Co-codamol long-term?

[NaturalDyer]

Hi, I have been taking co-codamol for about a year, as needed, for the pain I get with gallstones. But I have found that it reallly helps my fibromyalgia pain, especially with sleeping, which I find very difficult due to pain.

So far I have mostly resisted taking it unless I have bad gallstone pain, but I'm thinking of asking my doctor if I can continue taking it, maybe one dose (2x 30/500) at night.

Has anyone here got experience of taking it longer-term? And in your experience are doctors willing to prescribe it longer-term for fibro? At the moment I have to argue my case for every prescription.

I did come off it for a week recently as I was worried about addiction, and I managed just fine after one day of diarrhea, which I treated with immodium.

[Blue-52]

hi, they are cutting back on most of our pain relief, I was on cocodamol long term, but they have decided to give me as and when now, because of addiction, and side affects, apparently the codeine can cause problems, good luck.

[NaturalDyer in reply to Blue-52]

Yeah my doctor said something about them being told not to prescribe pain relief, but she's a bit old-school and prescribed them anyway. Thank you.

[daviddaulby]

I was taking them as my main pain medication and they did help with the pain and i do still take them now if my pain gets to bad but after taking them for a while they started giving me headaches that were so bad i could not even function, i would suggest speaking to your doctor about the possible side effects before taking it as i didnt know about the possibly off headaches and i thought something was seriously wrong but you may be able to take without any side effects

[NaturalDyer in reply to daviddaulby]

I think I do have some side effects, but at the moment I feel it's worth it. I don't think they give me headaches but maybe that comes if you take them longer. Thank you.

[poodlebell]

they are so addictive doctors are not prescribing them a lot now, I got addicted to them and it was so bad I went into the priory x

[NaturalDyer in reply to poodlebell]

Oh no! I hope you're managing better now. That's does worry me about them, but I don't really know what else to do at the moment. Thank you. x

[poodlebell in reply to NaturalDyer]

My nephew is on pregabalin and this seems good, maybe this one would be for you x

[NaturalDyer in reply to poodlebell]

I can ask the doctor next time.

[Yassytina FMA UK Volunteer]

Hello, can they remove the gallstones ? I had a large one taking out few years back , so sorry your pain is high at the moment, Cocodomol makes me feel sick , I take an ibuprofen tablet some days, because it’s 400mg I can only take 3 in a 24hour period, it’s hard for us too find something suitable sometimes that suits.Take care

[NaturalDyer in reply to Yassytina]

Yeah the co-codamol does seem to make me a bit nauseous but it's weighing up the trade-offs. They're going to take my gallbladder out - apparently I have a lot of small ones which move about and cause a lot of pain. I can't take ibuprofen unfortunately, only paracetamol for over-the-counter, which don't really do much. You take care too, thank you. x

[Hidden in reply to Yassytina]

The last time I had a scan I had 6 medium and approx 9 baby ones!!!!!!

I've not seen anyone at the hospital for over a year now, I didn't know they could be removed?? No-one told me!! I feel really stupid now and I think I'll have a read up on them on the NHS site Grr

Sorry rant boiling up slightly

Hope your doing well(as can be) Yassytina

Take care Debs

[NaturalDyer in reply to Hidden]

I often feel I do more of my own diagnosing and researching than the doctors do. I'd been having the pains investigated for over a year and it was me that said, maybe it's gallstones, and asked for the scans. You have to be your own advocate - there's a long waiting list but I've heard of lots of people who had the whole thing out with no problem. Hope you get it sorted. xx

[Yassytina FMA UK Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

Hi again Debs, I didn’t know I had a large one. It was when I went for an X-ray for back pain they told me, maybe that was what was causing the pain in the 1st place, (don’t feel stupid I’m always learning something new here ) sometimes they can make people feel sick as well, I think sometimes they leave them if they are not causing problems , i hope your fairly okay today lots of Xxxxx

[stravinsky1 in reply to Yassytina]

On days when you take ibuprofen you need to take omeprazole as well to protect your stomach.

[Yassytina FMA UK Volunteer in reply to stravinsky1]

I take prescribed Lansoprazole (same group) I try not too take ibroufen every day if possible as yes meds affect your stomach etc., thankyou for your advice .

[Maud-ie]

I took it for year's before I got buprennorphine pain patches. Apart from bouts of constipation (!) I found it very effective. However I took it for so long that it seemed to stop working hence the change to patches. I never took 2 cocodamol at once but only had one when the pain hit. Stopping it was completely withdrawal free. I probably took it for about 10 years. Hope this helps.

[NaturalDyer in reply to Maud-ie]

Thanks for the reply, I do try to keep the doses down and hopefully once my gallbladder has been taken out I can reduce it more and I was thinking maybe one at night to help sleep. Glad you didn't have withdrawal symptoms. It helps a lot, thanks. Withdrawal symptoms is one of the things I'm most worried about. x

[Latics1989-90]

HiI'm so sorry your pain is high, nothing worse than pain 😔 I'm on a lot of meds for my many conditions. One Dr did fob me off with pain meds instead of getting to the cause. Anyway, one Dr was brilliant and was really annoyed that my Dr hadn't done my bloods for months and I was in agony upper right quadrant. Cut a long story short, I had liver disease caused by meds from my Drs over the years. They couldn't/wouldn't stipulate which meds. I think one was definitely co-codamol. Ended with cirrhosis but luckily I'm back to compensated due to losing just over 3 stone and 2 lb in weight in nearly 2 1/2 years. As I still have to take these meds due to having 20+conditions I'm having a liver scan soon,I hope it's soon because I still get a lot of pain around my liver due to the capsule around it being stretched. I make sure I try not to take the full dose of my pain meds each day but sometimes I need to because i have 24/7 pain everywhere!!!! Sorry for going on 🤷🤦 hope this helps. Not everyone who's on meds long-term will get Liver disease. Xxxx❤️💜

