You could try this...
There may be a better way, but I have found that this works, but it may depend on your table structure.
See the attachment which shows my dropdown field [AdmissionWard] linked to a table. There is a "description" field beside it, because when you choose an option, only the number is displayed.
The description field is based on this formula:
=DLookUp("[RefText]","tbl Ref Values","[RefType]='Ward' AND [RefNo] = [AdmWard]").
I called this field simply "Text2". Then, in the After Update event of the lookup field, I put this code:
Private Sub AdmissionWard_AfterUpdate()
Text2.Requery
End Sub
The other thing I did was ensure that the description field has transparent borders and background.
So
1. the user makes a choice and the number is stored/displayed
2. After update DLookup formul finds the corresponding text and displays it
That works for me. I hope you find it useful.