Been prescribed Tramadol and I’m scared to take it! Will I be off my head on it?!

[Bagelsandbrie]

I have multiple health issues - lupus, Addison’s, pituitary tumour, asthma, etc etc. I am in chronic pain and currently between lupus treatments. Cocodamol 30/500 isn’t touching the pain at night time and I can barely sleep (joint pain in hips and back). GP has prescribed 50mg Tramadol to be taken with paracetamol but after reading reviews etc online I’m actually scared to try it! Loads of stuff about feeling out of it (which I absolutely hate, I don’t even drink alcohol - hate that feeling) and even hallucinations

I want to try it because if it works it will give me some relief but I’m really anxious. Any positive stories?

And yes, I know it’s addictive etc but we’re talking hip pain so bad I’m on the highest rates of PIP long term / indefinitely and can literally barely walk so please be kind!

You may feel groggy at first. I've chosen just to take it on my really really bad days rather than every day as I to don't like the hung over feeling and want to reduce chances of becoming addicted. I also take it a few hours before bed because it's kicked in when I go to bed and the hung over feeling isn't as bad in the morning. I don't regret starting it definitely start when you have no commitments as first few days felt worse but overall the pros have outweighed the cons. And also it can cause constipation so if you not already taking them you may need some laxatives. Best of luck.

@Landslidelife

You may feel groggy at first. I've chosen just to take it on my really really bad days rather than every day as I to don't like the hung over feeling and want to reduce chances of becoming addicted. I also take it a few hours before bed because it's kicked in when I go to bed and the hung over feeling isn't as bad in the morning. I don't regret starting it definitely start when you have no commitments as first few days felt worse but overall the pros have outweighed the cons. And also it can cause constipation so if you not already taking them you may need some laxatives. Best of luck.

Thank you very much for replying. Did you find it made you feel “drugged” / out of it? Thanks for the tip about the laxatives!

I had it after a hysterectomy and didn't notice any psychological effects at all.

I hope you find something that helps your pain.

I never got any side effects from it, didn't even touch the sides all jokes aside, i do seem to have a high drug tolerance unfortunately, i know it does make my dh a bit groggy the next morning but otherwise he's fine and gets a great sleep.

It’s a druggy drug if that makes sense, you’ll feel spacey. But it works and you’ll build up a tolerance to it. Like @Landslidelife I’ve chosen to only use it on my worst days (also a lupus sufferer).

I wouldn't take 2 I would only take 1 at first, sometimes it can take a while to kick in and make you feel sick. Otherwise shamefully I love the relaxed feeling it gives

I’ve also got Addisons + numerous other autoimmune problems and it made me feel too sick to carry on with it , my mum ( also Addisons + arthritis ) took it for years with no issues at all .

Thank you everyone - feeling a bit better about it now!

Can't give you a remotely positive story. It didn't touch my pain, I don't know how I functioned on it (I have huge memory gaps during the 18 months I was on it), and had I known how hard it would be to come off it I would never have taken it. It was like being a drug addict. I wish doctors wouldn't prescribe it to people. It's far worse than any opiate.

I took it for a few months while I was waiting for a knee replacement. It didn't knock me out, but I felt a little "remote".(eg, I broke a front tooth, and instead of panicking I thought "oh bother") However, I don't find opiates affect me very strongly anyway.

Why don't you just try it once and see how you feel?

I had tramadol - not sure of the dose - and I’m not convinced it did anything much for the pain. It didn’t have any obvious side effects or addictive properties with me.

I had the same worries as you. I'm taking it and it helps improve my quality of life, which is what I needed.

I get withdrawal/cessation symptoms if I stop taking it suddenly (I tested it to see), but that's also the case for other non-painkiller medications I have to take. I resumed taking it because going back to the pain levels I had without it was unbearable and it made no sense to me to be trying to taper off the only thing we had found that helped!

I don't feel great about that, but I don't feel great about having withdrawal/cessation effects from my other medications either!