[Latics1989-90]

HiI'm so sorry your pain is high, nothing worse than pain 😔 I'm on a lot of meds for my many conditions. One Dr did fob me off with pain meds instead of getting to the cause. Anyway, one Dr was brilliant and was really annoyed that my Dr hadn't done my bloods for months and I was in agony upper right quadrant. Cut a long story short, I had liver disease caused by meds from my Drs over the years. They couldn't/wouldn't stipulate which meds. I think one was definitely co-codamol. Ended with cirrhosis but luckily I'm back to compensated due to losing just over 3 stone and 2 lb in weight in nearly 2 1/2 years. As I still have to take these meds due to having 20+conditions I'm having a liver scan soon,I hope it's soon because I still get a lot of pain around my liver due to the capsule around it being stretched. I make sure I try not to take the full dose of my pain meds each day but sometimes I need to because i have 24/7 pain everywhere!!!! Sorry for going on 🤷🤦 hope this helps. Not everyone who's on meds long-term will get Liver disease. Xxxx❤️💜

[NaturalDyer in reply to Latics1989-90]

Thanks for replying, and sorry you have so many things to deal with. That's definitely something I need to consider - so hard juggling need of medication versus the problems the medication itself will cause. I'm trying to lose weight to see if that helps - congrats on your weight loss. I had liver tests recently and had a 'fatty liver' so they said to try to lose weight but it's easier said than done when food is such a comfort in a world where not many pleasures are now left. 😂

[Latics1989-90 in reply to NaturalDyer]

You are very welcome. Thank you for your kind words. Yes, it is difficult wondering what to do. Thank you 👍😊 mine started off at non alcoholic fatty liver disease and then it progressed unfortunately. I hurt if I'm hungry but also hurt when I eat!! I have lost my weight through Slimming World who have been so supportive, thankfully 😊 DM me anytime of day or night if you need to. If you need to ask me anything, fire away either on here or DM me I do hope you get sorted out soon xx❤️❤️

[NaturalDyer in reply to Latics1989-90]

Thank you. xx

[Latics1989-90 in reply to NaturalDyer]

You are very welcome xxxx ❤️❤️

[Flowerinbloom]

I have been on co-codamol for about 5years and it’s my main pain relief with anti-inflammatory medications and methotrexate injections, I have never been told that it is something that I would potentially get taking off me.

I was on steroids for nearly 3 years and hav weaned myself off them this past year and now have many flare ups but with the 2 stone weight gain and excessive bloating I do not wish to go back on them .

[NaturalDyer in reply to Flowerinbloom]

Thanks for replying. Can I ask roughly how much/what dose you take each day?

[Flowerinbloom in reply to NaturalDyer]

Hi,

The dose it 30/500mg and I take 2 4xdaily sometimes if I extremely sore through the night I take another 2 which I know I am not supposed to do but when I’m in that much pain I do it anyway. X

[NaturalDyer in reply to Flowerinbloom]

Thank you. x

[athenadark]

Doctors are cagy about codeine even though it really does help sleep but it also makes things worse because it not only constipate you it is very addictive and can mask injury - so say you're taking it for migraine and you go over on your ankle and sprain it - but it doesn't hurt

When I had an infected gallbladder I found the best thing was a hot water bottle but I take gabapentin for the fibro

[NaturalDyer in reply to athenadark]

Thank you, I haven't heard of gabapentin. I am on the list for the local pain clinic so I'm hoping they might help me with alternatives if it seems co-codamol isn't a good idea in the long-run.

[bigalan]

Hi. I have stopped taking them in June for fibro pain. Now i have stopped i have had less pain and a lot less brain fog. Just on Gabapentin now.

[NaturalDyer in reply to bigalan]

Thanks for the reply, that's interesting to know.

[Welshcatlady]

I have taken Co-codamol for years, but I only take them when in severe pain. When first prescribed, I took the maximum dose for months, maybe longer, but then they didn't relieve the pain at all. I had to wean myself off them because of the side effects, and now taking them as and when, they do help relieve the pain. I was prescribed them for Osteoarthritis not Fibromyalgia.

[NaturalDyer in reply to Welshcatlady]

Thanks, that is useful to know.

[Missus835]

Always having to plead your case about Rx is extremely stressful I have PMR, Osteoporosis and recently diagnosed with Fibro. I've been taking co-codomol (we call it Tylenol 3 in Canada) for about a year. Two tablets every 6 hrs. So 60 mg codeine and 650 Acetaminophen every six hours. It's no longer working for the pain from 10 vertebral compression fractures. My GP won't give me anything else. I would like to try transdermal patches. I'm blessed to still be able to sleep well. We are our own best advocates, but it's so difficult when they won't listen.

[NaturalDyer in reply to Missus835]

Thank you for your reply. x

[Minnie1968]

hi sorry to hear of your health problems, co codamol is very addictive my ex started taking them for an health condition & became addicted, he started at normal dose then when it didn’t ease the pain took more and more,he had to go to a drug addiction clinic as apparently it’s as addictive as heroin. For fibro I take amitriptyline this helps better with the pain xx

[NaturalDyer in reply to Minnie1968]

I will have to ask about amitriptyline, I've heard others mention that, thank you. x