It is still being hotly debated by medical professionals and indeed by patients as to whether co-codamol is an effective form of medication. It can be of tremendous benefit to some people who are suffering from quite severe pain that is stopping them from living their daily lives the way they want to. On the other hand, some patients and medical staff believe that the drug has far too much power, and the side effects of taking it are too damaging for people to even consider taking the medication just once unless it is under some form of extreme circumstances. It isn’t really easy for anyone to decide whether or not this is an effective form of pain control, or if it is something that causes more damage than it fixes. Here we will take a look at everything that is good and bad about co-codamol, and then try and help you decide if it is a form of treatment that you should consider trying.
The Benefits
The main selling point of co-codamol is the fact that it contains two different kinds of pain medication. This pill contains not just paracetamol, but also codeine phosphate as well. If you know anything about codeine then you will know that it is quite a fast acting and effective pain killer when it is taken on its own, so you can imagine how effective it must be when it is also combined with something like paracetamol. This is why this form of treatment is considered perfect for people who are suffering from severe forms of muscle pain, such as a badly damaged back. This medication not only help get rid of the pain quickly and effectively, but it also allows the muscles in the troubled area to relax so then the patient has quick and effective relief that can last for hours.
This medication is also seen to be somewhat a necessity for doctors to have. If ever they get a patient who has tried regular forms of pain medication, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, and have had no benefits from it at all, then they need something in order to help their patients deal with their pain. When it is looked at from this angle, co-codamol can be described as a form of severe pain relief that has to be made available to people whenever it is needed, so then people are able to deal with their pain whenever they seek their doctor’s help.
The Problems
As with the majority of medications, co-codamol does come with some side effects. Having said that, this drug has so many possibly severe side effects that it can be a very risky thing to even consider taking it on one occasion. Confusion and short-term memory loss are not entirely uncommon among people who have taken this medication. Whenever symptoms such as these occur, all treatments that involve this medication should be stopped immediately before the side effects get any worse. If it is left for too long and the patient continues to take them despite mental problems, it can result in some of the damage done being irreversible.
Another problem with this drug is that it can become rather addictive. This is something that is also possible when you take codeine on its own, so naturally the same addictive characteristics are present in co-codamol as well. For this reason, if it is combined with a side effects such as confusion, then it can have a very damaging effect on a person. They may find themselves confused about the world around them, but they continue taking the drug because it is addictive. This is the main reason why it should only be taken when there are people around who know the patient well and can tell if anything is out of the ordinary in their behavior.
It’s difficult to say if co-codamol should be stopped altogether a form of pain relief. While it does have risky side effects, it can be used as an effective way of dealing with severe pain. It should therefore only be used in extreme circumstances, and doctors should be careful when they prescribe it to their patients.