Co-proxamol
Posted: Mon 31 January, 2005 Filed under: Health 868 Comments »Interesting to see today that the painkiller co-proxamol is to be scrapped. Apparently it’s been linked with up to 400 deaths per year and a study found it was the second biggest method of drug-related suicide in the UK, accounting for almost one in five deaths.
I’ve used co-proxamol before, and I can see why it’s easy to overdose on, either intentionally or accidentally. It’s a seriously heavy gun in the world of painkillers, and while it’s sad to see something so effective be withdrawn from the market, I can understand the reasons why it’s necessary to do so.
Well Chris i sent away for my coprox today ,well you never know they may put the price up ..so i will have to stock pile lol …i see what you mean,. i have to pay postage this time ..they get you every way they can …………..there we go moan moan moan i knew it wouldent take long lol lol ….take care ..
Just wanted to say I’ve tried ordering 1st time from both sites and both came through ok. Had been getting in a panic over where i’d get co-prox from but feel happier now i know there is still a source. Thank you!
Oh we are always willing to help Cos ..sure we are Chris ?lol take care Cos….
Oh i got my order thru Thurs …..now thats a record .things are looking up Chris….
I expect that was a record delivery time for you Anne, you must have used the registered post. With the ordinary mail option its quicker to use a rowing boat to go and collect it from my experience.
Hi All,
If you want a really humbling read, might I suggest you write a letter to the MHRA asking for copies of all letters and emails they have received on the subject of Coproxamol for the 18 month period from 1st January 2007 to 30th June 2008. If you mark this request clearly in your enquiry as a Freedom of Information Act request, the MHRA are required by law to answer you.
The letters of complaint to the MHRA on their Coproxamol ban make pretty heavy and sober reading. Many people’s lives have been ruined by the MHRA catastrophic failure of their, Named Patient, system and their broken promise that Coproxamol would be prescribed where clinical need exists. Good and generally decent GP’s have been turned into, legal cowards, as many run scared of the way the MHRA have placed them in legal harms way. Patients are paying a terrible price in untreated, unmanaged pain as GP’s and the MHRA fight with each other. The medical professions reputation is taking a hammering.
Letters should be addressed to: Tony Sant, Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Market Towers, 1 Nine Elms Lane, London SW8 5NQ
Hi All,
If you want a really humbling read, might I suggest you write a letter to the MHRA asking for copies of all letters and emails they have received on the subject of Coproxamol for the 18 month period from 1st January 2007 to 30th June 2008. If you mark this request clearly in your enquiry as a Freedom of Information Act request, the MHRA are required by law to answer you.
Enquiries should be addressed to: Tony Sant, Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Market Towers, 1 Nine Elms Lane, London SW8 5NQ
Apologies for the double posting above. Pain fog moment, and not quite in sync with our excellent host the Moosemeister’s web site system.
Latest news from the GP’s Medical Defence Union (MDU) is that they are recommending GP’s refuse to prescribe Coproxamol on the MHRA Named Patient basis, as the MHRA are placing doctors in legal harms way. The MDU are providing further evidence of the failure of the MHRA position.
Meanwhile, patients have their clinical needs ignored, and are the ones paying a literally terrible price in untreated pain, caused by Alasdair Breckenridge and the sheer arrogance at MHRA Ivory Towers.
Hi jus to say are people aware that Julia George of BBC Breakfast is hoping to do an article on the coproxamol problem. Look at sleepydust+coproxamol and/or BBC OUCH +coproxamol for more info.
mmm iteresting..thanks j.
hi, offshore-pharma no longer list darvocet (co-prox) as of today, it’s on the front page but returns nothing on searching, and pharma2u won’t allow login (incorrect e-mail/password), and no reply to e-mails. has anyone else had this problem, or is it just me? anyone got any other ideas as to reputable suppliers?
Hello B. I have just checked out pharma 2u with no problems ordering. Offshore-Pharma may be updating their site, will be waiting to see what happens there.
Hi Chris, thanks for the quick reply, checking again today it does seem that offshore are updating, but as for p2u i’m having no luck at all, have registered ok, but when i try logging in it just says incorrect e-mail/password, i guess i’m just being shunned :), thanks again, B.
Hi Again B, I presume you have taken the option to recover password. I think they can also be a bit slow on the e-mail, usually its Jane Smith who replies.
Hi Chris how are you ? ok i hope….
