Can you take pain relief before seeing a Doctor? Yes you can!

The Team from

Often when an urgent visit to a doctor is needed, the problem or condition can be very uncomfortable. This could include an injury to yourself or your child; or an illness during which you experience a sore throat or headache, or a high fever, making you feel absolutely miserable.

It is understandable that you hesitate to “mask” the symptoms, and strong medications can indeed risk this; BUT it is always safe, acceptable and desirable to take the recommended dose of Paracetamol before you come to see us.

Just remember to tell our triage nurse what dose you have already taken; or given to your child and the time it was taken. If possible, keep a note of the temperature you recorded before the medicine was given and give our nurse this information.

Serious conditions will still be reliably diagnosed and the whole experience of being assessed, waiting to see the doctor and then moving about during a thorough examination, will be much less painful and stressful e.g. a sprained ankle or thumb needs to be pulled in various ways to assess the damaged ligament to find out if the joint is still stable; a small feverish child needs their ears checked and will be frightened if the ear is very painful.

Even if the problem turns out to serious and you are told you should be “nil by mouth”; because you may need surgery, taking Paracetamol will not delay your treatment.

Please stick to the recommended dose and do not take it more frequently than every 4 hours.