Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

Painkiller addiction

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

America also has an opioid crisis. In 2017, the most recent year available for a complete listing of deaths, 70,200 died of over dose deaths from opioids. In comparison, in all of the Viet Nam War 56,000 + Americans died.

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

Yes bakerman we were told that at the beginning of the programme .
I’m amazed that no one in over50’s site has come in here to comment because I’m pretty sure some members take at least the most innocuous OTC available one CoCodamol .

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

I was prescribed cocodamol the other week when I had kidney stone problems (see the Medical thread). I took 6 out of the 100 prescribed; the rest are back in their now tightly resealed box waiting for my next visit to the pharmacist so I can dispose of them properly.

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

So at a maximum 8 in 24 hours you'd been given a weeks' supply .
I don't suppose that was an unreasonable amount for an acute condition .
Did you watch the programme?
Good to read you're the diligent kind of person who takes unwanted meds back to the pharmacy.

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

I find ibuprofen and codeine to be a fabulous medication. I'm not keen on co codamol. I've not been addicted to either. They are just great painkillers. The problem is when people are prescribed them for chronic pain. I think cannabis will be a good solution if they can ever get it up and running.

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

Codeine is an opiate tho Annie ? Ask yourself do you really need it ?

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

I'm always getting sporting or other muscular injuries and it does seem to help me get much better Zuleika, but I only take it occasionally such as when I injured my hand recently. I find it takes the edge off pain in a way that ibuprofen alone does not. Ibuprofen is so fabulous at reducing inflammation. I never take co codamol though. It doesn't seem to work for me and just slows down digestion. There must be a difference in the interaction.

One thing I didn't know until recently is that the recommended amount of ibuprofen you can have in 24 hours is slightly lower than the amount of paracetamol.

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

Does your GP prescribe the codeine, I don’t think you can buy it OTC ?
The reason Co codamol doesn’t work for you is possibly because the strength of codeine in it isn’t as high as the codeine you say does work ?

Re: Britain’s Opioid Crisis BBC2 9 o clock Thursday

Ibuprofen with codeine and co codamol are available OTC. I would never take Codeine on it's own. The level of codeine in OTC meds is not high. It's 12.8mg in ibuprofen codeine generic OTC tablets. When I had severe headaches ten years ago I was prescribed Solpadeine by the GP I could not tolerate it. That has 30mg codeine phosphate per tablet combined with paracetamol.

I think it's unfairly getting a bad press because of prescribed high doses such as given to me by the GP. I can see that it's easy to get dependent if you are taking such a high dose for an extended period. But for short term use at a low dose in combination with ibuprofen it's excellent at helping to relieve acute pain.