Hi Anne, I am OK, I trust you are as well. I received E-mail from J Smith of P2u asking for feed back, so i thought might as well. So i complained about the price of DG and asked for a discount for regular customers. She must be sleeping on the idea because she has not got back to me yet.lol chris
I have been managing to get coproxamol for my arthritic pain and migraine headaches up until now. Now I am told I have to pay £20 per 100 tablets on a private prescription. Its a disgrace. I cannot take any other legal drug for analgesia. I have auto immune hepatitis, so mustn’t go mad with paracetamol which incidentally is as much use to me as a chocolate teapot, anti-inflammatories have nearly hospitalised me and if I take anything with codeine in it I spend hours shouting down the Great White telephone. Tramadol gives me nightmares and hallucinations and I can do without those! Don’t these people live in the real world? FFS, we can’t use marijuana which is the only other thing that helps.
Somebody must be on the make here. that’s the only answer.
Hi Angie ,we are all in the same boat here ,some worse than others £20 a lot off money ,some of us have to pay a lot more than, but then do the people who put us in this situation care …..no ,take care Angie
HELLO ANNE HOW SOON ARE YOU RECIVING YOUR ORDERS NOW ? AND ARE THEY FROM THE UK?
Hi Marco .well the last one came by FALCON i think that bird does 100mph…yes lol.and yes it came from Cyprus …
Hi,
I can’t get logged in to p2u and tried Offshore for first time – can’t get an account registered as it keeps asking me to fill in the box for (U.S.) state. Am I missing something here?
Are there any other suppliers anyone know of?
Hi Avril, I don’t have any trouble logging in to p2u, have you double checked your password?. The Offshore site has been updated now, you don’t use the (U.S.) state box, i use other box, if state not applicable write N/A. I hope his helps you.
Avril, I made a mistake on my last comments, you should type in (none) not N/A. You should be directed what to put in anyway.
Hi.
PLEASE watch BBC 1 on MONDAY 4th AUGUST 2008 between 6.a.m and 9.a.m. as they are showing an article challenging MHRA about Coproxamol and the fact that people can’t get it. This is a chance for people to email the programme and text them to add their comments. the more comments they get the more likely they are to relay them on air. Shame MPs probably wont get emails but am telling mine anyway. Also am telling Drs pharmacist hospital and anybody else with arthritis etc. The more people know the better as it is a chance to SHOUT the need.
Can anyone advise if they have lost their doctor because of this? Mine freely admitted his practice were not prescribing Coproxamol because the Medical Defence Union said they shouldn’t. He confirmed I had a clinical need, but basically said tough, find another doctor. My lawyer says refer him to the GMC, but to be honest I don’t really blame mr GP, so have referred Dr Breckenridge, Chair of the MHRA instead. Anyone else of a similar mind?
Just seen the Breakfast television report on MHRA Coproxamol policy failure. The MHRA doctor has materially misrepresented the true position. She has given false information on live television.
1. The MHRA know that the Medical Defence Union has issued blanket advice to all doctors NOT to prescribe Coproxamol under the MHRA “Named Patient” system.
2. The MHRA know that Medical Practise Insurers have advised their GP clients that they are NOT insured, and their Practise Indemnity Insurance is not valid for prescribing Coproxamol on any basis, “named patient” included.
Either the MHRA doctor was grossly, negligently and improperly briefed, or she was materially misrepresenting the issue.
I am sorry to stress the issue, but I a saw the neurosurgeon last week and am due for an MRI next week. He is not comfortable with a second round of spinal surgery for me as this is much more risky, so I am probably a bit more hyper about this that might seem reasonable. However, the MHRA
misrepresenting their dire position by lies and spin on air is simply not acceptable.
MHRA chairman Dr Breckenridge really does need to consider his position.
Regards, Russ.
My elderly mother has been taking co-proxamol for nearly 30 years and for the last 2 years it has been a fight with her GP every time she asks for them. Her pharmacist told is to tell the GP that he can still prescribe this drug for patients he feels should remain on them and she (the pharmacist) is happy to prescribe them for as long as she has them. She told me that its the best drug for pain relief on the market and as long as she has them in stock she will prescribe them. I told the GP this once I got passed his blockade (being his receptionist, the most unpleasant excuse for a human being) and he didn’t want to know.
My mother has tried Co Dydramol, Co Codomol, Tramadol and even Codeine Phosphate and none of them work. My mother asked for a prescription today and he had a go at her for asking him, he agreed to prescribe them however when I went to pick the prescription up, the receptionist went for me like a bull! She was shaking in anger, glaring and gritting her teeth, she shouted as she threw the prescription at me that My mother was NEVER EVER to ASK FOR THIS DRUG AGAIN and DID I UNDERSTAND? I have never been so close to hitting someone as I was then.
I calmly advised her to NEVER EVER speak to me like that again, I advised that the GP can prescribe this drug and he has chosen not to. I advised her also that when my mother’s medical details are to be discussed I will do this with her GP and not with a receptionist for all and sundry to hear and DID SHE UNDERSTAND?
