Co-proxamol

emrst01 · 5. May 2010, 15:55

I am new to this site so I hope I am doing this right. I do not suffer from arthritis but my Dad who is 78 has had it for the past 50 years. As you can imagine he has tried many different forms of pain relief with varying results. But the most effective by far was Co-proxamol which he took without any problems for about 5 years. During the past approx 2 years without it (GP withdrew it when it lost licence) he has tried many alternatives, all of which either fail to work or have nasty side effects (he has many other health probs as well as arthritis). Having done a bit of research I now know that Co-proximol is still manufactured & available on a named patient basis. I intend to go with my Dad to visit his GP to try & convince her to prescribe it for him again. However even though he hardly touches alcohol & is very responsible about not over-doseing I am by no means certain that we will succeed. Has anyone had success in this venture?, we live in South Lincs.

elnafinn · 5. May 2010, 16:08

I totally agree with your dad, it was a truly good med with no side effects like cocodamol and that does not touch the pain either.

I did not try to coax my gp to prescribe the med for me once it became "unobtainable" but have heard it is possible to still get the med if the gp agrees.

I am lucky that at the moment I do not need to take pain killers only anti inflams.

It is a shame that co prox was withdrawn because of a few people that misused the drug. It was an excellent painkiller.

Elna x

annie_mial · 5. May 2010, 16:45

Entirely agree, co-prox was the only one which worked for me. Co-codamol doesn't come near it.

Depending on my 'new' doctors once we move out of this area, I might try and fight my corner for it.

Annie

dorcas · 5. May 2010, 16:49

Hi! nice to meet you (and your dad)

Hope you and your dad can persuade the doc to prescribe co proxamol again!

As Elna said it was a good drug and when I was on it too I had no problems with it or side effects. :roll:

must be very frustrating for your dad not to be able to find a pain killer that suits him.

good luck!

Iris x

cthornley · 5. May 2010, 16:50

elnafinn wrote:

It is a shame that co prox was withdrawn because of a few people that misused the drug.

Unfortunately it was withdrawn from general prescription not because a few people misused the drug but large enough numbers did so (usually accidentally ..... being in serious pain doesn't help when you are trying to thing straight) that the risk outweighed the benefits. Compared with other similar drugs it was also much harder to deal with once people did overdose therefore the impact of it was far greater.
I'm sorry that for you guys this was the drug that worked as I know how difficult it can be to get to that point but in terms of general safety this was for the best.
I hope that your efforts to sort out your dad's meds get some success.
Chrissie

speedalong · 5. May 2010, 17:25

Well good luck. Didn't even realise that was possible. I was on co-proxomal years ago in the lead up to my last hip op and it was effective for me too and great as no side effects like co-codomol. Let us know how you get on.

Speedalong

hileena111 · 6. May 2010, 05:09

Good Luck to you and your dad.
I havent been on that but remember it being withdrawn and how much it affected people.....A lot of them said that they couldnt get anything to touch it
So I wish you luck...let us know

Love
Hileena

woodbon · 6. May 2010, 05:48

Hi, I hope that you can get the co-prox for your Dad, at 78, I think he is of the age to be trusted! As for danger, simple paracetamol is very dangerous and hard to treat in overdose, but, although the number you can buy in a pack is a lot less now, people can easily buy a lot from different shops. We live in the country, several miles from the nearest shop and my husband always buys them when he goes shopping, as he takes them for a shoulder injury. You wouldn't believe the number of packets that we've got in the cupboard. We do that as here, you cann't just pop out and buy something if you're ill or in pain, you need to drive. What's the difference? Also, I have tramadol now and I accidently took a second dose the other week and felt awful, as I get 50 on prescription, I would think they are as dangerous.

