{"id":174996,"date":"2025-09-28T11:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T11:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/174996\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T11:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T11:11:14","slug":"nhs-warning-to-everyone-who-uses-co-codamol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/174996\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS warning to everyone who uses co-codamol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Millions of people use the painkiller every year\"painkillers\"The NHS warns about taking co-codamol for too long.<\/p>\n

The NHS has issued a warning over the co-codamol painkiller.<\/p>\n

Millions of people use the strong painkiller every year, with pharmacists alone handing out 650,000 prescriptions on top of those authorised by GPs.<\/p>\n

GPs will offer advice on how long the pills should be used for and anyone who has bought co-codamol from a pharmacy has been warned not to take the drug for too long.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Keir Starmer confirms October cost of living payments for six million households<\/a><\/p>\n

Get our best money saving tips and hacks by signing up to our newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

Low-strength co-codamol can be bought from a pharmacy without a prescription.<\/p>\n

And these people should not take the painkiller for more than three days, the Mirror<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

The reason is co-codamol can become addictive if taken too long and the body can become tolerant to it, making it less effective.<\/p>\n

The NHS<\/a> warning states: “If you’ve bought co-codamol from a pharmacy, do not use it for more than three days.<\/p>\n

“If your pain has not gone away, talk to a pharmacist or doctor.<\/p>\n

“If you need to take co-codamol for a long time, your body can become tolerant to the codeine in it.<\/p>\n

“That means you need higher doses to control your pain over time.<\/p>\n

“Some people can become more sensitive to pain (hyperalgesia).<\/p>\n

“If this happens, your doctor will reduce your dose gradually to help these symptoms.<\/p>\n

“It’s possible to become addicted to the codeine in co-codamol. For this reason, your dose will be reviewed to make sure you’re only taking the amount you need to control your pain.<\/p>\n

“Your treatment plan may include details of how and when you’ll stop taking co-codamol.<\/p>\n

“If you’re having treatment for cancer pain or other severe pain, your pain control will be carefully monitored.<\/p>\n

“Speak to your doctor if you’re worried about tolerance, hyperalgesia or becoming addicted.”<\/p>\n

In the USA, codeine is a controlled substance and co-codamol and the drug is not available over the counter.<\/p>\n

There are also restrictions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and some European countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions of people use the painkiller every yearThe NHS warns about taking co-codamol for too long. The NHS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490,3285],"class_list":{"0":"post-174996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-medication","12":"tag-nhs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}