Co-codamol takes up to 1 hour to work. It keeps on working for about 5 hours. If your pain has not gone away, talk to your pharmacist or doctor. Depending on why you're taking it, you may need to take it for a few days or weeks at most.
For example, if you're in pain after an injury or operation. You may need to take it for longer if you have a long-term condition such as back pain. Talk to your doctor if you're not sure how long you need to take co-codamol for.
It's possible to become addicted to co-codamol. For this reason, your dose will be reviewed to make sure you are only taking the amount you need to control your pain.
Your treatment plan may include details of how and when you will stop taking co-codamol. If you need to take it for a long time your body can become tolerant to it. That means you need higher doses to control your pain over time. Some people can become more sensitive to pain hyperalgesia. If this happens, your doctor will reduce your dose gradually to help these symptoms.
If you have been taking co-codamol for a long time, you can prevent withdrawal symptoms by reducing your dose gradually.
Speak to your doctor if you are worried about tolerance, hyperalgesia or becoming addicted. If you're addicted to co-codamol, you may find it difficult to stop taking it or feel you need to take it more often than necessary. And if you stop taking co-codamol suddenly you may suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Talk to your doctor if you're worried about addiction.
They can also help you stop taking it safely and reduce withdrawal symptoms. You're not recommended to take co-codamol for longer than 3 days if you buy it from a pharmacy. You're able to take co-codamol for longer if your doctor prescribes it for you. If you take co-codamol for a long time your body can become tolerant to it. That means you need higher doses to control your pain. For this reason your doctor will usually review your treatment regularly.
If you've been taking co-codamol for a long time and need to stop taking it, you can prevent withdrawal symptoms by reducing your dose gradually. Your doctor can help you do this. Yes, there are other painkillers you can try. Some painkillers work better than others for certain types of pain.
For example, the best painkiller to ease your headache may not be the best one for your backache. Before taking co-codamol, try taking paracetamol to see if that helps your pain. Paracetamol can relieve most types of pain. Painkillers known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs , such as ibuprofen and naproxen , can reduce inflammation as well as pain.
These are good for joint, back and muscular pain. This includes people with stomach ulcers or severe heart, kidney or liver problems. It's best to stop drinking alcohol during the first few days of treatment until you see how co-codamol affects you. Drinking alcohol while you're taking co-codamol can make you feel more sleepy.
It can also increase the risk of serious side effects. If you feel sleepy with co-codamol, stop drinking alcohol while you're taking it. Do not drive a car or ride a bike or use tools or machinery if co-codamol makes you sleepy, gives you blurred vision or makes you feel dizzy, clumsy or unable to concentrate or make decisions.
This may be more likely when you first start taking co-codamol but could happen at any time — for example when starting another medicine. It's an offence to drive a car if your ability to drive safely is affected.
It's your responsibility to decide if it's safe to drive. If you're in any doubt, do not drive. Even if your ability to drive is not affected, the police have the right to request a saliva sample to check how much co-codamol is in your body. UK has more information on the law on drugs and driving. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you're unsure whether it's safe for you to drive while taking co-codamol.
In addition kidney problems can be caused or made worse. Prescription painkillers such as codeine co-codamol depresses the central nervous system, and when mixed with alcohol it can slow your breathing and cause drowsiness, which will affect driving, operation of machinery or even being alert when looking after others such as children. Medication left over when stopped or changed should be returned to a local pharmacy for disposal to prevent other people using and selling them, not put into bins or down the sink.
Medication to be returned should be minimal, if you think you no longer need to use or need less of a product see your pharmacy for a medicine review or your GP practice to stop the prescribing. Medications are prescribed for your particular ailment, and are also dosed for your size and condition.
Always read the label and accompanying leaflet and stay within the recommended dose limits and importantly frequency. For a full list, see the leaflet inside your medicine packet. While co-dydramol can be taken in pregnancy, other painkillers may be more suitable. Co-dydramol contains paracetamol and dihydrocodeine. Paracetamol is safe to take in pregnancy, however dihydrocodeine can affect your baby, particularly towards the end of pregnancy.
Your baby may get used to having dihydrocodeine and may have withdrawal symptoms when they're born. There is a slightly higher risk of your baby having breathing problems. These are usually temporary, but your baby may need extra monitoring. For these reasons, co-dydramol is not generally recommended. However, if you have pain that requires stronger pain relief than paracetamol, talk to your doctor. They might prescribe co-dydramol if they think this is the best option for you.
It is not known how much dihydrocodeine gets into breast milk, but it is likely to be a small amount. Paracetamol alone is OK to take while you are breastfeeding. If your doctor says it is OK for you to keep taking co-dydramol, then monitor your baby for any possible side effects, such as increased sleepiness, not feeding as well, or problems breathing.
However, it is unlikely that co-dydramol will cause any side effects in your baby. Talk to your doctor, pharmacist, midwife, or health visitor if you have any concerns about your baby while you are breastfeeding.
Tell your doctor if you're taking these medicines before you start taking co-dydramol:. There's not enough information to say that complementary medicines and herbal remedies are safe to take with co-dydramol. They're not tested in the same way as pharmacy and prescription medicines. They're generally not tested for the effect they have on other medicines. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you're taking any other medicines, including herbal medicines, vitamins or supplements.
These 2 painkillers work in different ways to relieve pain. Paracetamol seems to work by blocking chemical messengers in the brain that tell us we have pain. Paracetamol also reduces a high temperature by affecting the chemical messengers in an area of the brain that regulates body temperature. Dihydrocodeine belongs to 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. As well as blocking pain, dihydrocodeine can have some less positive effects. Your breathing may become slow and shallow. It may also slow down your digestion, which is why dihydrocodeine can cause constipation.
Co-dydramol takes up to 1 hour to work and keeps working for about 5 hours. If you've bought co-dydramol from a pharmacy, do not use it for more than 3 days. If your pain has not gone away after 3 days, talk to your pharmacist or doctor. If your doctor has prescribed co-dydramol for you, follow their advice about how long to take it for. Depending on why you're taking it, you may need to take it for a few days or weeks at most — for example, if you're in pain after an injury or operation.
Talk to your doctor if you're not sure how long you need to take co-dydramol for. It is safe to take co-dydramol for long-term conditions, but your body can become tolerant to it, which means it does not work as well at reducing pain.
Do not increase the dose if this happens. Talk to your doctor, who might prescribe you a different strength or a different painkiller. It's possible to become addicted to the dihydrocodeine in co-codamol, but this is rare if you are taking this medicine as prescribed. For this reason, your dose will be reviewed to make sure you are only taking the amount you need to control your pain.
Your treatment plan may include details of how and when you will stop taking co-dydramol. If you need to take it for a long time your body can become tolerant to it. That means you need higher doses to control your pain over time. Some people can become more sensitive to pain hyperalgesia. If this happens, your doctor will reduce your dose gradually to help these symptoms. Speak to your doctor if you are worried about tolerance, hyperalgesia or becoming addicted. If you're addicted to co-dydramol, you may find it difficult to stop taking it or feel you need to take it more often than necessary.
If you suddenly stop taking it, you may suffer from withdrawal symptoms. These include:. Talk to your doctor if you're worried or need help coming off co-dydramol. They can also help you stop taking it safely and reduce withdrawal symptoms. Overdose Liver damage and less frequently renal damage following overdosage with paracetamol. Manufacturer advises caution in mild to moderate impairment; avoid in severe impairment. Manufacturer advises consider dose reduction in mild to moderate impairment.
Reduce dose or avoid codeine; increased and prolonged effect; increased cerebral sensitivity. Co-codamol is less suitable for prescribing.
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