My husband didn't know Lemsip has paracetamol in it..

[bbcessex]

HUGE HUGE apologies to a reasonably recent OP who posted about paracetamol .

I did not think there was anyone out there who didn't know about the risks of taking too much / medicines that contained paracetamol but seems I should have looked closer to home.

there's a huge black market in opiates. Plus they can be used in cooking meth
Opiates cannot be used to cook meth, they are two completely different things.

Using pseudoephedrine is one way of making meth.

Can't even get pseudoephedrine without prescription here. That's another one I have to stock up on in the UK.

The USA has a huge, huge problem with opiate addiction, partly because doctors hand them out much more readily than they do here
I know it is tragic that in the US people are prescribed painkillers such as oxycodone and Vicodin when they have what is a relatively minor injury.

In the UK these kinds of medications are usually reserved for patients with cancer pain and severe chronic pain.

The worst thing of all in the US is that once a patient is addicted and their doctor or HMO stops giving them the pills, they start buying them on the street.

Once this becomes too expensive a lot of people will turn to heroin as you can get a lot higher on it for a lot less money.

I take codeine for migraines and love the spaced out feeling. I can see how people could get addicted.
My dh was given morphine pills to take home after an op. When he needed more a few weeks later he had to have a whole interview with the do make sure he actually needed them. It sounds way more relaxed in the states

I must be the only person in the world who doesn't get high off codeine - it deals with my pain, and sometimes makes me a little drowsy, and that's all. Just as well, really, as I've got 3g of it in the medicine drawer, and 3g more to order on repeat any time I want it. People's metabolisms and mental susceptibility are so different - I consider myself very lucky.

I've only taken codeine once. I was away with the fairies.
Same when I was given mirtazapine. Yet some people half my size tolerate it perfectly well.

iced it doesn't make me high, just throw up! Though the way I'm feeling today I might give it another chance as it seems we are the odd ones out!

True; come to think of it my dad never gets the pleasant effects of it as it all comes straight back up My mum has terrible trouble with it and finds it - well, very moreish. So GOK why I'm okay with it. It's all so individual.

Fwiw, as a teen I took at least 4g of paracetamol every day for months (undiagnosed migraine), plus several 50-100 tablet paracetamol overdoses, and have perfectly normal liver function tests - in fact, on blood testing after a 100 tablet overdose, I was told I must be lying as my blood showed I'd probably only taken about 20. We need much, much more information on individual drug reactions.

I went on Facebook when I had had codeine. Ho ho ho. I thought I was ever so clever and funny. Funny, yes, but not the way I intended, and not at all clever.

Codeine has never made me high either, mind you no drug has.
I'm really thankful of this though.

When my grandfather had his knee replaced at eighty-odd, they did it under local somehow. He was absolutely off his tits on morphine for ages.

Anyway, when we visited him in hospital he said in a stage whisper, "Well, I can quite see how people get addicted to drugs. This is wonderful."

The only thing that has sent me a bit loopy is pethidine. But even that knocks me out after a few minutes

I've only had to use morphine once. It was heavenly.

Was there not something in the science magazines last year about how gene variations on the level of enzymes you have affect how codeine is broken down? Some people break them down very quickly and some don't have enough to break it down. Therefore one group are more at risk of overdose, the other will not feel effects. Codeine doesn't nother me at all, short lived pain relief but doesn't knock me out. Pethidine was like taking water.

I've only had to use morphine once. It was heavenly
There in lies the problem with opiates when people cannot just take it only once.

I seem to have a thing where at first they are effective, but after a while they aren't

Zapain for example. Was brilliant when I was first given them. No they do nothing

Codiene does nothing now

Neither does paracetamol or naproxen

Tramadol wore off quickly too.

The only thing that worked for longest is oramorph but it's a last resort for my doctor

how gene variations on the level of enzymes you have affect how codeine is broken down?
It all relates to an enzyme called CYP2D6 which converts codeine to morphine in the liver.

Damn tolerance Soubriquet. Sympathies, dmum has chronic pain, taken/taking all the ones you've listed and she says the same, may as well take smarties.

I shouldn't be able to tolerate all this medicine. I have a very small and slim stature. Most doctors hesitate to prescribe me high doses of things because of my weight. But nothing else works

That's it Persian, couldn't remember the specifics. Quick google says low CYP2D6 also impacts on breast cancer Tamoxifen therapy, it isn't as effective. Every day is a school day.

There are lots of drugs that also inhibit CYP2D6 from working properly or at all.

I know that one group is SSRIs and I think that the other group is some anti-psychotics (have to check).

Soubriquet same here, I either develop tolerance or allergy (are we thinking that's like the opposite of tolerance?) makes prescribing for me a nightmare!

It's a nightmare

Then you get doctors who refuse to prescribe what does work...because that ive already got should work.

If you overdose on paracetamol you can take something called NAC (n-acetyl cysteine) to stop it damaging the liver but not sure of the dose etc and obviously DYOR. You can buy NAC in health food shops.