{"id":175365,"date":"2025-09-28T14:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T14:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/175365\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T14:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T14:43:12","slug":"nhs-issues-three-day-warning-for-millions-of-users-of-co-codamol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/175365\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS issues three-day warning for millions of users of co-codamol"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The NHS has issued a stark warning regarding a widely-used painkiller taken by millions across Britain annually.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Tens of millions of co-codamol prescriptions are dispensed each year, with chemists alone distributing 650,000 prescriptions on top of those authorised by GPs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Whilst a GP will advise you on the duration for taking this potent painkiller &#8211; and pharmacists will offer similar guidance &#8211; anyone purchasing co-codamol from a chemist has been cautioned against prolonged use.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Low-strength co-codamol can be purchased from a pharmacy without requiring a prescription.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/nhs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:NHS;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">NHS<\/a> warning declares: &#8220;If you&#8217;ve bought co-codamol from a pharmacy, do not use it for more than three days. If your pain has not gone away, talk to a pharmacist or doctor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If you need to take co-codamol for a long time, your body can become tolerant to the codeine in it. That means you need higher doses to control your pain over time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Some people can become more sensitive to pain (hyperalgesia). If this happens, your doctor will reduce your dose gradually to help these symptoms. It&#8217;s possible to become addicted to the codeine in co-codamol.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For this reason, your dose will be reviewed to make sure you&#8217;re only taking the amount you need to control your pain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Your treatment plan may include details of how and when you&#8217;ll stop taking co-codamol. If you&#8217;re having treatment for cancer pain or other severe pain, your pain control will be carefully monitored. Speak to your doctor if you&#8217;re worried about tolerance, hyperalgesia or becoming addicted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Co-codamol faces restrictions or outright bans in certain countries, primarily due to its codeine content, which is an opioid. Regulations differ based on local codeine controls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In the USA, codeine is classified as a controlled substance and co-codamol cannot be purchased over the counter. Similar limitations exist in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and various European nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHS has issued a stark warning regarding a widely-used painkiller taken by millions across Britain annually. Tens&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-175365","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"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175365","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=175365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}