I stopped prescribing co-proxamol some 25 years ago, with the
exception of patients settled on repeat prescriptions who insisted on it
despite my advice of its danger in overdose. I changed my practice after I
read a paper (sorry I can't cite the reference, either BMJ or Lancet late
1970s) stating that it was the most important drug in completed suicide. I
remember reading that it was the dextropoxyphene that did it by causing
respiratory arrest before the ambulance arrived. Codeine or
dihydrocodeine are more likely to cause vomiting.
The deadliness of co-proxamol wasn't a secret. The crime writer P D
James, always one for meticulous research, used it (Distalgesic) as the
mode of (intended and premeditated) suicide for a protagonist in her novel
'Innocent Blood'.
Rapid Response:
Why the delay?
I stopped prescribing co-proxamol some 25 years ago, with the
exception of patients settled on repeat prescriptions who insisted on it
despite my advice of its danger in overdose. I changed my practice after I
read a paper (sorry I can't cite the reference, either BMJ or Lancet late
1970s) stating that it was the most important drug in completed suicide. I
remember reading that it was the dextropoxyphene that did it by causing
respiratory arrest before the ambulance arrived. Codeine or
dihydrocodeine are more likely to cause vomiting.
The deadliness of co-proxamol wasn't a secret. The crime writer P D
James, always one for meticulous research, used it (Distalgesic) as the
mode of (intended and premeditated) suicide for a protagonist in her novel
'Innocent Blood'.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests