The end of over-the-counter codeine products like Panadeine and Nurofen Plus could result in more people living in pain, believes one chronic-pain sufferer.
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Stacey Mildren, like one in 10 women, lives with endometriosis, an incurable condition where tissue meant to line the uterus grows in other areas of the body, causing immense pain.
She believes many people unable to afford regular doctors appointment for formerly over-the-counter medications will simply do without and put up with pain.
“I’m not generally a tablet-taker, I really have to be stuck in my bed not moving before I actually look to take anything,” Miss Mildren said.
“But the change is going to be a pain, I usually have some in my cupboard just in case and I can’t just send my hubby down the shops to pick some up.”
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Miss Mildren was first diagnosed with endometriosis when she was 15, after a cyst burst on her ovary.
Most women are not diagnosed until seven or 10 years after symptoms begin.
“I was lucky it was picked up so early,” she said.
“A lot of girls don’t know they have it and it gets put down to period pain.
“You get discomfort and some pain throughout the month but it is linked to your menstrual cycle and around your period can be when you get a quite hostile flare up.”
Fellow-endometriosis sufferer Erica Brown said without money, treatment options were limited.
“Basically my treatment is defined by my back account,” she told Fairfax Media.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the change, designed to cut down on codeine-abuse, would save up to 100 lives a year.
Endometriosis Australia advisory board member Anusch Yazdani previously said pain relief must be affordable.
"While we all completely support this move there needs to be mechanisms in place for the increased costs that our patients will have from going to see GPs,” he said.
“There are not appropriate avenues for funding for people to be able to access pain services."