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Codeine.

Mullardman

Moderately extreme...
Due to constant knee pain, I recently started taking paracetamol,1000mg, maybe once or twice a day. not every day. It helped a bit.

Today, I decided to take one paracetamol 500mg, with 1 co/codamol 8/500. That is, a total of 1000mg of paracetamol and a mighty 8mg, of codeine.. which according to what I've read metabolises to about 1 mg Morphine.
I took these about 3:30 pm, an hour or so before going out for a walk, in the hope of suffering less pain from walking.

No doubt they did the trick and I was soon not only able to walk with much less pain.. but also feeling pretty spacey. From memory, I felt more 'spacey', than I did when taking 30 mg straight codeine a couple of times a day for severe back pain a couple of years ago.. Very odd.

Now.. 10 or more hours later.. I still feel odd.. though given the approx 3 hours elimination half life of Codeine, there should be next to nothing left in my system.

And to cap it all, I now have a migraine 'aura' developing as I type.

Anybody?
 
Hopefully a good nights sleep will see you right.

from a hazy memory codeine is one of those drugs that different people metabolise differently. It’s a genetic thing with slow and quick metabolisers.

another issue can be drug interactions with some other medications you may be taking.

also renal function has a big impact on drug metabolism and renal fxn is inversely proportion with age unfortunately.

and of course there is the chance that your symptoms 10 hours after codeine is nothing to do with the codeine - I’m presuming that you have experienced migraine auras previously?

.sjb
 
I take is reasonably regularly for ankle pain. I never feel 'spacey', and the analgesic impact lasts around 5 maybe 6 hours. It has never left me with migraine auras.

Sometimes I also combine ibuprofen and paracetamol as advised by my doctors
 
Due to constant knee pain, I recently started taking paracetamol,1000mg, maybe once or twice a day. not every day. It helped a bit.

Today, I decided to take one paracetamol 500mg, with 1 co/codamol 8/500. That is, a total of 1000mg of paracetamol and a mighty 8mg, of codeine.. which according to what I've read metabolises to about 1 mg Morphine.
I took these about 3:30 pm, an hour or so before going out for a walk, in the hope of suffering less pain from walking.

No doubt they did the trick and I was soon not only able to walk with much less pain.. but also feeling pretty spacey. From memory, I felt more 'spacey', than I did when taking 30 mg straight codeine a couple of times a day for severe back pain a couple of years ago.. Very odd.

Now.. 10 or more hours later.. I still feel odd.. though given the approx 3 hours elimination half life of Codeine, there should be next to nothing left in my system.

And to cap it all, I now have a migraine 'aura' developing as I type.

Anybody?

The 8/500 you took - were they over the counter co-codamol? If so I have no side effects whatsoever from them. 30/500 co-codamol, which they gave me for shoulder pain, did make me spacey like you describe (but not so badly as to stop me driving to work!)

The most effective for me was co-drymadol, which was a really good pain killer, I experienced no side effects from it. I took them round the clock for about a month or six weeks after breaking a rib.

I think the bottom line is tell your GP - he will know all about codeine based drugs! If it worked for the pain it’s a good thing, and he may be able to find a form which is not a problem for you. Don’t assume that just because you had a negative effect from co-codamol you will react the same way to all codeine compounds. And he may even say that the side effects will eventually stop happening anyway. He’ll also talk to you about side effects of long term use etc.
 
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I found GPs not a lot of help to put it mildly and that's assuming you can get an appointment. Painkillers and antiinflammatories didn't help - if couldn't stand up long enough to brush my teeth!
In desperation I went to A an E who diagnosed my condition as arthritis following an x-ray.

In the end I went for private physiotherapy - the NHS was weeks away and was only over a video call! FFS.
500 quid later and worth every penny I'm now back to normal, no pain killers, no anti-inflammatories.
 
Did you have an alcoholic drink in the evening? Opiods/alcohol don’t sit well with some folk.

“Constant knee pain” suggests to me that you require constant analgesia. No point waiting for your pain to come back before taking medication.

A referral to a ‘pain’ team would be worthwhile if you haven’t tried before. There are many folks who don’t get on with opiod medication.

Drink more water.

It may be that if you took the opiod medication regularly, the ‘spaced out’ feeling would subside.
This is a known aspect of short term side effects of opiods. A trial of a month should identify whether your body will tolerate the drug.
For me the constipating nature of codeine is the most reported unwanted side effect.

(I have been taking prescription morphine for years now, and have no obvious side-effects)
 
Some while ago, for an exceeding bad back pain that any amount of codeine couldn't alleviate I was prescribed DF118 - wow, the pain went, but I started seeing blue elephants dancing around the room !!
 
I have been prescibed the high dose co-codamol in the past and had no adverse effects.

I get immune to codeine after 7-10 days use, twice per day. For the low dose OTC 8/500, the pharmacist reckoned most people only need to stop for 2 days before it is effective again, but I have always left if longer.
 
Thanks for responses Gentlemen. First off, no I did not have any alcohol yesterday, so I doubt that was an influence. I did take the Codeine shortly after my daily meds, but on a full stomach. (Meds: Bisoprolol, Losartan, Atorvastatin, Aspirin 75 EC .. all for Cardio issues.) I can't find any 'contraindications' for any of those with Codeine that would be apparent after a single dose, other than the possibility of an 'additive' effect of drowsiness..which isn't what I got. Oh well...

Codeine is an opiate, it is banned where I am.

David, Codeine/Paracetamol '8/500' is available 'over the counter', but only from Pharmacies and in packs of 16 tablets. 15/500 and 30/500 are prescription only, as I think are all sizes of 'pure' Codeine. Are all opiates banned where you are? Even for 'prescription/professional use?
What about use in surgery, heart attack pain etc?
 
I prefer to use a painkiller gel on my knee and lower back when necessary as I don't (my tummy) like oral painkillers. Though I try to avoid using anything and cope with the pain.
 
I was prescribed codydramol for arthritic pain but of course the Paracetomol content restricted use to 2 x 500mg 4 times a day which meant that there was either 6 hours between doses or a long period without any relief. The doctor changed the prescription to separate pills of paracetamol and dihydrocodeine and for a while I took them alternately at 3 hour intervals.

Eventually I ditched the codeine for CBD and found it preferable. If you can afford it (not available on prescription and in my case about £70 a month at the local health food shop) I can recommend you try it.

I'm due to have a hip replacement at Wrightington on Tuesday next and was told to stop taking anything other than prescription meds for a week before hand, so am back on the codeine meanwhile.

Jim
 
Yes CBD is a more effect painkiller especially for joint (no pun intended :D) and muscular pain.

It may be for some, but not for all. It certainly is fashionable.

Finding what suits the individual, with the least negative side-effects, is what matters for long term pain control.
 
Not a fan of Codeine; makes me feel weird...

Paramol is much better for me and if I really need to (ie necks gone or shoulders decide to play up); I take 2 Paramol and x1 400mg ibuprofen and that works a treat
 
Due to constant knee pain, I recently started taking paracetamol,1000mg, maybe once or twice a day. not every day. It helped a bit.

Today, I decided to take one paracetamol 500mg, with 1 co/codamol 8/500. That is, a total of 1000mg of paracetamol and a mighty 8mg, of codeine.. which according to what I've read metabolises to about 1 mg Morphine.
I took these about 3:30 pm, an hour or so before going out for a walk, in the hope of suffering less pain from walking.

No doubt they did the trick and I was soon not only able to walk with much less pain.. but also feeling pretty spacey. From memory, I felt more 'spacey', than I did when taking 30 mg straight codeine a couple of times a day for severe back pain a couple of years ago.. Very odd.

Now.. 10 or more hours later.. I still feel odd.. though given the approx 3 hours elimination half life of Codeine, there should be next to nothing left in my system.

And to cap it all, I now have a migraine 'aura' developing as I type.

Anybody?

one BIG mistake here mull

you should NEVER progress to more power pain killers till you have taken the correct dose of the lower one . in this case 2 paracetamol 4 times a day 6hourly every day . this does not normally have the very bad constipating effects of codeine and means the levels of paracetamol are maintained in your system
 
one BIG mistake here mull

you should NEVER progress to more power pain killers till you have taken the correct dose of the lower one . in this case 2 paracetamol 4 times a day 6hourly every day . this does not normally have the very bad constipating effects of codeine and means the levels of paracetamol are maintained in your system

Tick.

Regular pain requires regular painkillers.
@hifinutt is correct.
A two week+ trial of full dose paracetamol is a good basis for assessing long term pain control.
No constipating effect at all.
No interaction with alcohol.

Even if that only helps with 30% of the pain, it is something that can be built upon with the addition of other agents.
 


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