longer than they should, maybe for reasons other than pain, to treat their emotions,” she added. <\/p>\n

Dr Watson said some of their patients are taking 64 up to 120 tablets a day. <\/p>\n

She said the accessibility of the medication “might make it hard for people to realise it’s a problem”.<\/p>\n

\"Joy<\/p>\n

Dr Joy Watson, consultant addiction psychiatrist within the Belfast Trust<\/p>\n

‘Speak out and seek help’<\/p>\n

Mr Main sought help earlier this year from the Belfast Trust’s Addiction Services.<\/p>\n

He began receiving treatment for his addiction around five months ago. <\/p>\n

“I go and get an injection once a month, that helps with the withdrawals and hopefully one day I’ll be able to come off it,” he said. <\/p>\n

“I think only for the treatment I wouldn’t be here.”<\/p>\n

Mr Main explained he “needed to hit rock bottom to seek that treatment”. <\/p>\n

He encouraged anyone who was struggling with addiction to “definitely speak out and seek help”. <\/p>\n

\"Katherine<\/p>\n

Katherine Kidd, head of professional services with Community Pharmacy NI<\/p>\n

Katherine Kidd of Community Pharmacy NI urged anyone with concerns to speak to a pharmacist for advice.<\/p>\n

“They’re highly trained health care professionals, they’re accessible and they’re medicine experts,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I would encourage anyone who has a concern about taking a medicine that they’ve purchased over the counter, or anyone who is considering taking a medicine for the first time, to speak to their pharmacist first. <\/p>\n

“It can be difficult for community pharmacies to detect this problem because we often see people will move around lots of different pharmacies to buy them,” she added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC Michael Main is receiving treatment for an addiction to over the counter medication A Belfast man who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-333198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}