Nov 15, 2018
May asked
What is a stronger pain reliever? 5 mg of Hydrocodone or 30 mg of Codeine?
At a glance
- Codeine is a 'prodrug' that needs to be metabolized to morphine in the body. Metabolism, and analgesic effect, can vary significantly by individual.
- On a milligram to milligram basis, hydrocodone is stronger than codeine. In fact, it is more than 6 times more potent.
Answer
Hydrocodone is stronger than codeine on a mg to mg basis. Another way to put this is that hydrocodone is more potent than codeine.
There are a variety of online tools that allow you to convert from one opioid to another, so you can get an idea on dose conversion and potency comparisons.
There are also conversion charts available online for reference, commonly known as 'Morphine Milligram Equivalent (MME)' charts (since conversions are all relative to morphine).
Below is a chart to help you compare opioid doses.
