A future of better pain management without codeine awaits Australia

Codeine restriction is in keeping with our evolving understanding of pain and its best management.

My earliest memory of pain relates to Bex powders, which sat on our windowsill above the kitchen sink and were used daily to help with headaches, fevers and other pain. “Take a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down” was the approach to pain in the 1960s.

If migraines developed, intramuscular pethidine and days hidden in a darkened room were not uncommon.

ex was available over the counter and contained aspirin, phenacetin and caffeine.

Caffeine, at 160mg per dose (about two standard coffees), likely contributed little to the analgesic effects of Bex and similar products, but did provide a “pick-me-up” and contributed to its addictive potential.

Caffeine withdrawal headaches reinforced the relief from taking another Bex, with potential for its use to further escalate.

Phenacetin was implicated in the late 1960s in kidney damage and kidney cancers (particularly in women, to which Bex was marketed), leading to its ban from the market by health regulators in 1977.


Source: theguardian