I figure that I'm living with a permanently disabling condition that won't get better and pain levels that meant I couldn't have any kind of life - so what would I be achieving by refusing something that can help just because I don't want to be dependent on something I'll most likely be taking long term anyway?

If I do ever need or want to stop taking it, I know I'll have to taper off and I know it might not be the most fun ever but this has given me a little bit of quality of life back. I'm not going to get a second turn at living so I need to find a way to get something from the life I have left. There's no point to me in refusing a drug that can help because I'm afraid of one day going through the cessation/tapering process if that means I spend my days curled up in a ball sobbing in pain, which was how things were.

I had to taper off codeine when we stopped that, which I didn't enjoy but it was achievable and achieved. Also, I've had to taper off an anti-psychotic (for severe anxiety) in the past which was horrendous with the cessation/withdrawal effects (much worse than codeine and similar to when I stopped the tramadol as a test). I feel that if I can survive that (and all the other shit I've lived through) I can manage tapering off this drug if or when it comes to it.

My view having talked it through with my medical team is that cessation symptoms aren't the same as 'addiction' in the loaded, scary sense. Our bodies adjust to any medication we take so there are lots of drugs you can't stop taking suddenly or you get cessation symptoms as your body can't instantly re-adjust to not having it anymore. I think that's the case with corticosteroids too in quite a serious way.

Being physically dependent is not the same as being psychologically dependent. Physically dependent just means you have to slowly taper off. Psychologically dependent can be where it's trickier, but even then it can be overcome.

If you're taking them for pain, as prescribed, rather than because you enjoy how they make you feel then psychological dependence is unlikely. I did some reading of studies into pain management of long term/chronic pain and they do seem to support that position.

Addiction / drug addict are such loaded words. I'm not sure if people realise how many commonly prescribed drugs/medications have to be tapered off to avoid cessation/withdrawal symptoms?

For me, tapering has just meant gradually stretching out the time between doses and reducing the doses gradually as you go until you can go longer and longer without withdrawal symptoms. At first that might mean stretching to 12 hours instead of 6 then stretching it out by another hour until eventually it's a day apart and then two days and then a week. It seems to go like one of those hockey stick graphs in terms of spacing out - starts very small and incremental then you start to be able to increase it by bigger chunks of time with each dose until you don't need it anymore.

I remember at one point feeling like it was going to take years to be off that drug at the rate it was going because even though I could go a week before cessation symptoms kicked in it was still kicking in. I nearly gave up. But then suddenly I got past a week and then another without cessation resuming. So it just takes patience.

I have always been the one in charge of the tapering rather than having it imposed, which I think helped a lot. It meant I was in control and could listen to my own body rather than having to try and endure more severe cessation symptoms due to somebody else's imposed quicker timetable - which would bring more severe cessation symptoms on top of panic about having no control and no ability to reduce the taper speed, because if you do you'll run out completely because you've only been prescribed a reduced amount according to the imposed dosing timetable. (If that makes sense? E.g. if you would need 24 tablets per month in order to go at the pace you can cope with, but they only give you 12 per month because of the timetable they've imposed).

For me, having complete control of the tapering and being able to take it at my own body's pace was key to it being achievable. Psychologically it's really important for humans to have a sense of control, especially when going through something difficult. Not being in control of your own tapering can make you panic and start to psychologically crave the drug to make it stop, which then creates a bigger problem than you started with!

I can imagine it would have been a different outcome if I had been told I had to go straight from 6 hour intervals to 24 hour intervals and following an imposed tapering timetable when my body couldn't cope with that and needed to go slower - I suspect I would have been less likely to succeed in those circumstances because the cessation symptoms would have been intolerable and I would have become very distressed.

The main cessation symptoms for tramadol are feeling flu-ey, night sweats, anxiety, and diarrhoea if it caused constipation. If you taper correctly you only really feel the edge of those symptoms at the end of each stretched out dosing gap. Your body slowly has time to adjust and they fade away. If you stop without tapering it is more dramatic/intense, which is why you're not supposed to!

