Codeine facts for kids
Codeine (also called methylmorphine) is a medicine. It comes from a group of drugs called opiates. Doctors use it to help with pain. It can also help stop coughing and treat diarrhea. You might see it sold as codeine sulfate or codeine phosphate. In some places, it's called codeine hydrochloride.
Codeine is a natural substance found in opium. Opium is a plant product. Codeine makes up a small part of opium, from 0.3% to 3.0%. Scientists can take codeine out of opium. But today, most codeine is made from another medicine called morphine. They change morphine using a special process.
What Codeine Helps With
Doctors use codeine to help people with different health problems. These include:
- Cough: It can help calm a cough. However, some low-dose versions sold without a prescription might not work as well for everyone.
- Diarrhea: It can help slow down digestion to stop diarrhea.
- Pain: It is used for pain that is not too mild, but not extremely severe.
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome: This is a condition that affects the large intestine. Codeine can help with some of its symptoms.
Codeine in Combination Medicines
Codeine is often mixed with other medicines to make them work even better. For example, it is often combined with paracetamol (also known as acetaminophen). This mix is called co-codamol (or Tylenol 3 in North America). Studies show that this combination is much better at relieving pain than paracetamol alone. It is also safer to use than codeine by itself.
Codeine can also be combined with aspirin (called co-codaprin) or with ibuprofen. These combinations give more pain relief than taking just one medicine. This idea of medicines working better together is called drug synergy.
See also
In Spanish: Codeína para niños
