Fibromyalgia Support Group
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Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone has any comments on the effects of Tramadol. I just started taking it yesterday. I called my internist to let him know that I was in immense pain all over my body. He called me in Tramadol 50 mg to be taken 4 times daily. He gave me 60 with no refill. Is this a common strength and amount? I figured he gave me no refills cuz he wants to make sure it works for me. I was out of Voltaren, and the pharmacy said the manufacturer was out, so I called my doc bout that and they rxed me some liquid with a dropper called:_____-said. Does anyone know it? Of course it is for arthritis pain and swelling so maybe its not a common fibro drug. I told the nurse that the Tramadol seemed to help most of my pain but not my hands and feet, Voltaren usually helps that. This new liquidhas the same active ing. That Voltaren has.
Now about the Tramadol. For some weird reason this stuff worked some kinda miracle on me. I hardly ever clean up my house cuz I just don't feel the motivation. There are a lot of legitimate, medical explanations for this. For now though I prefer not to get into them as I was judged rather harshly on another board here at DS because of them. Anyway after taking the Tramadol I noticed that it did take rather long for it to kick in. but when it finally did....WOW!!!...I felt almost normal again after several years of not being normal!!! I almost felt like my whole body was on a cloud. There was no heavy feeling are limping like I am used too. I felt very motivated to do things. I separated out tons of mail, even clipping coupons!! I washed a bunch of dishes, watered all the plants, cleaned the counters, the stove and oven, the micro, filled up 2 boxes for garage sale and did a bunch of other stuff as well.
Usually I am not able to do all this unless I drink a 5 Hour Energy. I felt soooo good with barely any fibro pain!! So last night along with my Tramadol and xtra strength Tylenol (nurse said to always take both of them together) I also took amyitriptyline for the first time in a long time. My doc had rxed it for me a while back for my fibro. I know its a tricyclic antidepressant. Anyway I had read its supposed to work well for fibro. I took those 3 and I took my usual rxes of depakote, cymbalta, ativan, bystolic, valturna, gabapanten, ambien and aspirin. I took my vitamins and supplements of: st.johns wort, vit D, fish oil, 5 htp, SAM e, concentration essentials, vit C, ginseng and thats it. From looking at these pills can you see anything that the Tramadol or amyitriptyline could react with in a negative way?? This morning I could not wake up for anything. I was like that most all the day. I ate nothing and my husband had to literally force me to drink. He took my blood pressure at one point and it was 60/80, where normal for me is around 118/82. He would keep asking me what was wrong and I just would say "I'm sick". I have no memory of today, only small flashes.
Do you think the 2 new drugs could have had something to do with this? Or do you think I could have been ODing due to so much meds at one time? Finally do you think I could be having some sorta bizarre fibro or CFIDS episode? I'm not sure what to think. I know you guys weren't doctors. I really would just like your opinions. I really feel good about taking all the supplements and vitamins. My body makes no serotonin at all, so I need all the supplemental help I can get. Thank you for anything you have to offer!!
Friends,
Irish
I was wondering if anyone has any comments on the effects of Tramadol. I just started taking it yesterday. I called my internist to let him know that I was in immense pain all over my body. He called me in Tramadol 50 mg to be taken 4 times daily. He gave me 60 with no refill. Is this a common strength and amount? I figured he gave me no refills cuz he wants to make sure it works for me. I was out of Voltaren, and the pharmacy said the manufacturer was out, so I called my doc bout that and they rxed me some liquid with a dropper called:_____-said. Does anyone know it? Of course it is for arthritis pain and swelling so maybe its not a common fibro drug. I told the nurse that the Tramadol seemed to help most of my pain but not my hands and feet, Voltaren usually helps that. This new liquidhas the same active ing. That Voltaren has.
Now about the Tramadol. For some weird reason this stuff worked some kinda miracle on me. I hardly ever clean up my house cuz I just don't feel the motivation. There are a lot of legitimate, medical explanations for this. For now though I prefer not to get into them as I was judged rather harshly on another board here at DS because of them. Anyway after taking the Tramadol I noticed that it did take rather long for it to kick in. but when it finally did....WOW!!!...I felt almost normal again after several years of not being normal!!! I almost felt like my whole body was on a cloud. There was no heavy feeling are limping like I am used too. I felt very motivated to do things. I separated out tons of mail, even clipping coupons!! I washed a bunch of dishes, watered all the plants, cleaned the counters, the stove and oven, the micro, filled up 2 boxes for garage sale and did a bunch of other stuff as well.
