Tramadol substitute

Had a phone call from a worried daughter this morning. Her father had been prescribed tramadol by the hospital but it was making him feel very sick. He was already taking paracetamol but that was only ‘taking the edge off the pain’.

She had rung the hospital and was told by one of the nurses that the community pharmacist could provide an equivalent painkiller.

I explained that of the painkillers available OTC, nothing was strong enough to match tramadol and that of the paracetamol and codeine combinations available to buy, the dose of codeine in these preparations was so small that it added no real benefit over paracetamol alone.

So I advised her to speak to her father’s GP and later that evening she came with a script for co-codamol 8:500 which, of course, I could have supplied myself! I don’t yet know if they did any good or not.