If you passed Katie Macqueen in the street, you wouldn't guess she lives with chronic pain.

Key points: From February 1, codeine painkillers will only be available with a doctor's prescription

From February 1, codeine painkillers will only be available with a doctor's prescription Change comes after expert panel ruled it was the best way to protect the public

Change comes after expert panel ruled it was the best way to protect the public An estimated 600,000 Australians misuse over-the-counter codeine medications, and up to 100 people die each year from abuse

"It's like having a cut inside of your bladder, someone pouring acid on it and then digging their nails into it," she said.

The 31-year-old is often bed-ridden from the debilitating effects of endometriosis.

It's a condition where the cells similar to those that line the uterus grow elsewhere in the body.

Ms Macqueen gets through her hardest days with pain-relief medications that are mixed with codeine, like Nurofen Plus or Panadeine Extra.

She doesn't know what she'll do on Thursday when these products are pulled off pharmacy shelves.

"For a lot of us, codeine is the only thing that can help," Ms Macqueen says. ( ABC News: Rebecca Armitage )

From February 1, they'll only be available with a doctor's prescription.

"When I'm having an attack I can't sit in a waiting room for hours and just wait it out, you need help right then and there," she said.

Ms Macqueen is also a film-maker and has a made a documentary about the experiences of women with endometriosis.

She's most concerned about disadvantaged women, who she believes will find it more difficult to obtain convenient pain relief under the changes.

"I've heard of a lot of women going out and stockpiling codeine," she said. "I don't know what else can you do apart from that."

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Expert panel urged codeine crackdown

The Federal Government said it took codeine off pharmacy shelves after an expert panel ruled it was the best way to protect the public.

There are an estimated 600,000 Australians misusing over-the-counter codeine medications and up to 100 people die each year from overdose and abuse.

Figures also suggest the problem has been getting worse in recent years, with 2015 data showing a fourfold increase in Australians seeking help at drug clinics for codeine addiction.

Large doses of ibuprofen can cause significant gut bleeding and damage. ( ABC News )

Australia's Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy said while codeine itself could be harmful, it was the fact it was an opioid and addictive that was most damaging.

"Some of these people who are addicted to codeine will take a whole packet of Panadeine Forte or Nurofen Plus," he said.

"That gives them, for example, a large dose of the Nurofen or the ibuprofen which can cause significant gut bleeding and gut damage, similarly a large dose of paracetamol can cause liver damage."

He said the low-dose of codeine in the over-the-counter products was also so low it didn't provide much pain relief.

"So they're not very effective and they're dangerous," he added.

The Government said the change was not about punishing people with chronic pain. Rather it would force people back to their pharmacist or GP to talk about alternatives.

Professor Murphy said come Thursday, doctors would be unlikely to write a script for the low-dose codeine because evidence suggested it didn't work that well.

"GPs will hopefully help people who are chronically abusing these low-dose codeine drugs to manage their pain better, get better treatment for their migraines, better treatment for their back pain and the like," he said.

Pharmacists say real-time prescribing needed

Pharmacists around the country initially fought the Government's decision. They made a series of suggestions ranging from smaller packets to warning stickers.

Pharmacy Guild president George Tambassis said they even implemented a computer system in 70 per cent of the nation's pharmacies that allowed codeine-sales to be tracked in real time.

After two years it showed a 10 per cent reduction in codeine sales.

During his shifts on the shop floor he personally witnessed the program helping to detect customers who had been abusing the medications.

"We've been able to refer those patients to their GPs, or a pain medicine expert," he said.

"Or if we really think they are addicted to these medicines, we've been able to refer them to addiction specialists."

But despite their lobbying, the Government stood firm.

The Guild said it meant their computer tracking system would go offline on Thursday and drug-seeking patients could be at risk.

Mr Tambassis wants the Government to fast-track a previously announced real-time prescribing system in doctor's offices that applies to all addictive drugs.

It is yet to be implemented by many states because those jurisdictions will have to top up the funding.

"Making these medicines only prescription-only is not going far enough," Mr Tambassis said. "You need a real-time monitoring system for doctors when they prescribe these medicines as well."

Such a system has been mooted for years, but so far only Tasmania and Victoria have taken real steps to achieve it.

"There has been some government funding already to develop real-time prescription monitoring, these processes are being developed at the moment," the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Murphy, said.

Pain and the brain

The Government's decision is reflective of a wider shift in the medical community, where doctors are trying to deal with pain differently.

They've recognised that treating pain with analgesics doesn't treat the underlying problem and it is possible to take a whole-of-body management approach.

Further they've acknowledged that there's a significant psychological component to chronic pain.

It is not that it is all in patients' minds, but rather that depression can make pain worse and a healthy mind can help maintain a healthy body.

Nobody understands this better than father-of-two Peter Panas.

"I found myself at home 24/7, dosing up on medication," Peter Panas says. ( ABC News: Rebecca Armitage )

Mr Panas popped a disc in his back while working in a metal recycling plant a decade ago.

His treatment began with his doctor prescribing a cocktail of strong painkillers like oxycodone, gabapentin, Panadeine Forte and mersyndol.

But as his pain lingered, Mr Panas found it hard to find his way out of the fog.

"I did a lot of self-medicating," he said. "So what they would prescribe and what I would try and get my hands on were two different things.

"If I ran out of medication and I couldn't get to the doctor I would try and get Panadeine Forte and mersyndol, just anything that would knock me out.

"I found myself at home 24/7 dosing up on medication just trying to get rid of the pain."

'Is this what my life's going to be like forever'

Eventually the downward spiral took a toll on Peter's personal life, and his sense of self-worth.

"My wife was doing all the parenting," he said. "She used to say to me all the time she was looking after three kids."

He eventually reached a tipping point where he wanted to change.

"There was a point where I thought 'Is this it? Is this what my life's going to be like forever and ever?' And I couldn't get a firm grip on that."

Mr Panas went to his GP, who suggested he try the pain management program at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.

It was there, he said, he learned about the latest approaches to pain.

Peter says getting off codeine has made him a better father to 14-year-old Zoe and 12-year-old Myles. ( ABC News: Rebecca Armitage )

"There's a lot more out there," he said. "I do a lot of walking, stretching, meditation when I can, reading actually helps.

"It's funny but listening to classical music — I quite enjoy that. I've turned basically my life around. What I'm better at now is just grabbing life."

Chronic pain is still a part of Mr Panas's life. Most days he would rate his pain at about seven or eight out of 10.

But, he said, he now managed it much better.

"You can fulfil your life without medication, that's my opinion."

But for people like Ms Macqueen, that's not the case. She spent seven years trying everything from acupuncture to the contraceptive pill for her endometriosis before resorting to codeine-based products.

"I respect the fact they're trying to help people who may overdose," she said.

"But for a lot of us this is the only thing that can help us and I think taking that power away from us is quite disrespectful because it's all we really have.

"Until you really know what that pain feels like you can't judge."