So I’m on my third day with NO tramadol which I was taking for pain which is now ramping up and I’m pretty sure I’m going through some withdrawal . I can’t get put of bed, I’m really nauseous, headache, couldn’t sleep last night , hot then cold and generally feel like crap. I felt like this before when I quit cold turkey on Paxil so the feeling is familiar . I had no idea that tramadol had opiate qualities and that it was even addictive until last night or I don’t know if I would have started it .
My nurse practioner at my rheumy’s office put me on it this summer when I ran out of hydrocodone saying it wasn’t a narcotic which its not but didn’t tell me I could get hooked on it. I ran out of tramadol on Friday , called it in and then I discovered I had no refills and would have to wait for rheumy to authorize. Didn’t happen and here we are on Sunday ! My rheumy doesn’t have an after hours number so I called my primary care dr. and he agreed to call in a few ( and I’m waiting on my pharmacy ) . I asked him about the withdrawal and he said it might go on for another day or two if I didn’t take anything but he would call a few in till I could talk to my rheumy . I’m probably going to take t and then talk to my doctor ( rheumy) about getting off of it. Then it will be back to being in pain all the time and I’m not sure if I can continue teaching ( preschool - very low stress ) if I’m in that much pain .
I’m sorry this is so long. My husband is sympathetic and helpful getting stuff done but doesn’t get it. What do you all do for pain?
Withdrawal sucks. I've been through it with some much heavier duty meds.
At a certain point in my life, I found narcotic pain relievers to be an absolute necessity for keeping going with all the things I needed to do. My body is high on pain production, low on damage, so that worked for me; masking the pain wasn't masking damage. I was (at the time) on the best med combo, and it just wasn't enough to control the pain. For about 4 yrs, working with a pain clinic, powerful narcotic meds were the solution. Having physical dependence is not a reason not to do it; I knew I would need to go through withdrawal at some point when I stopped. And I did, for a week, with lots of medication to support the withdrawal, but it still sucked.
Now I do quite well with Tylenol with codeine on an as-needed basis. But for me, nothing works as well as the narcotic family. Any of the ones formulated to be "less addictive" mess with my mind and make me dizzy and feel horrible.
At any rate, talk with your doctor about your pain. Be honest. Discuss things you can do both medication and non medication that can help. There is NOTHING wrong with taking pain medication if you need it. This disease is a marathon, not a sprint. There is no sense in incessant suffering when there are lots of meds out there that can help. There will be times when the pain is lots worse, even though your meds are mostly working. Times when you will have less pain. Just because you do one thing for the pain today does not mean you will be doing it forever.
Hiya,
I've been taking Tramadol for a while and don't have much side effects. It does help keep the pain at a tolerable level, though. When you weigh the pro's and con's of whether or not to stay on the tramadol that should help you decide.
I hope you got your script by now! Hang in there...
And if you need pain relief to help you sleep then do so - if you do not get enough real sleep then everything else is made worse. Pain wears you down and experience it more when not enough sleep. Also then metabolic syndrome happens more easily and more of a short temper, and the list goes on.
Thank you guys! I did get my scrip and feeling SO. MUCH. BETTER!,