I know this is long and I've probably rambled a bit, I just wondered if it might be useful if I added more context to my position and my experience of withdrawal/cessation symptoms and tapering off other drugs. It was stuff I found reassuring when I was making my decision - sometimes knowing what the exit strategy might look like can make starting down a path feel less scary.

I hope things get a bit easier for you.

@user615632456321125

I had the same worries as you. I'm taking it and it helps improve my quality of life, which is what I needed.

I get withdrawal/cessation symptoms if I stop taking it suddenly (I tested it to see), but that's also the case for other non-painkiller medications I have to take. I resumed taking it because going back to the pain levels I had without it was unbearable and it made no sense to me to be trying to taper off the only thing we had found that helped!

I don't feel great about that, but I don't feel great about having withdrawal/cessation effects from my other medications either!

I figure that I'm living with a permanently disabling condition that won't get better and pain levels that meant I couldn't have any kind of life - so what would I be achieving by refusing something that can help just because I don't want to be dependent on something I'll most likely be taking long term anyway?

If I do ever need or want to stop taking it, I know I'll have to taper off and I know it might not be the most fun ever but this has given me a little bit of quality of life back. I'm not going to get a second turn at living so I need to find a way to get something from the life I have left. There's no point to me in refusing a drug that can help because I'm afraid of one day going through the cessation/tapering process if that means I spend my days curled up in a ball sobbing in pain, which was how things were.

I had to taper off codeine when we stopped that, which I didn't enjoy but it was achievable and achieved. Also, I've had to taper off an anti-psychotic (for severe anxiety) in the past which was horrendous with the cessation/withdrawal effects (much worse than codeine and similar to when I stopped the tramadol as a test). I feel that if I can survive that (and all the other shit I've lived through) I can manage tapering off this drug if or when it comes to it.

My view having talked it through with my medical team is that cessation symptoms aren't the same as 'addiction' in the loaded, scary sense. Our bodies adjust to any medication we take so there are lots of drugs you can't stop taking suddenly or you get cessation symptoms as your body can't instantly re-adjust to not having it anymore. I think that's the case with corticosteroids too in quite a serious way.

Being physically dependent is not the same as being psychologically dependent. Physically dependent just means you have to slowly taper off. Psychologically dependent can be where it's trickier, but even then it can be overcome.

If you're taking them for pain, as prescribed, rather than because you enjoy how they make you feel then psychological dependence is unlikely. I did some reading of studies into pain management of long term/chronic pain and they do seem to support that position.

Addiction / drug addict are such loaded words. I'm not sure if people realise how many commonly prescribed drugs/medications have to be tapered off to avoid cessation/withdrawal symptoms?

For me, tapering has just meant gradually stretching out the time between doses and reducing the doses gradually as you go until you can go longer and longer without withdrawal symptoms. At first that might mean stretching to 12 hours instead of 6 then stretching it out by another hour until eventually it's a day apart and then two days and then a week. It seems to go like one of those hockey stick graphs in terms of spacing out - starts very small and incremental then you start to be able to increase it by bigger chunks of time with each dose until you don't need it anymore.

I remember at one point feeling like it was going to take years to be off that drug at the rate it was going because even though I could go a week before cessation symptoms kicked in it was still kicking in. I nearly gave up. But then suddenly I got past a week and then another without cessation resuming. So it just takes patience.

I have always been the one in charge of the tapering rather than having it imposed, which I think helped a lot. It meant I was in control and could listen to my own body rather than having to try and endure more severe cessation symptoms due to somebody else's imposed quicker timetable - which would bring more severe cessation symptoms on top of panic about having no control and no ability to reduce the taper speed, because if you do you'll run out completely because you've only been prescribed a reduced amount according to the imposed dosing timetable. (If that makes sense? E.g. if you would need 24 tablets per month in order to go at the pace you can cope with, but they only give you 12 per month because of the timetable they've imposed).

