I have been on cocodamol 30/500 soluble 2x4 daily. Recently pain management clinic put me on butec 5 patches. My GP on receipt of letter from pain management recently started me on patches and didn't tell me to stop cocodamol. I have to see them six weeks from commencement for an opioid review. I am wondering should I stop co cocodamol as I am wondering about withdrawal symptoms from them. No one ever makes things clear and I get frustrated trying to get an appointment to see GP. My own GP is only there two days a week.
Has anyone else been on both together.
So far I am still in a lot of pain due to osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
10 years ago I slipped a disc (badly, apparently - the radiographer called 2 students in). Nothing helped, so I had spinal surgery. It worked great! That is, until 6 weeks later, when I started having a different kind of pain. It turns out that some people with hypermobility (which I have, although I'd never even heard of it at the time) tend to grow a lot of rather lumpy scar tissue (the scars on my skin are pretty interesting). I proceeded to grow a large quantity of scar tissue around my spinal nerves and my left sciatic nerve, and it grew all the way up the wound track to my skin. The scar tissue rubs against the nerves constantly, causing a lot of pain, stiffness, etc. They advised against trying to operate again, as it's intertwined with the nerves, and the possibility of damage to some rather important nerves is high. I'd probably just grow more scar tissue anyway. By a couple of months later I had developed severe neuropathic pain in my back, all sciatica in my left leg, numbness down the outside of that leg, and into my two little toes, two muscles in permanent spasm in my lower back, and several paralyzed muscles along my spine. I also started getting back spasms, which are...difficult to describe. Ever get a foot cramp, or a calf cramp? Imagine that, but in your left lower back, arse, hip and thigh. They can happen anytime, generally 0-5 times a week, can last anywhere from a few minutes to 9 days, limit my mobility, and range from 6.5-9.5/10 pain. I had to be admitted to hospital for 5 days of IV morphine for a particularly bad one, a few years ago. Fun fun. If the spasms would stop, I could probably work, as the other pain and various other symptoms aren't as bad, and they tend to be predictable. The muscle spasms are so unpredictable that I can't plan anything, never mind get a job. :/ Anyway. That's me. 
Pain medicine ladder. Cocodamol 30/500 doesn't even scrape the tip of this iceberg.