Usually I am not able to do all this unless I drink a 5 Hour Energy. I felt soooo good with barely any fibro pain!! So last night along with my Tramadol and xtra strength Tylenol (nurse said to always take both of them together) I also took amyitriptyline for the first time in a long time. My doc had rxed it for me a while back for my fibro. I know its a tricyclic antidepressant. Anyway I had read its supposed to work well for fibro. I took those 3 and I took my usual rxes of depakote, cymbalta, ativan, bystolic, valturna, gabapanten, ambien and aspirin. I took my vitamins and supplements of: st.johns wort, vit D, fish oil, 5 htp, SAM e, concentration essentials, vit C, ginseng and thats it. From looking at these pills can you see anything that the Tramadol or amyitriptyline could react with in a negative way?? This morning I could not wake up for anything. I was like that most all the day. I ate nothing and my husband had to literally force me to drink. He took my blood pressure at one point and it was 60/80, where normal for me is around 118/82. He would keep asking me what was wrong and I just would say "I'm sick". I have no memory of today, only small flashes.
Do you think the 2 new drugs could have had something to do with this? Or do you think I could have been ODing due to so much meds at one time? Finally do you think I could be having some sorta bizarre fibro or CFIDS episode? I'm not sure what to think. I know you guys weren't doctors. I really would just like your opinions. I really feel good about taking all the supplements and vitamins. My body makes no serotonin at all, so I need all the supplemental help I can get. Thank you for anything you have to offer!!
Friends,
Irish
I started on as needed and then went to two 50 mg a day. Eventually this went to four 50 mg a day but your tolerance builds up and you need more. By the third year I was taking 10-12 a day. If you google ultram addiction you will see a lot of similar stories.
Ultram is synthetic codeine and the withdrawals are the same as any opiates. By year three I knew I had to stop but it was so hard. I would taper off, go through withdrawals and not be able to make it. It took a year of trying to finally quit. I am over 40 days without it and am finally feeling like my old self.
This drug causes memory and judgement problems. Also I had to have two surgeries while I was on it and neither time could they get my pain under control. The doctor said it was because of my daily use of pain meds. The amount of pain medicine they would have to give me to work was above a safe limit.
As I said, it has a lot of positives, but you just need to know the truth of how hard it is to get off. Also, you need to know that despite the labeling, it is very addictive.
Sorry for what you are going through. It is a very frustrating illness.
Thanx for the info about tramadol. I did do research on the drug but all of it was so contradictory. The actual drug website along with other reputable medical websites do caution about addiction, and how one should not just quit taking it because it causes severe withdrawal symptoms.
Then I read in a couple of boards dealing with pain issues a different side to what I had previously read. The people on those boards all said that Tramadol was like a joke drug. They said it was something the doc prescribes for people who are known drug abusers. Supposedly because it is not addicting. They also talked of how it does not work. I thought it worked pretty good. The only pain I had left was my hands and feet. I plan on using that liquid RX stuff for those areas though.
So now I am confused. My doc rxed them for me without having to go in to see him, which usually if you need pain meds, anti-anxiety meds or sleeping meds they will make you come in. This is the same doc who has been nagging me to cut down my ativan from 2 mg at night to 1 mg. he doesn't believe in his patients taking a lot of meds. So it makes me wonder why he put me on it 4 times a day?
I am trying to control it somewhat. Since I am addicted to cigarettes and my dad was a 10 year recovering alcoholic and drug addict when he died, plus the fact that we have Cherokee blood, I do believe I am at risk of addiction problems. Instead of taking 4/day I have decided to take just 2/day. One in the AM and one in the PM, right before bed.
Thats another weird thing. When I took it during the day it seemed to last forever, although it did take about 2 hours to hit me. Then I took the one at night and about 3 hours later I woke up in intense pain. I did not wait another 2 hours, I just took one right then. My pain lessened but I felt dead to the world after that.
so do you think tramadol can work like that? We'll thank you again got replying! I really do appreciate it!!!
Love,
Irish
I would be a little nervous about some of the combinations you are taking. I always ask my Pharmacy about the ones I am taking to make sure they can be taken together.....they seem to be a little more help with that than some Doctors.
Hope all goes well for you and that you find some answers!