Tramadol

Gout can be awful, only an injection of cortisone worked for me; I was only about 30 at the time and not drinking port - or anything at all!

They are doing a phone in at the moment on Radio 5 about addictive painkillers etc, some people have had horrible experiences after taking Tramadol. One lady said a friend who is a GP took one herself for pain and was so badly affected she refuses to give them to her patients now.

One side effect not mentioned here is severe constipation. Both my sister and sister in law took tramadol for long periods due to back pain and both suffered terribly with constipation. And my SILs GS who had a drink & drugs problem at the time was found to have stolen her tramadol, so yes, to be avoided if possible.

I've read today that the UK accounts for approx one third of all opiate prescriptions in the EU. I wonder why our prescribing habits are so different from the rest of Europe?

The article I read sounded as though it's a terrible problem, I feel sorry for anyone struggling with such an addiction. I take codeine & paracetamol for migraine but I've never had any highs or similar reaction and it never crosses my mind to take them when I don't have a migraine so I guess I'm not addicted.

I took Tramadol for a slipped disc and felt sick in the mornings but was glad to take it as the pain was terrible.
Its similar to codein and it works for me.
But I don't get any form of a 'high' through taking it.

I have Tramadol for emergencies for my destroyed leg but it gives me side effects of severe and painful abdominal spasms for 72 hours afterwards - although these are among the "better" side effects I have to pain killers. I used to get on much better with Distalgesic but it has been withdrawn worldwide leaving me with few alternatives

Tramadol and Codeine - in fact, it seems, all opiates - make me sick and woozy. After my hip replacement I didn't stop being sick until the morphine pump was removed. So it's very difficult to identify an effective analgesic. One of my sisters has the same reaction and recently my DS1 told me that he did too. At the moment I'm glad to say it's not an issue... fingers crossed it stays that way!

Had a really bad experience the first time I took Tramadol, my DH thought I'd overdosed and called an ambulance. I had only taken the dose recommended by my GP. Its an evil drug. I now take Co-Codomal for my back pain, which is okish, but I wish they'd never withdrawn Co-Proxamol from the market, that really did wonders xx

I was prescribed Tramadol after falling off a cliff, shattering my leg and ankle and undergoing two operations to fix it. I was on 200mg od for the best part of a year, initially combined with Oramorph. I didn't feel euphoric, but when I started to reduce the dose, I became very anxious and depressed. It has taken me a further year to come off it altogether by reducing the dose very gradually, finally taking a Tramadol and codeine combination drug containing a very small amount of Tramadol. I'm pleased to report that I don't miss it and even though I still have some tablets in a drawer, I am not tempted in the least to take them.

Tramadol helps with the pain and has reduced my appetite so I'm losing weight

WIN WIN

Given Tramadol after breaking tib/fib because I couldn't tolerate codeine. Worked OK but when I tried to stop taking it I had horrendous nightmares and Google told me these were withdrawal symptoms. GP helped me wean onto paracetamol/nurofen and never looked back.

I take just two tramadol on a night I have chronic pain following op it doesn't make me feel euphoric it does seem to help me relax I can't take codeine that makes me woozy and nauseous . Oh takes long acting tramadol twice a day and two short acting in afternoon for back he as taken it for years with no side effects but paracetamol makes him nauseous and morphine makes him loopy?

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I took it once. Never again! I felt a sickness/ oddness, that I just can’t describe. It took any pain away. I felt it was taking everything away. I shudder when I think of it. Just stick to paracetamol now!

I can`t take Tramadol, it makes me physically sick. Hardly any painkillers work for me, unfortunately, except Oromorph, that was wonderful, but I stopped asking for it as I didn`t want to get addicted.

I was prescribed it for back pain my GP told me to take two but I only took one thank goodness. I slept for 16 hrs DH was about to call an ambulance when I finally roused and was promptly sick for hours, never again and I can’t take codeine either. After my hip surgery they couldn’t stop me being sick for ages even though I had anti-sickness meds, I felt so sorry for my bedfellows in the ward.

It did nothing for me, I'm now on morphine and still in a lot of pain.

I take Tramadol and find it very helpful at reducing pain from Fibro and OsteoArthritis.

In my experience the most evil pain relief is Pregabalin which is also abused by people who want to take drugs.
Pregabalin changed my personailty, put on huge amounts of weight and was really hard to come off of.

We all react differently is the truth.

What I don't understand is I have friends in Canada who use Medical Cannabis for pain but we are not allowed to.
Why not?
It is grown here and money is made but we can't have it.

I would prefer to take a plant than the chemicals I am offered.

Tramadol is a narcotic opioid, and is morphine based, used for severe and chronic pain, so very liable to become addicted to them. Should be monitored by GP, have been prescribed it for severe shoulder pain, but as a ex nurse, wouldn’t stay on it for long, and it didn’t really help. Would hope people are advised about this, and why it should be monitored.

It is indeed a very strong drug and morphine/opiate- so not to be messed around with. If you sold them on the street, you'd be called a Dealer and severely punished. And certainly should never ever be taken to lose weight.

I could not take morphine after hip replacement. I was prescribed Tramadol but refused them I knew about them from friends. I was in so much pain after the op but still refused them.

I have Fibromyalgia and Polyarthritis, thus chronic pain. I have been on tramadol for 7 years with no problems. They are quite effective for Fibro and I've never had any Euphoria from them. I don't thi k I'm addicted as I don't take them when I'm having better times and less pain.

Never heard of it (tramadol). Perhaps they don’t have it here.

Horrible pills. Make me really sick.

Over a year ago, I think, I asked on here about ways of dealing with pain because my DH was suffering from PHN following shingles. 2 1/2 years later he is still suffering after a whole range of treatment and medications none of which worked. The first was tramadol which just made him slightly dizzy but no pain relief. apparently there are some people for who pain relief medication just doesn't work and he is one of them.

Luckily the end of pain may be in sight. He saw a professor of neurosurgery who is planning to fit a spinal cord stimulator. He has to have a MRI scan to make sure that he doesn't have scoliosis or fluid around the spine. If that's OK he'll get the implant. This device emits mild electric pulses to the spine.

We know someone who had one of these 7 years ago and tells us that it's the best thing he's ever had. So I would recommend that anyone suffering from long term pain looks into the SCS and see if it might work for them.