Since I started sulfasalazine and/or fracured my pelvis - both happened at around the same time - I’ve become increasingly noise sensitive or basically noise intolerant. Pain relief is max amounts of tramadol presently. Sadly necessary too.
Is there any link with either drug or both? I’ve searched but couldn’t find much that made sense. I’m about 4 weeks into both. And thankfully I have no issues whatsoever with sulfasalazine either which is such a relief I can tell you. Next week I’ll be up to full loading dose of it and then hopefully we can start seeing if it’s actually working at all.
But I’m driven mad with the noise sensitivity issues and just wondered if any of you could shed some light on it.
Ive read some about the connection between tinnitus and sulfasalazine. When you say noise sensitivity, does that mean things are louder to you than normal?
If your ears don’t ring with tramadol, the bell is broken… TG tramadol does it for you with the pain. FWIW not that you need to be told but a broken pelvis is without doubt the most painful of fractures and the longest healing. My hats off to you that you can do it with tramadol.
You could ask for some IV tylenol and see if you can skip a few days of the tramadol and see if that helps. The other thing you can do is try a noise canceling app and some ear buds…they aren’t perfect but if it helps, you can get the real thing from an ENT. You might also try some benedryl in the evening
Having been back to the fracture clinic yesterday where I was told to go back to my GP for pain relief, I wouldn’t have a chance in the world of getting IV anything. It’s a small fracture granted but it’s incredible painful. Right where my right leg meets my groin. We all think it happened because I had been on steroids for so long, as I didn’t fall etc. And now that I’ve weaned myself down off the steroids, the PSA pain in my left hip is back with a vengence, not helped obviously by me hobbling around on walking crutches anyway.
I don’t think we have Benedryl in the UK - what is it? And I would wait weeks to see an ENT person. But I will now search for an noise cancelling app. Why didn’t I think of that???
All I crave presently is just utter silence from outside noise. Obviously I’m stuck at home right now. Usually it’s relatively quiet here but for the last 4 or 5 weeks a bulldozer is being used across the road (they’re building a new house) and given it’s hot windows and doors have to be open as of course there’s no air conditioning in UK houses… So that goes on from 8am to 5pm. Then either one lot of neighbours’ kids scream in their garden from about 5pm to 7pm and/or another neighbour obsessive about her lawn mows it. So that by around 7 or 8pm I’m completely frittered by all the noise. Normally I wouldn’t be as bothered as I am presently so I guess you’re right it is the tramadol. But I’ve no chance yet of lessening it down.
Benadryl is an over the counter allergy medicine in the US. It’s active ingredient is Diphenhydramine. It is being used in the ERs now in conjunction with IV tylenol for nerve pain and headache. It’s what I used for pain management with my shoulder replacements.
I believe tylenol called paracetamol in the UK and diphenhydramine is is sold as a sleep aid. Check with your pharmacist. It works for me for the tinnitus. The diphenhydramine is becoming a staple of nonnarcotic pain management.
I’d not heard of Benadryl either poo. I think I might have if I suffered from hay fever. Just googled it and seems it has the same brand name and uses here.
Thank you. Downloaded a noise cancelling app and considereably calmed down and relaxed listening to ‘lapping waves’ at high volume. Pity I don’t have the super duper headphones too. But still such a relief. Think I’ve also developed a sinus type headache or more probably a sinus type intense pressure. Now fairly convinced it’s the tramadol. I’m on the long acting 100mg stuff which does though seriously manage the pain but appears to do this too. Take only one or occasionally two a day. Along with Naproxen.
I take the over the counter sleep aids anyway. Have done for years since I’ve always had difficulty falling asleep. And yes I know one is not supposed to take them that long too.
Sadly the pain from the fractured pelvis isn’t low enough to drop down to paracetemol yet. Never heard of it being IV here but certainly it’s freely available in tablet form.
And sadly since I’m finally off steroids the PSA pain especially in my left hip is becoming increasingly irritating. Not surprisingly since I walk presently like someone with cerebral palsy. It’s awfully jerky and awfully awkward and awfully painful.
My guess is that all these almost insane inducing noise sensitivities issues presently is simply due to far too much tramadol. Sadly I’m not yet healed enough to decrease them or better still stop taking them. And I doubt adding in yet more chemicals to the mix will actually help that much. Rather reducing as much of them as possible is probably the only way forward. After 4 or maybe 5 weeks now as we don’t know when the fracture occured and I walked on it or tried to for far too long, I am healing just a bit. So let’s just hope by this time next week I can ditch the tramadol and then just maybe I can stop being driven mad by the noise sensitivity and the sinus pressure. That’s what I’m going to aim for anyway. Have to have a goal. Simply just have to have a goal like this.
Sorry if you’ve said somewhere & I’ve missed it, but are you getting any other help with the fracture e.g. physio? Is any kind of activity recommended or perhaps resting positions etc.? I’m a Do Something freak. But I fear you’re going to tell me the one main thing required for healing is time.
Could also phone your GP (yours sounds marginally better than mine which is not saying much) and ask if OTC Benadryl might help.
What you are looking for is diphenhydramine hydrochloride. In the UK, Benadryl Allergy Relief is acrivastine. Benadryl Once a Day is cetirizin - completley different medications. Your chermist should be able to help
Nytol over the counter sleep aid has that in it and Benylin cough bottle. I already take the Nytol so obviously I’m already having this anyway. Both do make me sleep and if I increased it guess I’d just sleep all the time. Mind you that wouldn’t necessarily be such a bad thing. LOL but not that practical.
