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News Severe Co-Codamol Shortage in the UK

lost weekend said:
Yeh it's ridiculous the price ,you can get paracetamol for 60 pence prob
How much does it actually cost for that extra 8mg
It's weird asda is showing up on my browser with the 30/500 ,it's taking to long to load on my phone but maybe prescription only ,if it is why fucking advertise it for 5.70 wtf
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Many years ago, my local pharmacy accidentally put 30/500 on display instead of the 8/500. I managed to grab a pack, then went back a couple of hours later to get more.

Unfortunately, they'd realised their mistake...
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
Many years ago, my local pharmacy accidentally put 30/500 on display instead of the 8/500. I managed to grab a pack, then went back a couple of hours later to get more.

Unfortunately, they'd realised their mistake...
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F.U.B.A.R. said:
Don't see why not...

(Disclaimer: I'm no pharmacist and regularly talk out of my arse, so eveythIng I say should be taken with a shovelful of salt)
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I will mention it to her but she wisely has never been one for escapism other than alcohol
She has been drinking tetley since Saturday ,which isn't like her atol ,she is doped up on so much paracetamol and ibuprofen that quite rightly she is avoiding alcohol .
Fortunately she knows how much medication she has so unlikely to misplace any or forget how much she has taken 😞
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
Yeh, it's wise to avoid mixing paracetamol and alcohol.

I just wish I could listen to my own advice for once...
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Absolutely, I'm at a stage now where I desperately feel I need some sort of mixer for my alcohol, I was brave enough and was allowed to check 1 paracetamol from every pack to be sure of the quality as they had passed there sell buy date
 
lost weekend said:
Absolutely, I'm at a stage now where I desperately feel I need some sort of mixer for my alcohol, I was brave enough and was allowed to check 1 paracetamol from every pack to be sure of the quality as they had passed there sell buy date
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What about alcohol and weed?

Can be quite nasty at first, but once you've acquired the taste, it can be a lovely combo...
 
F.U.B.A.R. said:
What about alcohol and weed?

Can be quite nasty at first, but once you've acquired the taste, it can be a lovely combo...
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I don't actually know where I could get some ,I'm not allowed to move in same circles as I used to ,and even when I did there were 10 other things easier to get than weed
There's a sweet spot I think you can hit by smoking and drinking in correct order
 
It would certainly be alot healthier,I'm sure my liver would thank me if it could but I suspect its to late
 
Here in EU we have only otc codeine as an effervescent pills 8mg codeine + 30mg caffeine + 500mg paracetamol :(

Maybe poland could provide somethig stronger but i wanted to add to this discussion, codeine is almost never prescribed anymore. I as a years long chronic pain patient have prescriptions for dihydrocodeine and tramadol but casual codeine or at least 30mg +500mg versions are still available, but nobody prescribes it.
If u are soool very lucky they will prescribe you tramadol 37,5mg + 325mg ( tramadol is considered as stronger than codeine here ) but once in a blue moon they give somebody prescription. I am having 75mg tramadol + 650mg paracetamol to use for neuropathic pain and for acute increase in my pain while taking my dhc only 2 times per day ( they last at least 12 hours ).

But i have to admit that being unresponsible and taking 2x dhc and 2 of these big tramadols ar the morning really makes me more awake :D
 
I didn't want to start a new thread, but does anyone know what/how codeine can be made into? Y'know, I get 60mg tablets from my doctor and if I take them for my pain four times a day then I just sleep all day, so I've stopped taking them, after ten weeks solid on them, no wds because I normally drink poppy pod tea which is stronger.
Last night I crushed up ten tablets, so two and a half days worth, mixed in lemon juice and microwaved it until hot, shook it and left it overnight. This morning I got a sharp, knocked the point off and drew off the top layer, stuck it under my tongue and I thought this is promising. I didn't learn chemistry after age 12, my understanding of it is very weak, can those more chemically enlightened than myself tell me if I was getting morphine under my tongue this morning, because I liked it and I've not had my poppy tea yet, at 9.45 am, usually I'm shitting myself before now
 
papercuts said:
I didn't want to start a new thread, but does anyone know what/how codeine can be made into?
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Well, codeine is purely a prodrug. Around 10% of an oral dose (upto 240-400mg/day) undergoing metabolism to morphine by liver enzymes.

Codeine is a terrible precursor. Yes, it was the precursor to the very potent opioid desomorphine (Permonid™) or to the flesh-eating krokodil (крокодил) by desperate addicts, but for the sane, about the most one can do is to seperate the codeine from the paracetamol (acetamiophen), tecniques covered dozens of times in other threads.

But honestly, if you don't NEED codeine, don't take it. It acts on histamine receptors so is almost unique in producind not only the same AWS symptoms as other opiates but also a physically unpleasent histamine-releasing AWS with runny nose, eyes and anxiety. That last one I suspect is why some people like codeine. The anxiolytic effects are out of all proportion to it's analgesic effects.

I suggest in your case it's the histamine effects that are sending you to sleep. If you are trusted by your clinican(s) then possibly asking if the Co-codamol could be substituted for Co-dyramol. Now I warn you, the strongest form of Co-dydramol contains only 30mg of dhydrocodeine compared to the 60mg of codeine, but dihydrocodeine is longer-acting so you don't end up with 'windows' of pain and DHC is generally considered far less addictive.

I suppose if you live in a nation where hydrocodone is used rather than dihydrocodeine, a compound medication with a consumate lower dose of hydrocodone might also be a better option.

Hydrocodeone is reckoned to be around five times as active as codeine.
 
I'm prescribed just plain old codeine phosphate, no added extras, not cocodamol etc so I don't need to CWE thankfully, I'm really no good at that. I drank a bit more of it, all the top layer, only left the last third and I'm itching like crazy inside my ears and my lips despite two antihistamines that haven't kicked in yet, but I'm feeling ok, as if I'd had my poppy tea, except the itching is awful, so that was 600mg codeine and I've had at least 400mg of it, cyclizine for nausea. OMG, I'm going to itch the skin right of my face. Does the itch mean I can convert codeine? My dad couldn't, he died of cancer and couldn't feel codeine at all.
 
When I was taking them as directed by the doctor, 240mg daily, I never got an itch, just couldn't stay awake, weird, I'm gonna make my poppy tea, enough is enough, this experiment will begin with preloading antihistimines next time, for today I'm going to have my usual half dozen or so gigantums if the dog doesn't get them first, lol, he loves crunching them, but the next day he'll be in a foul mood, I keep him away as best I can, I'm not into drugging animals, but he has this junkie tendency to outwit me and get the hold of one.

Thing is, I was taking 240mg a day for ten weeks before just stopping one day at the start of October, no withdrawals, because the poppies ... It made me think maybe the codeine was doing nothing?

Ah the itching is starting to ease, except behind my ear, my jawline is smoothing out too.
 
I believe you can use grapefruit juice to get a higher conversion to morphine (4D will definitely correct me on this ;)💜😁).

Tried it a few times and seems to work for me. Guzzle a litre of white grapefruit juice about half an hour before you take the codeine and Bob’s yer uncle.

Of course, upping the morphine rate may not exactly help with avoiding excessive sleepiness…
 
Well, technically there are two classes of compound in grapefruit juice (and orange peel - so Seville marmalade will also work) that blocks the action of CYP3A4.

So It stops N-demethylation. But the result is the same - more morphine (the active metabolite of codeine).

It certainly does make things like codeine act for longer as N-demethylation is an important pathway.

If anyone finds a CYP-2D6 inducer (the enzyme that performs the O-demethylation) which is safe and well-tolerated, that would likely win a Nobel Prize.
 
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