I have had episodes like this since my mother became house bound 20 months ago and I am fit to be tied. I will not let this go and will fight wherever possible to get my mother the only drug that gives her some quality of life, as she has very little of it and they have taken away the only help she had, which is Co=Proxamol.
I have read many of the postings here and I am so sorry this is happening and its all so unnecessary, it makes me sick to my stomach. I bet suicides go up 10 fold because this is so many people’s only life line. I hope this gets turned around and that you all and my mother get the drug they need and deserve.
I will bookmark this site and will read your postings with great interest.
Best wishes to you all.
Thanks Chris,
I must have had an old version of the site – I’ve no problem ordering now.
My GP practice also has a blanket ban on Co-prox as does the the other practice in the town. A prescription advisor at my local NHS authority said that as far as ke knows this is the case with the whole county (Ayrshire).
For over a year my local MP Brian Donohoe has been writing to the MHRA on my behalf but Dawn Primolo and her predecessors are just issuing the same crappy statement and will not specify how one is to become a named patient. In her last letter she advised me to ask for a referral to a pain clinic. I asked the prescription advisor what he thought and he said ‘Why not ask your GP for a referral to a pain clinic or to a rheumatologist’.
I wrote to my GP and asked this. He replied that he could not correspond any further on the matter (my M.P. had sent him a previous letter about the issue). He said he was happy for me to write to the consultants directly which I did (although the hospital told me I couldnt see them without a referral, which I knew).
That was on 23rd July – no reply so far.
Very sorry to hear of your experience S.McD., but not surprised.
Avril
Hi Everyone,
Am in the middle of putting together a publication called LETTERS FROM THE EDGE – THE COLLAPSE OF GORDON BROWN’S MORAL AUTHORITY.
The thing is, many of the letters to be published are copies from people adversely affected by the collapse of the Coproxamol Named Patient safety net who wrote in complaint to the MHRA. All make humbling reading. Although ALL copies we obtained under the Freedom of Information Act are redacted with ALL personal details removed and or blanked out, there is a technical issue of copyright.
Consequently, are any of the contributors here able to send me copies of their letters, with the appropriate parts blanked out, and permission to reproduce in the one publication as named above. The aim is to continue fighting, and embarass Alasdair Breckenridge, and his boss Dawn Prinarolo, and her boss Gordon Brown into fixing this broken government policy that has left so many in unmedicated pain. It was through everyone posting on sites like this, that Julia George did the excellent BBC Breakfast Television coverage, and via these efforts not to give up, that government policy will be repaired.
Best regards,
Russ McLean
co-proxamol.to get this pill,take a holiday to malta and ask for them.
i got them in malta.enough to last 4 years
To Russ McLean – You may use anything you find signed by me. I have a great fid of stuff I’m getting ready for my MP next week if you’d like a copy of that over the email. paulcope1@btinternet.com
I have just been reading the story of the under-reporting of adverse reactions during Seroxat drug trials. Prof.Sir Alasdair Breckenridge and Dr.Ian Hudson,Chairman and Head of licensing, MHRA were both given cause to err in the direction of caution following these events. One wonders whether their judgement in subsequent decisions on co-proxamol reflected such an imbalance and whether they should still, therefore, be in a position to make such decisions.
Have not heard from Chris ….where are you ?oh by the way my last order lol arrived in Wales ,guess the pigeon got side tracked.hope things are ok Chris.
Hi Anne. Nice to hear from you, i hope you are ok. Your item going to Wales now that is amusing. The posts on here recently have been a bit too in depth for me. I just look in now and then to see if i can be of any help in the simpler things. Take care.
barrie,
I’d love to hear how you got on in Malta. How easy was it to get supplies? Are they available over the counter? How much do they cost? Please, I’m desperate to get a stockpile together to see me through.
God the MHRA suck. I just hope they can sleep at night. I know I can’t.
To Russ McLean – I have various letters to and from my MP and the MHRA – I can send copies if you like. avril@pharo.freeserve.co.uk
Hi Avril,
You are a star. We are all shaping up for a the Glenrothes By Election and will be giving copies of the book away to the candidates and various political parties as well as a humongous leaflet drop.
Just as well, because I received a letter from MSP John Swinney this morning. He enclosed a reply from Shona Robison, the Scottish Health Minister which said the MHRA were imoveable. Wait till Gordon Brown loses Glenrothes. The arrogance at MHRA HQ is about to preceed a rather steep fall when P45’s are handed out. They will be thanking their lucky stars they aren’t up on criminal charges at the Hague. Talk about cruel and inhumane conduct. The fools at Market Towers know full well their Named Patient safety net policy for prescribing Coproxamol has collapsed and they are content to leave patients to live and die in untreated pain and suffering. They are a disgrace.
