Codeine/paracetamol
combination drug
Codeine/paracetamol, also called codeine/acetaminophen and co-codamol, is a compound analgesic, comprising codeine phosphate and paracetamol (acetaminophen). Codeine/paracetamol is used for the relief of mild to moderate pain when paracetamol or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs; such as ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen) alone do not sufficiently relieve symptoms.
In 2023, it was the 210th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 2 million prescriptions.
Side effects
The most common side effects include constipation, nausea and drowsiness.
Others include coughing up blood from the lungs, skin rashes, dizziness, sedation, shortness of breath, hypersensitivity reaction, fainting (syncope or near syncope), confusion, loss of short-term memory, changes in blood, allergic reactions, euphoria, dysphoria, abdominal pain, itchiness, easy bruising, bleeding gums, vivid dreams, dry mouth and addiction.
Genetic differences between people cause differing rates of metabolism of codeine to morphine. In about 5 percent of people this may happen particularly fast, causing morphine to be passed through breast milk in amounts that may cause fatal respiratory depression in a breastfed baby.
Society and culture
Availability
Of the European Union member states, eleven allow over-the-counter sale of solid dosage forms of codeine, including codeine/paracetamol: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia.
“Codeine/paracetamol” enters the record as combination drug. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Codeine, paracetamol and combination can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4357608. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2023.
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This entry incorporates text from “Codeine/paracetamol” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.