moved to folkestone

[fairytails]

hello all i hope this cold weather isnt hurting too much but like you proberbly i cant wait for the summer i moved to folkestone in december and my previous doctor always gave me tramadol and cocodaol which ive taken for years and to be honest have gotten used to it really because when im really bad there have been times where ive taken too much by accident ! anyway i have just started at a new doctors surgery and she wont give me the co codamol saying that i should never take them together as one is so like the other i have to pick up a prescription later for the tramamdol and now im panicking because i had such a bad day yesterday i had to call 111 cause id run out of both meds i was in so much pain i was passing out nearly ! the doctor said there are other pain meds she can put me on but maybe its me getting old and stuck in my ways i dont want to have to go through being a test dummy again untill i get the right match of meds that work if you know what i mean?? so i wanted to enquire if thats ok what do other people take with tramadol?? im also on the ever faithfull citalopram fro deppression of which is supposed to help with pain signals ( dont think so but!!) and also any other ladies from folkestone that are sufferers of this beautifull illness that fancy a chat would be nice

thankyou for reading my post and as i said i hope it finds you all on good low pain days

hugs alexandra x

[I_z_232_3]

I am sorry to hear the new Dr is so unsympathetic, if only they could spend 1 day in our shoes. You dont say how old you are? At my surgery there are several Drs, only 1 I really trust. I am nearly 66 and asked him if what I was going through was age related and he gave me a definite no. I think you should go back and let her know how you really feel, they don't always get it right. It can be hard to explain so, write down day to day how you are and take it with you on your next visit. Good luck and gentle hugs. Izzy x

[rosewine]

Unfortunately Tramadol didn't suit me gave me terrible headaches. I take a combination of Pregablin, cocodamal and Ibuprophen. When my friends were on Tramadol they were both given plain paracetamol to take in between the Tramadol tablets and they both seems to find it gave better pain relief that way.

I had the same problem when my doctor retired as the new doctor was at that time not keen on cocodamal and things like Dihycodeine anything codeine based to be honest as he had just been on a course about dependency. I showed him that I could come of the Dihycodeine so was not drug seeking or dependant on it and when the drugs suggested by the Pain Clinic did not work he then decided he would put me back on the cocodamal.

I have to change doctor and like you I do not reply want to have to go through all that hoops of coming off one drug and going on another so I am keeping everything crossed that I will be allowed to carry on or possibly have something better suggested to me.

I can imagine if you suddenly were on no meds at all the pain would be unbearable. Hope that you can find something that suits you and helps with the pain.x

[TheAuthor]

Hi fairytails

I am so genuinely sorry to read that you are suffering and struggling so much, and I want to genuinely wish you all the best of luck. I have never taken Tramadol as I have Cocodamol and Nefopam among many other medications. Please take care of yourself.

All my hopes and dreams for you

Ken x

[fairytails]

thankyou all for your replies and i hope you are snuggled ! its been a bit cold here -7 last night! come on summer ! give me the heat to moan about haha! hugs alexandra

[Midori]

That is one thing I am dreading once I move as well. Establishing a good relationship with a new doctor is always stressful.

[LaurieLee]

Hi Fairytails, sorry you are having such a tough time. Weather doesn't help either. However, you can take 2 PARACETAMOL with TRAMADOL which increases the effectiveness. I have checked this with a few GPs and they all agree. Obviously, make sure that you NEVER take more than 8 A DAY of the PARACETAMOL and ONLY 2 with TRAMADOL AT A TIME. I only put it in caps so that the important bits stand out. So many of us have fibro fog and it helps when you look back at something, if it's in caps for relevant info. I agree with yr GP that you shouldn't take co-codamol with Tramadol, as I take both, but never at the same time. Although, I have almost given up with co-codamol anyway. BTW, you can get PARACETAMOL really cheap from chemists, especially if your get the cheapest brand, they will only sell you 2 Boxes at a time, so it's certainly worth a go.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

LaurieLee x

[fairytails in reply to LaurieLee]

thankyou laurielee i have actually collected my prescription of tramadol today but bought lower dose cocodamol as the effects of going cold turkey are really affecting me! scarey that ive been on this combination for years eeek! xx

[lkm3s]

Hi there. I haven't been on here in about a thousand years, but had a message it could show me who is close. You came up so I read your post and its so funny because you just moved away!!!

Now, to the serious stuff. My doctor gives me tramadol and codeine. She is being ridiculous really--especially if you have been on it long term with no side effects! Here is list of the meds I am taking:

Co-codamol- 1 30/500 4 times a day

Tramadol - 2 pills 4 times a day

Nefopam - 2 pills, 3 times a day. (that may be a good one to try to get. It enhances the effects of other pain medicines. It can make you feel weird, but it helps with my pain and if you had a terrible day could add some neurofen plus which is almost as much as 1 30/500 (its 25/500)

Butrans patch- if you don't have that, you should. It helps a lot but again, she may be resistent to giving it to you. You put a patch on for one week at a time. It gives a steady release so you aren't having the 4 hour pain crash when meds start wearing off. Its really improved my quality of life. I got it added a few months ago. I went in and told them I was not coping and it was impacting my family significantly. My husband was with me, and said that we were not able to make any plans and live around my 4 hour window of pain levels. We convinced them I was not able to continue that way.

Escitalopram 2 per day (I take before bed...because.....

Amytriptline - an excellent nerve pain blocker but knocks you in the head. Very tired from this and a very dry mouth. So I found taking it an hour before bed time with two escitalopram helps me be human the next morning.

Gabapentin- I had great success with this. Not many others do, but it instantly got rid of my neck, back and skin pain. I'm so grateful for it.

Omeprazol- to protect my stomach from ibuprofen.

Ibuprofen- I don't know why it works so well to be fair.

B-12 (methylcoblamine type) sublingual tablets and recently I started taking magnesium. What a huge differance it has made. In fact, everyone in my family has benefited from magnesium. I always hear people banging on about it and thought, 'yeah, whatever', but it does help!

I REALLY hope she will simply prescribe the cocodamol! It is well known that there is something in paracetamol that enhances the tramadol, thus reducing pain further. I just did a google search and the very top result says

"tramadol and co-codamol can be taken together. tramadol is a morphine salt based drug which acts on the brains pain receptor. co-codamol comes in different strengths, all with 500mg of paracetamol per tablet. some with 8/15/30 or 60mg codiene."

You may want to print out several sources that say that and confront her or ask for a different doctor and show them. It is WRONG to adjust pain medication when it is WORKING for you. It is CRUEL and a typical thing someone who doesn't struggle with pain does without batting an eyelash.

I hope my rather long post helps you to get this resolved or perhaps try some of the drugs I mentioned, in the meantime, I would buy neurofen plus and have one with your tramadol. It will give you much greater relief than tramadol alone.