Home / Painkillers / Co-codamol 30/500mg
Co-codamol tablets and capsules come in 3 strengths. You can buy the lowest strength co-codamol from pharmacies but the higher strengths are only available on prescription.
It can be taken by anyone aged 12 years or over, but for under-16s, read our information on co-codamol for children. Under-18 year-olds should only take it if other painkillers haven’t worked.
Co-codamol isn’t suitable for some people. Tell your doctor before starting the medicine if you:
Like all medicines, co-codamol can cause side effects although not everyone gets them. Many people have no side effects or only minor ones.
You are more likely to have side effects if you take the higher strengths of co-codamol.
These common side effects happen in more than 1 in 100 people.
Tell your doctor if the side effects bother you or don’t go away:
Serious side effects are rare and happen in less than 1 in 100 people.
Tell a doctor straight away if you have:
It comes as tablets and capsules. Swallow them whole with a drink of water, with or without food.
Co-codamol also comes as soluble tablets that dissolve in water to make a drink.
It tablets and capsules come in 3 different strengths.
They contain 8mg, 15mg or 30mg of codeine.
All 3 strengths contain 500mg of paracetamol – the same as in a standard paracetamol tablet or capsule.
The strength of co-codamol appears as 2 numbers on the packet. For example, the strength may be written as 8/500. This means it contains 8mg of codeine and 500mg of paracetamol.
You can buy the lowest strength of co-codamol (8/500) without a prescription, but only from a pharmacy. The higher strengths (15/500 and 30/500) are only available on prescription from a doctor.
The normal dose for pain in:
It’s important to leave a gap between doses of co-codamol. Taking too much co-codamol can be very dangerous. That’s because the paracetamol in it can cause liver damage. Don’t increase the dose of co-codamol or take a double dose if your pain is very bad.