I used to have co-prox and they seemed much better, I don't know if thats just in my mind or not, but I was sad to see them go.
Love Sue

cthornley · 6. May 2010, 08:36

woodbon wrote:

I think he is of the age to be trusted! As for danger, simple paracetamol is very dangerous and hard to treat in overdose,

I don't want to bang on about it but its not as simple as that, I know the withdrawl upset a lot of people but if you understand why it makes an awful lot of sense why they withdrew it... basically if you overdose on co-proxamol you are 10x more likely to die this is because you have a lot less time to get to hospital to reverse the damage (1-2hrs) compared with other typical painkillers, sorry but my husband has had to deal with these types of things in the hospital and he used to tear his hair out on this subject - there is a very interesting artcile on this that I would recommend having a quick look at: http://www.behindthemedicalheadlines.com/articles/co-proxamol-withdrawal-of-a-drug-taken-by-millions
which also gives some suggestions for other less well known painkillers (not the regular codeine/ paraceatmol suggestions) that may be options if you can't get your dr to agree to keep you on co-proxamol.
It also may help you case with your dr as it describes the risks etc in regular patient use
Hope that is of some use
Chrissie

09angel11 · 6. May 2010, 09:33

Hi £veryone

I am still able to get my Co-proxomol, it has not been totally withdrawn, i cannot take codeine as i pass out so my gp keeps me on it. I understand that people can and do overdose, some accidently, others because they wish too. I have and did protest along with others when they first wanted to take this off the market. Like the 78year old gentleman who has been on it for years ,as myself and many others, we do know what we are doing and also rely on this drug, IT CAN BE GIVEN, your gp just has to acknowledge your need for it. The other side of the coin is that if people wanted to overdose on this or any other drug they will. It does not matter what is taken off the market to these poor souls unfortunately, but it does to those of us who cannot take other drugs for whatever reason. So fight for the right to be given co-proxomol, it is still available.

Monica

emrst01 · 7. May 2010, 03:10

09angel11 wrote:

Hi £veryone

I am still able to get my Co-proxomol, it has not been totally withdrawn, i cannot take codeine as i pass out so my gp keeps me on it. I understand that people can and do overdose, some accidently, others because they wish too. I have and did protest along with others when they first wanted to take this off the market. Like the 78year old gentleman who has been on it for years ,as myself and many others, we do know what we are doing and also rely on this drug, IT CAN BE GIVEN, your gp just has to acknowledge your need for it. The other side of the coin is that if people wanted to overdose on this or any other drug they will. It does not matter what is taken off the market to these poor souls unfortunately, but it does to those of us who cannot take other drugs for whatever reason. So fight for the right to be given co-proxomol, it is still available.

Monica

Thanks for the info. I am pleased you are still able to get co-proxomol as it would seem that it has been stopped for most folk. I fully understand doctors reluctance on prescribing it, non of us would want to feel responsible for a suicide whether accidental or otherwise .But clearly, like many potencialy dangerous substances it does have its place. Please can you give us some tips as to how you mananged to get over the hurdle of the doctor prescribing it. For example, are you as the patient able to take responsibility for it rather than the doctor being liable if something was to go wrong? Did your gp prescribe it or did they refer you to a specialist? I am being told if my Dads gp will not prescribe it try somewhere else, but this would simply be another shot in the dark.

frogmorton · 7. May 2010, 04:29

Hello!!

Welcome to the forums from me too

I think you should go for it for your Dad. My heart goes out to him. It's awaful that a really good mediaction has become so difficult to get.

Please do let us all know how you get on too.

Love

Toni xx

mellman01 · 7. May 2010, 04:55

I use to use it but like so many it was removed from me and likewise it was very effective, I did a bit of looking on the web and I can see why it was taken away, I'm not sure how accurate the info I found was but the most disturbing bit of info I found was that it's easy to O,D on it and once you have taken a lethal amount there is no antidote to it also it's a bit like a cocaine overdose it builds up in the system and you don't feel it's effect so take more and it's goodnight Vienna a good many hours after you started taking it, in this article it also stated that your GP can still prescribe it but the risk is his, so you did O,D and he could well be liable for your demise.
Has he tried taking one Tramadol and Paracetamol as an alternative, it might be worth a shot to see if that helps. Mind you I would love to know how many did O,D in one year compared to all the other pain killers prescribed for the same duration.

