Tell your doctor if troublesome. Eat a diet rich in fibre and drink plenty of water. Read more about how to ease and prevent constipation. Tell your doctor immediately or phone Healthline Signs of liver damage, such as yellowing of skin or eyes, dark-coloured urine. You're able to take co-codamol for longer if your doctor prescribes it for you. If you take co-codamol for a long time your body can become tolerant to it. That means you need higher doses to control your pain. For this reason your doctor will usually review your treatment regularly.
If you've been taking co-codamol for a long time and need to stop taking it, you can prevent withdrawal symptoms by reducing your dose gradually. Your doctor can help you do this. Yes, there are other painkillers you can try. Some painkillers work better than others for certain types of pain. For example, the best painkiller to ease your headache may not be the best one for your backache.
Before taking co-codamol, try taking paracetamol to see if that helps your pain. Paracetamol can relieve most types of pain. Painkillers known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs , such as ibuprofen and naproxen , can reduce inflammation as well as pain. These are good for joint, back and muscular pain. This includes people with stomach ulcers or severe heart, kidney or liver problems. It's best to stop drinking alcohol during the first few days of treatment until you see how co-codamol affects you.
Drinking alcohol while you're taking co-codamol can make you feel more sleepy. It can also increase the risk of serious side effects. If you feel sleepy with co-codamol, stop drinking alcohol while you're taking it. Do not drive a car or ride a bike or use tools or machinery if co-codamol makes you sleepy, gives you blurred vision or makes you feel dizzy, clumsy or unable to concentrate or make decisions.
This may be more likely when you first start taking co-codamol but could happen at any time — for example when starting another medicine. It's an offence to drive a car if your ability to drive safely is affected.
It's your responsibility to decide if it's safe to drive. If you're in any doubt, do not drive. Even if your ability to drive is not affected, the police have the right to request a saliva sample to check how much co-codamol is in your body. UK has more information on the law on drugs and driving. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you're unsure whether it's safe for you to drive while taking co-codamol.
Apart from avoiding alcohol, you can eat and drink normally while taking co-codamol. Co-codamol does not affect any type of contraception, including the combined pill or emergency contraception. However, if co-codamol makes you vomit for more than 24 hours, your contraceptive pills may not protect you from pregnancy.
Look on the pill packet to find out what to do. Read more about what to do if you're on the pill and you're being sick or have diarrhoea. If you're taking co-codamol for a maximum of 3 days and at normal doses, there's no clear evidence that it can reduce fertility in either men or women.
However, if you take high doses of co-codamol for a long time, there's a very small risk it can temporarily reduce fertility in men and women. It can cause a health problem called hypogonadism.
Hypogonadism is where the body does not make enough sex hormones. This can make it more difficult for you to conceive. If you're worried about taking co-codamol for longer than 3 days, and how this may affect your fertility, talk to your doctor.
If you take recreational drugs, such as cannabis, cocaine and heroin, while you're taking co-codamol, you're more likely to get the serious side effects of the codeine in co-codamol. These include breathing difficulties, heart problems, fits and even going into a coma. Some recreational drugs, such as cannabis, also increase common codeine side effects such as sleepiness and dizziness. Taking heroin while you're on prescribed co-codamol is particularly dangerous. You're more likely to get all the side effects of the codeine in co-codamol, including addiction.
Page last reviewed: 3 September Next review due: 3 September Co-codamol for adults On this page About co-codamol for adults Key facts Who can and cannot take co-codamol How and when to take co-codamol Taking co-codamol with other painkillers Side effects How to cope with side effects of co-codamol Pregnancy and breastfeeding Cautions with other medicines Common questions about co-codamol. About co-codamol for adults Co-codamol is a mixture of 2 different painkillers — paracetamol and codeine.
This medicine comes as tablets and capsules. Help us improve our website Can you answer a quick question about your visit today? Acute abdomen ; alcohol dependence ; avoid abrupt withdrawal after long-term treatment ; cardiac arrhythmias ; chronic alcoholism ; chronic dehydration ; chronic malnutrition ; not recommended for adolescents aged 12—18 years with breathing problems.
The capacity to metabolise codeine to morphine can vary considerably between individuals; there is a marked increase in morphine toxicity in patients who are ultra-rapid codeine metabolisers CYP2D6 ultra-rapid metabolisers and a reduced therapeutic effect in poor codeine metabolisers.
Abdominal pain ; addiction ; agranulocytosis ; blood disorder ; irritability ; pancreatitis ; restlessness ; severe cutaneous adverse reactions SCARs ; thrombocytopenia. Manufacturer advises avoid recommendation also supported by MHRA and specialist sources. Present in milk and mothers vary considerably in their capacity to metabolise codeine; risk of opioid toxicity in infant. If you are still in pain after this time ask your doctor or a pharmacist for advice.
Co-codamol contains both paracetamol and codeine. Do not take any other preparation which contains paracetamol while you are taking co-codamol. Co-codamol is likely to affect your reactions and your ability to drive. Do not drive until you know how it affects you. Co-codamol contains two painkilling ingredients: paracetamol and codeine. It is given to relieve short-lasting painful conditions where paracetamol alone is not sufficient.
There are three different strengths of co-codamol available, one of which can be bought without a prescription at a pharmacy.
The amount of paracetamol in the three different strengths is the same mg , but the amount of codeine differs and this determines the strength of the preparation. Combination painkillers like co-codamol can be useful to reduce the total number of tablets that need to be taken in a day, but they may not always offer the best pain control.
This is because it is difficult to adjust the dose to suit the level of your pain without increasing the risk of side-effects. Consequently, many doctors prefer not to prescribe combination painkillers.
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