A husband-to-be who was so addicted to co-codamol he would take 48 a day says his wife saved his life by giving him the ultimatum: 'choose me or the drug'.

Ben Welthy was first prescribed the drug for toothache in his twenties and, as well as easing the pain, he found he enjoyed the warm, euphoric feeling.

The 32-year-old admits he would occasionally take the painkiller over the next 10 years, but soon found himself addicted. Eventually he found himself taking 48 tablets a day over the last two and a half years and would be sick without it. Codeine is a painkiller that is part of a group of medicines called opiates. It works in the central nervous system and the brain to block pain signals to the rest of the body - but is highly addictive.

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Each co-codamol contains 500mg paracetamol - which the NHS warns not to exceed eight 500mg tablets in 24 hours. Most worryingly, Ben says he was consuming 48 of these a day - leaving him terrified of 'dying young' and having serious liver damage.

Ben said he would drive to different pharmacies in order to get co-codamol and invented different stories to make it look like he was buying it for somebody else. The accounts manager said no one knew about his addiction until his fiancée found several empty boxes of the medication five weeks before their wedding.

Ben said his now wife Donna Welthy told him he had to choose between her and co-codamol, or the wedding would not go ahead. He opted to go 'cold-turkey' and has not touched the drug since, being five-months clean.

Ben, from Downham Market, Norfolk, said: "I was using [co-codamol] as was recommended [at first] but it soon crept up. My whole life revolved around finding different pharmacies, making sure the staff would serve me and not recognise me. I was visiting two pharmacies a day, driving really long journeys. When it started it was this warm euphoric feeling and it slowed my thoughts down and made everything a bit nicer.

"I had it as soon as I woke up in the morning and if I didn't have it, the withdrawal symptoms I would get were absolutely horrendous, getting flu symptoms, muscle aches. [When I bought them], the tablets were never for me, they were 'for someone else': my mum, my gran, my partner.

"My partner being on her period was an easy one. I would buy other products with it, you can buy it with paracetamol together so I got them both to make it less suspicious. I used to say that I was prescribed strong codeine tablets but they were too strong and made me feel rough so I was looking for an over-the-counter alternative that's a bit weaker, and they'd say 'yes we've got this one.'

"No one knew about it at all, I kept it from everyone, it was five weeks before my wedding. I had been with my partner for four years but she didn't know anything about it. Five weeks before my wedding my partner confronted me, she kept finding empty packets of pills and asked me 'what are you taking?'

"I just broke down and was at a point when I knew I needed to stop, I knew I was putting myself in danger with the amount I was taking. I nearly lost her because of it, she gave me an ultimatum. She said 'I don't know if I can deal with this, you have to decide if it is codeine tablets or me,' and that was the easiest decision I've ever made.

"I haven't taken codeine since that day. She saved my life. I've got her to thank. I'm so grateful to her for trusting me and sticking by me. If I had lost her, I don't know what I would've done. She means everything to me."

Ben said he experienced withdrawal symptoms for seven days after going off codeine, including flu symptoms, shivering and sweating. While Ben was 'terrified' of going to the GP for a blood test, he was relieved to find his liver and kidneys were okay despite his heavy use.

The newlywed now aims to raise awareness about the accessibility of the drug in the UK and help reduce the stigma around co-codamol addiction. Ben said: "I was terrified of going to the doctors for a liver and kidney test, I was putting it off. I got used to the fact I was probably going to die quite young, I thought I couldn't get away with this.

"When my results came, that was the best relief I've ever felt. I'll never take that for granted again, I've put my body through a lot. I had really severe cold and flu symptoms, I managed to work through it, sat on my desk at work shivering and sweating. Every muscle on my body was aching, I wasn't sleeping.

"There's a lot of embarrassment about it because it's an over-the-counter addiction, people are embarrassed they've gotten into an addiction to something you can buy at the pharmacy.

"The regulations in the UK need to be looked at, it is a massive problem. It's an epidemic in the country and we make it so easy to get. My advice is to talk to someone, a professional, a family member, someone you trust and tell them where you are and how bad it is. I was living with this secret for so long and it was destroying me.

"No one knew I was on it. I was going to work, going to the gym, talking to people - you couldn't tell."

Co-codamol is a mixture of 2 different painkillers - paracetamol and codeine. It's used to treat aches and pains including period pain, muscle pain and toothache. It may help to take co-codamol if everyday painkillers, such as ibuprofen, aspirin or paracetamol on its own, have not worked.