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Abigail Butcher
Daily Mail
July 23, 2013
- Co-codamol is a painkiller containing paracetamol and codeine
- Over the past decade, the number of prescriptions for it have doubled
- The majority of addicts are not men, but women
A few months ago I needed emergency pain relief following surgery to repair my knee after I’d snapped several ligaments.
It was snowing and as I was staying with friends and was still on crutches, I had to ring the out-of-hours GP to get a prescription sent to the local chemist for my prescription painkiller. But the GP refused to do this, and gruffly insisted I go in to see him.
When I finally shuffled into his surgery, the GP winced with embarrassment and wrote out a prescription immediately.
But I shouldn’t have been angry that he refused to prescribe my painkiller – co-codamol – over the phone: as a 37-year-old female, I am the type of patient commonly addicted to this drug.
Over the past ten years, the number of prescriptions dispensed for co-codamol has almost doubled – from 8.8 million in 2001 to 15 million in 2011 – and some experts are calling for more care when treating patients for long-term pain.
Co-codamol is a compound painkiller, containing two ingredients – paracetemol and the stronger, more powerful codeine, an opiate that belongs to the same family of drugs as morphine and heroin.
While codeine is an effective pain reliever, like other opioids it creates a feeling of calm and well-being.
And like the other, stronger opiod drugs, it can be addictive.
‘Patients and doctors perceive co-codamol as being the safest of all opiods, but in reality it doesn’t mean that it is safe,’ says Glasgow-based GP Des Spence.
Studies consistently show that more women than men are addicted to opioids. They are also the ones more likely to seek help for it – the Over-Count Drugs Information Agency, a charity which deals with addiction to over-the-counter and prescription drugs, reports that 65 per cent of inquiries to their helpline are from women.
Type ‘co-codamol addiction’ into an internet search and you’ll find websites littered with women discussing this problem. Christine, writing on the forum Netmums, says: ‘It has recently become apparent to me that I am well and truly hooked on co-codamol, which I take for back pain.
‘I don’t know how to even begin to come off them because every time I go over three hours without any my body aches, I feel sick, get moody and agitated.
‘Can anyone offer me some advice? I am scared to go to the doctor in case they stop them all together.’
Another Netmums member, Nikki, replies: ‘I am in the same situation, I have been taking co-codamol for about five years, pretty much every day for migraines.
‘At first I would only take them when needed, then somehow I found myself taking them every four to five hours, even when I didn’t really have a headache – it was the relaxed warm feeling that they give me I needed a constant supply of.’
Co-codamol is available over the counter in low-dose packs (8mg codeine/500mg paracetamol) with large warnings not to take the drug for more than three days.
These warnings followed a 2009 Parliamentary report which highlighted the problem of addiction to low-strength co-codamol sold over the counter, and called for more awareness, control and education.