Hi Russ,
You’re doing great work there.
Thanks for the email and address – I will get copies of the letters I’ve sent together and send them to you – but I’ll wait until 24 Sep as I see the doctor then and will be including information from that in the latest letter I’m sending to my MP (Brian Donohue) – so it may as well be included.
Yes, I’m getting Coprox from Parma2U, so far they’ve come quite quickly with no probs, fingers crossed it continues.
Have you seen Pulse magazine online? Article about Coprox says forty-three thousand people still on Coprox prescriptions and 630 new patients started in January…I thought they were totally stopped…so more postcode prescribing, another two tier flaming system (though I’m glad some people are getting it). Here’s the link:
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=23&storycode=4117895
Couldn’t post to this recently – anyone else having trouble?
It seems to be working now but only if you don’t put any links in – I was trying to post a link to the recent BBC article about the effects of the co-proxamol ban – and how Rosemary Leonard, a GP who sat on the expert pane which recommended it’s withdrawal is giving it to her own patients! You can see the article on the BBC site under ‘Drug Restriction HIts Patients’ dated 4 Aug.
I’ll try posting again without the actual link.
Russ – I posted my letters to you – hope they’re some use.
Avril
Hi iv been to Malta on holiday…coprox £3.50 for 100 ehh you can buy them over the counter ..Hi Chris long time no type …how are you ?
Hi Anne, nice to hear from you again, it seems that you are ok as you have been on holiday. You didn’t say you got some for me lol. That is cheap i, could do with going there but i hate flying
if i could ferry across i would book now. I expect you won’t be making any purchases soon.
were you restricted in the amount to buy, or is the Customs problem.
HI Chris ,how are you good to hear from you again ,hope you are well …restictions i box from each chemist was all i asked for lol …did not want to seem greedy loldid a little survey only 3 out of 15 chemists said i should have a prescription …customs no prob never asked …so every thing was ok, dont think i done anything illegal …so no will not require pharma 2 u for a little some time lol ..catch you later Chris
Chris if the paraphrase is a bit erratic .on the above ,its my laptop power cable is giving me probs …i have to type with one hand an hold the cable wih tother lol
hi i suffer from tension migraines, i am going to order some co-codamol from pharma2u, can anyone tell me if they are ok and do they deliver what they promise, i badly need these tabs for my tension migraines and my doctor just keeps giving me some other rubbish which doesnt work, anyone got any opinions on them, much appreciated
Hi Sammy, i can vouch for pharma2u, have received many orders from them for co prox but not co codamol. I am surprised you cannot get co codamol from your Dr, anyway p2u are very good for
Delivering the product.
hi thanks for the comment, my doctor is a hater of co-codamol, he very rarely gives it out unless you go in there in complete agony with something. he gave me co-proxomal which didnt work, and some other medication, that didnt work either. the only thing that does work is co-codamol as it relaxes the muscles and nerves in my face enough for me to sleep and get rid of the headache. these cluster headaches can go on for 3 days at a time and so i need the meds so i can stop it interfering with my life. thanks for the info, i will order tomorrow
Hi, I am currently on a prescription for co-prox. My doctor is really anal about giving them to me, he is very strict with prescribing times etc. Ive read all this stuff about suicides etc, but as anyone who takes co-prox knows you couldnt top yourself on them – Its like saying a load of people on Cannabis would start a war!! It just aint gonna happen lol . My doctor tells me that Co-Proximol has been withdrawn from general supply except on a named patient basis – but then isnt any prescription drug on a named patient basis? Personally, I just think they (the medical profession) have realised what we all knew. Pain relief aside, these tablets actually produce a rather pleasant high – and we cant have people feeling good now can we! Anyway, I guess im in one of the good postcodes. Could always do with an extra few at the end of each prescription though – Ive looked at the Pharma2u site but it seems to be down. What kind of prices do they charge? Currently on prescription its costing me £7.10 for 200 every month. If its one of those rip off sites, I wont bother – not that desperate 😉
Hi Chris how are you ? this site was vacant for so long i thought everyone had gone to Malta lol…well how are you Chris keeping well i hope …i am working between 2 laptops at the moment ,one old ,and one that runs on gas,can’t get this site on my [new old one ]no matter what i try ,so i will will jump between both …take care Chris …Anne
Hi Anne, nice to hear from you, you seem to be well. Running a laptop on gas ,that must be expensive lol. I am oK, things are quiet as you say, Malta would be a good place to be, i trust your stock levels are ok unlike p2u at present.. take care, Chris