For me, having complete control of the tapering and being able to take it at my own body's pace was key to it being achievable. Psychologically it's really important for humans to have a sense of control, especially when going through something difficult. Not being in control of your own tapering can make you panic and start to psychologically crave the drug to make it stop, which then creates a bigger problem than you started with!

I can imagine it would have been a different outcome if I had been told I had to go straight from 6 hour intervals to 24 hour intervals and following an imposed tapering timetable when my body couldn't cope with that and needed to go slower - I suspect I would have been less likely to succeed in those circumstances because the cessation symptoms would have been intolerable and I would have become very distressed.

The main cessation symptoms for tramadol are feeling flu-ey, night sweats, anxiety, and diarrhoea if it caused constipation. If you taper correctly you only really feel the edge of those symptoms at the end of each stretched out dosing gap. Your body slowly has time to adjust and they fade away. If you stop without tapering it is more dramatic/intense, which is why you're not supposed to!

I know this is long and I've probably rambled a bit, I just wondered if it might be useful if I added more context to my position and my experience of withdrawal/cessation symptoms and tapering off other drugs. It was stuff I found reassuring when I was making my decision - sometimes knowing what the exit strategy might look like can make starting down a path feel less scary.

I hope things get a bit easier for you.

Oh my gosh thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed reply. I really appreciate your advice and experiences - and thank you to all who have replied.

I am not particularly concerned about becoming addicted to it if it works - addiction is a funny thing isn’t it if you’re in chronic pain and your life is already severely limited. I will definitely just be using it for pain reasons / as prescribed so I suppose I’ll have to just try it and see how I get on.

I have been prescribed it when I injured my knee, and then again a month later when I had surgery for the knee. I didn't seem to have much pain so I guess it did that job, and I didn't have any feelings of being out of it or groggy (co-codamol on the other hand makes me feel a bit floaty but usually in a nice way), but I did have quite strong cessation symptoms that lasted a couple of weeks (so about as long as I was taking it) of nausea and very twitchy/itchy muscles which was unpleasant.

I take it as and when. Have done for seven years now. Really helps with pain, zero side effects, no withdrawal issues. For me, it’s just like taking paracetamol. That said, if you have it in your head that it’s a “druggy drug” 🙄 I’m sure you will convince yourself that you have side effects.

I use it for joint pain and haven't had any problems at all, it allows me to function normally day to day. I would definitely take it. If you are worried about sedation/feeling groggy take it earlier in the evening rather than right at bedtime. By the morning any sedation should have worn off (NB I didn't have any sedation or grogginess)

I’ve used it for two different injuries, each injury was months duration to recover after surgeries and it’s of very painful physio, I was initially prescribed co codemol but due to digestive issues, could not take that due to extreme constipation - hence prescribed tramadol. I too was worried about being groggy as mobility was a big issue and worried about addiction (having read up on it). Neither of these were issues though. The tramadol helped tremendously with the pain.

It made me feel spaced out but still with it. The worse thing was the itchiness… god it made me itchy!!

It gives me that spacey feeling but I have known others it didn't, think it's like Solpadeine depends on your body chemistry.
I have taken it for the type of pain where you can't sleep or move and would again if necessary.

The advantage for taking it to sleep is that if you take it an hour or so before bed it helps get you to sleep and I am fine in the morning.
I also don't like that spacey feeling so I know where your coming from but it's no worse then the lightheadedness and tearfulness that comes with a severe sleep deficit.
I hope it works for you, even just one nights sleep can make everything seem so much more manageable.

I had Tramadol after I had surgery on my leg. It seemed to work for the pain, but I fell asleep not long after taking them. No hallucinations, just slept. The come down after not taking them for a few months was worse.

I take it every day, I've never felt groggy on it but everyone is different.

Everyone is different I have always been able to take codeine for pain in quite large doses for weeks at a time with no addiction issues. As soon as my pain resolved I didn't even think about taking it, even though when my pain was very bad I was counting the hours till my next dose.

Wow so many replies since I last checked! Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply.