Ex-Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper opens up on battle to kick painkiller addiction

Former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Kirkland admitted that pressure to make his Owls debut in 2012 played a role in his long addiction to painkillers.

The 42-year-old first opened up about his addiction last year and in a new interview with the i has further explained the impact it has had on his career and life.

Kirkland played 90 times for Sheffield Wednesday towards the end of his career between 2012 and 2015 having previously represented Wigan Athletic and boyhood club Liverpool in an injury-riddled career.

The Barwell-born shot-stopper took his first prescription pill in 2012 to help with a back injury as he prepared to make his Owls debut.

Struggling with depression and having lost his grandfather to mental health battles, Kirkland began to rely on medicine for relief from mental health, as well as the physical injuries from his profession.

He said: “Two days before I was due to make my Sheffield Wednesday debut I got an injury but I just thought ‘I’ve got to play’. People were already saying ‘Why have they signed him? He’s never fit’, which wasn’t the case.

“I got hold of some tablets and thought ‘I’ll use them when I travel’ and it got hold of me quick. Any addiction does and it’s a very slippery slope.”

In April of this year, the former footballer celebrated 365 days clean from the prescription painkillers that had controlled his life for years previous - something he said he was “incredibly proud of.”

At the height of his addiction, on bad days the star was taking 2,500 mg of tramadol mixed with solpadine and co-codamol, which he admitted left him thinking he was going to die.Kirkland stopped taking the medication in 2016 but relapsed during lockdown.

Last March, unable to get another prescription from his GP, the Barwell-born footballer turned to the internet.

He said: “Within minutes of taking them I knew I was in trouble. I don’t know what they were but they weren’t painkillers.

“I just didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know where I was or what was happening. I got up the next day and flushed them down the toilet. I still had some proper ones in the house but I knew that day there was no going back.

“I had done it [gone cold turkey] once before in 2019 and I was fine back then, I maybe had a sniffly nose for one or two days. So I thought I’d be fine, I’d done it before. But this was horrendous. I had hallucinations, constant sweats, cold, vomiting, aching and I cramped all over my body.

“I didn’t sleep for five or six days, basically. Leeona [Kirkland’s wife] slept in the room next door to me because I was tossing and turning and she came in to check I was still breathing properly. It is extremely dangerous and it’s not recommended but I didn’t want to taper off, I just didn’t want to put another tablet in my mouth.”

To prevent another relapse, Kirkland and his wife have implemented some rules to follow, such as that the postman is not allowed to hand him any packages and his wife issues random drug tests to ensure he is clean.

Kirkland admitted that he still struggles and that his body still needs time to naturally produce the serotonin levels needed without the medicine but takes pleasure in fitness and strives to use his experience to help others.

Next month the star will play as part of Mark Crossley’s Mental Health initiative Walking Brilliant’s football team as they play Harry’s Heroes XI in a charity match.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction a range of helplines can be found via mental health charity Mind.