Abby Johnson told nobody except for her mum
13:03, 14 Aug 2025Updated 13:06, 14 Aug 2025
Abby Johnson was prescribed the painkiller by her GP after a gastric sleeve operation(Image: Abby Johnson/SWNS)
A single mum who kept her codeine addiction a secret from most of her family for three years says the habit landed her in £8,000 worth of debt. Abby Johnson, 35, was prescribed the painkiller by her GP after a gastric sleeve operation and was instructed to take two tablets every four hours when required for three weeks.
She said she “got a taste for it” but had no problem giving it up and was prescribed it six months later after getting gallstones. But it was then that she found herself immediately unable to give it up after her pain subsided.
Once her NHS prescription ran out, she started to get withdrawals – like stomach cramps – and started buying over-the-counter codeine-containing products. Abby – who has no history of addiction or drug abuse – quickly spiralled.
Within months she was hooked, eventually visiting a pharmacy every day to get her hands on as many over-the-counter products as possible. At her worst, she was going through 244 tablets in two days, spending £100 a time on online pharmacy tablets.
She’d make up excuses to explain why she looked poorly in front of her grandparents, instead of revealing what was really going on. Abby realised she had a problem when it no longer gave her a “buzz”, but she was taking it to “survive” from the moment she woke up, until she went to bed at night.
The mum-of-two hid the addiction from everyone apart from her mum, Sharon, 60. Now 10 months sober, Abby feels “amazing” and no longer feels any shame. She kicked her habit after joining a drug and alcohol service.
Abby, who has taken a break from work, from Gloucester, said: “I felt so alone in this. My family had no idea.
“I felt like a fraud – lying to people I loved the most. I wasn’t paying the household bills.
“I got myself into £8,000 of debt. I was so ashamed of it. It could happen to anybody.”
Abby, who has two boys aged 13 and 10, decided to go for a £10,000 gastric sleeve operation in August 2021 after putting on three stone during lockdown. She was prescribed codeine after the surgery.
Abby said: “I got a taste for it straight away. I knew it made me feel good.”
Abby Johnson during her addiction(Image: Abby Johnson/SWNS)
The mum didn’t get hooked then, but when she went back on it for “excruciating” stomach pain in January 2022, she started to spiral. She was diagnosed with gallstones and remained on codeine until her operation in November 2022.
Abby said: “I was starting to take it when the pain wasn’t there.”
When she came off her prescription, she started to get withdrawal symptoms.
She said: “Everything I was eating was coming straight back up. My stomach cramps were horrific. I was tiny. I looked really poorly.”
Abby began going to the pharmacy every day – going around the different ones in her town so they wouldn’t recognise her. She would buy over-the-counter pills when she couldn’t get her prescription. When she started getting phantom gallbladder pain two months after her surgery she was prescribed codeine again.
Abby said: “I was taking it for the buzz. It made me feel happy. I would get 224 tablets a month – they would last me two days.”
She’d spend the rest of the month taking over-the-counter products or black market codeine, which would cost £100 for a pack of 100.
Abby said: “I’d go around every pharmacy in Gloucester and rotate so they didn’t recognise me. There is no system in the UK for pharmacies that monitor how much stuff you’re buying. I’m not blaming anyone for my addiction.”
At the end Abby would wake up to get her kids to school and spend the rest of the day sleeping.
She said: “I wasn’t being the mum I wanted to be. I was functioning – that was all I was doing.
“I was there in body, not in mind. It wasn’t giving me a buzz. I was taking it to survive and not be ill – not withdraw.”
Abby Johnson(Image: Abby Johnson/SWNS)
Abby booked herself an appointment with a drug and alcohol service when she was at work as an admin and didn’t have any money left to order herself any more tablets. She went in October 2024 and was put on a replacement medication called Espranor, which is monitored.
Abby relapsed two weeks later when there was an overlap on her prescription and said she nearly “died” when she overdosed. Luckily, she had been given an injection to reverse the effects of the overdose, called Naloxone.
Abby said: “I could have died. It scared me so much.”
Abby has been sober ever since and hopes to be “free” of the replacement medication by the end of the year. She now has a debt relief order and is getting her life back on track.
Abby said: “I’m grateful to be alive. I’m feeling amazing compared to before. I love cooking tea. I love walking.”
She hopes to stop the stigma around opioids and addiction and shares her story on TikTok @wedocomeback. She has submitted a petition to have a national database that documents all patients’ details who buy over-the-counter codeine so it can be easily monitored and not abused.
Abby said: “Know you’re not alone. Know it’s not shameful. There is help out there.”