I'm having a pain killer problem (CoCodamol)
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Hello, I apologise in advance for the first chapter of my autobiography I've written here...first I'd like to add a little context to this. I'm 24 (I think, starting to lose track now the years just roll into one 
) I'm a male, when I was at school in Year 4, I started getting headaches. Several times a week I'd develop a headache that wouldn't go away until I went to sleep for the night. If I was lucky I'd get them in the evening, if I was unlucky I'd get them within the morning and have to suffer the day with them. No one believed me. As I recall the numerous times I mentioned it I was told "You're too young for headaches".
When I was an early teenager my family finally took me seriously and started offering me painkillers, which were a miracle. I took Paracetamol for years, eventually it stopped working for me. Then I found Solpadine (Paracetamol and Caffeine) and that helped for another few years, then that too stopped being as effective. (This still sort of works, if a headache is an 8/10 it'll reduce it to about a 4-5/10)
One fateful day after an accident at a badly managed ASDA I was rushed in the back of an employee car to the Accident and Emergency department to deal with what turned out to be a sprained ankle. The triage nurse gave me some tablets and I asked what they were, she said "It's Cocodamol just like what you would buy at the pharmacy" and once I'd looked up, I bought some and I haven't looked back. Cocodamol tablets really do relieve the pain of my headaches completely.
The point of my rambling here is to explain that over the years I've had a near constant need for pain killers. I've gone without them before and it really affects the quality of my life, the pain keeps me from sleeping, eating and going out. I am however concerned that Cocodamol tablets will go the same way and lose their effectiveness. I'm actually restricted as to the painkillers I can take. I'm not allowed Aspirin or Ibuprofen due to other health concerns.
I'd just like to add here that I am aware that codeine can be addictive, I've felt that effect before after I'd taken it every day for about a week or so, one day when going to bed pain free (bliss) I had a strong urge to take some tablets. It was easy to ignore.
So my worries are...
1.) The long term effects of taking paracetamol. When a headache hits me I usually take a max of 2 doses in a day. One during the day if the pain is really bad (5+/10) and one at night to ease the pain so I can fall asleep. But I worry about even this - long term. I was always told not to take pain killers. My gran has one single box of paracetamol tablets in her house, she's not touched them in 20 years and broken her leg twice in that time.
2.) Building up a tolerance to cocodamol and having to tackle these headaches without help... that's scary.
3.) Mentioning any of this to my doctors. I've been back and fro with them for years over some unexplained symptoms, these are now mostly under control. It actually struck me the other day that I've been seeing my doctors regularly since 2012 and in all of that time I have never once mentioned the fact I've suffered with weekly headaches since I was 9 years old. But I guess that's because I've always had it under control...
Has anyone had any experience similar to mine, or any advice?
It's all appreciated, congratulations if you made it thus far through my 3am ramblings.
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