Advice re painkillers - help!

[Jux]

DH has an abscess on a tooth. The dentist has prescribed drop-dead abs and codeine and said he can take otc painkillers too. DH is in dreadful pain.

Because I had read (possibly on here) that paracetamol and ibuprofen taken together work better than if taken separately, he has been taking one of ach every 4 hours together with the codeine.

He is still in awful pain.

He is taking these tablets 4 times a day. It occurred to me that he can take up to 8 of each otc tablet in a day. So can he take one of each otc every 2 hours, thus bringing the dosage up to the max daily intake? If it's OK to do that I think it would make quite a lot of difference.

Yes, I think so, but check whatever codeine tablets he's taking don't contain paracetamol as well.

Phone NHS helpline or local pharmacy but in the past I've taken ibroprofen, codine and paracetamol at the same time as prescribed by GP. Dental abscess is a killer.

No! Ibuprofen is 400mg 3 times a day not 4.

Yes, you can take paracetamol, followed by Ibuprofen 2 hrs later. I don't know how the codeine affects that.
Check with the max number of tablets of each per day, and that you aren't exceeding them.

Thanks all. I'll check the ibuprofen as I thought it was 4x a day.

We know the codeine is fine with both a the dtit said so when was prescribing.

HotInWinter, I was wonering more whether he could do it as follows:

8am, I para + 1 ibuprofen (and codeine)
10am, 1 para + 1 ibu
12, 1 para + 1 ibu (and codeine)

Etc. Is that clearer? He'd still be within the max dose of para and ibu (but I shall check the ibu, I did think it was every 4 hours max of 8 a day like para).

When you say 1 paracetamol or 1 ibuprofen, do you mean 1 table or 1 dose?

1 tablet, so it's 1/2 a dose a time.

To get the most out of it in terms of pain relief, I'd take 2 x 500mg paracetamol together, not 1 and then 1, 2 hours later. Then leave a gap and take 2 x 200mg ibuprofen and then throw in the codeine after that. Can you up the codeine dose? That's prolly your best bet for helping with the pain.

Paracetamol is 8 x 500mg tablets in 24 hours. Ibuprofen is 6 x 200mg tablets in 24 hours unless your Dr has advised you can take a higher dose.

Probably better to take a full dose every 4 hours rather than 1/2 a dose every 2 , or take a full dose of paracetamol and then in 2 hours take a full dose of ibuprofen with the codeine thrown in somewhere .

Really hope your DH feels better soon.

Yes, what @Floralnomad said!

I think he's decided to do the 2x paracetamol every 4 hours and 2 hours later 2x ibuprofen. He'll throw in the codeine at the correct regular itnervals on top of that as well as the antibiotics. Poor chap hasn't slept properly for 2 nights, his face is all swollen on one side.

Thanks for your advice and good wishes.

Maybe speak to a pharmacist?

Not taking them bang on every four hours and spacing them out 5 hours (or even more if pain is waking him front the night) (using an overlap of the different types) would be something like this which should cover most of his day.
8 am paracetamol / codeine
10.30 am ibuprofen
1 pm paracetamol / codeine
3.30 pm ibuprofen
6 pm paracetamol / codeine
8.30 pm ibuprofen
10 pm paracetamol codeine

If he is still suffering check the dosage on the codeine as he may qualify for a stronger dose if he is still in a lot of pain.

Hope he feels better soon x

SurvivingCBeebies (great name, I feel like a survivor of CBeebies too!)

Thanks for that schedule, it's helpful. Sadly, atm he is desperate for pain relief before the 4 hours is up, so stretching it out is not something he can do today.

He is seeing the dentist again tomorrow, is hoping the tooth will be taken out. I am concerned about that, as I thought you sholdn't remove a tooth while an ifection is still raging. We'll see wthat the dentist says tomorrow. I hope he'll prescribe stronger codeine at the least.

Is he on antibiotics??

Ooooh yes! Strong strong ABs!

How long has he been on antibiotics?

Alternating the paracetamol and ibuprofen is what my dentist recommended, bearing in mind the timing and dosage limits for each. It helped to note down what I took when to keep the dosage safe. Another possibility, and I don't know if all dentists do this, is the numbing injection you would have for a filling. Of course it's only temporary relief, but when my dentist did it for me, it allowed me to get some sleep while the antibiotics did their stuff.

He's been on the ABs since Tuesday afternoon. Apparently the dentist said they were the strongest ABs he could give him.

The codeine strength is 30mgs. Do they do a 50mg?

Doing the full dose of paracetamol and then the full dose of ibuprofen a couple of hours later (along wIth the codeine obvs) is working a little better than what he'd been doing, so thank you everyone who told me to do that!

Tbh, I'm worried that he's going to be sent off to hospital. The last time he had something like this, the dentist (a different practice) pulled the tooth and dh rapidly became so ill he was hospitalised and drain put in with iv abs and I know not what! It was awful, he was in for 4 days, a hole was made in his neck for the drain.

I am now really worried that that will happen again. His face is still swollen and he doesn't seem to be responding much to the ABs, and the pain is just contant.

Oh goodness that sounds horrible. Has he got a raised temperature?

Take the codeine alongside the paracetamol, it increases efficacy (apparently)

You can't take alternate doses every two hours though. Maximum dose of paracetamol is 2 tablets, 4 times a day. Max ibuprofen is 2 tabs 3 times a day (you can take more ibuprofen if prescribed I think, but that's the max OTC dose).

Why did the dentist pull the tooth, I was told they would not pull a tooth while there was an infection going on. Keep an eye on him, unfortunately the antibiotics take a few days to do their job.

I am sorry this is happening for you all just before xmas.

You can take up to 60mg of codeine, every 4 hours, up to 4 times a day. If 30mg isn't cutting it, take 2 (with food so less likely to make you feel sick)