frogmorton · 7. May 2010, 05:55

mellman01 wrote:

I use to use it but like so many it was removed from me and likewise it was very effective, I did a bit of looking on the web and I can see why it was taken away, I'm not sure how accurate the info I found was but the most disturbing bit of info I found was that it's easy to O,D on it and once you have taken a lethal amount there is no antidote to it also it's a bit like a cocaine overdose it builds up in the system and you don't feel it's effect so take more and it's goodnight Vienna a good many hours after you started taking it, in this article it also stated that your GP can still prescribe it but the risk is his, so you did O,D and he could well be liable for your demise.
Has he tried taking one Tramadol and Paracetamol as an alternative, it might be worth a shot to see if that helps. Mind you I would love to know how many did O,D in one year compared to all the other pain killers prescribed for the same duration.

Yep Mell

that was why wasn't it?? As i remember it tramadol had abetter outcome of you did O.D on it.

Interesting stuff eh?

Love

Toni xx

cthornley · 7. May 2010, 11:29

mellman01 wrote:

Mind you I would love to know how many did O,D in one year compared to all the other pain killers prescribed for the same duration.

Hi Mellman - I don't know the actual figures but they were quite high, they wanted to ban it for 25yrs because of the danger but because it was an widely used and well established drug it was quite difficult to do this (much easier to ban new drugs)

As a suggestion it may be easier to get it prescribed by smaller independent practices with older GP partners. This is because they are less likey to have adopted a risk protocol which basically says this is too risky for us to prescribe in case we get sued if it goes wrong so we will adopt a policy that in no circumstance will anybody at this practice prescribe it. Group practices tend to do this as do younger partners....older smaller practices tend to just operate the way they have for years and do things on a case by case basis
Hope that helps
Chrissie

09angel11 · 8. May 2010, 05:46

Hi Emrst o1

I must admit i do have a very good doctor, although at first she was reluctant to give me the co-proxamol, i just stuck my ground, they know i am not very good at taking tablets so even though they wanted to put me on some other stronger tablets i said no as i know these are okay for me. She did admit that she should not really give them to me, but knew i was on them for a long time and that i was a sensable person.

But i also brought this overdosing up with her, and she agreed if i wanted or ,if anyone else wanted to commit suicide , there is nothing you can do to stop them, they will find alternative ways.There are other drugs out there worse if not just as bad people do take, i feel sometimes alot of it has to do with the drug companys, making money, getting more expensive drugs on the market. So again explain to your gp about your dad, and state he is a responsible person, he needs these tablets, but do not buy over the internet. I get a hundred at a time, about every 3/4 weeks, i do try and take them when needd as most people do, plus th other tabs i am on.
Good luck
Monica

elainebadknee · 2. Jun 2010, 11:01

Hi

My doctor is really good and she prescribes this medication for me as its the only thing that will take away my pain. She understands that if I OD she has to stand in a court of law and state why she felt she needed to prescribe this to me. If however she is only holidays some other doctors in the practice refuse to give me a prescription for it even though all my notes are on file......I gues it depends on your quack, mine is A1....

Good luck

Elaine

emrst01 wrote:

I am new to this site so I hope I am doing this right. I do not suffer from arthritis but my Dad who is 78 has had it for the past 50 years. As you can imagine he has tried many different forms of pain relief with varying results. But the most effective by far was Co-proxamol which he took without any problems for about 5 years. During the past approx 2 years without it (GP withdrew it when it lost licence) he has tried many alternatives, all of which either fail to work or have nasty side effects (he has many other health probs as well as arthritis). Having done a bit of research I now know that Co-proximol is still manufactured & available on a named patient basis. I intend to go with my Dad to visit his GP to try & convince her to prescribe it for him again. However even though he hardly touches alcohol & is very responsible about not over-doseing I am by no means certain that we will succeed. Has anyone had success in this venture?, we live in South Lincs.

Co-proxamol

Comments

Categories