Has anyone been prescribed tramadol, and if s... - Pain Concern
Has anyone been prescribed tramadol, and if so does anyone know about its long term use, as I have been taking it now for about four years
It might be more a case of who hasn't been using it! I took it for about 17 years until about a year ago, I have since moved on to stronger opiates, and certainly suffer no worse side effects now, in fact less. One problem I don't have now for example is leg thrashing often when I first go to bed, which is like restless legs syndrome which was what I had thought I had!
It always worked pretty well for me, but when I think about it, not really that much better than codeine based drugs before, and probably with more side and ill effect, although I never took those as long of course.
It is wicked to come off.... even though I was moving on to other opiates which prevented the worst opiate withdrawal, it has strange withdrawal still (due to the SNRI component it has?) which is very like withdrawing from Velafaxine which I had taken some time before, but that said, I suppose it was nothing like as bad as it would have been if I hadn't moved to other opiates!
During the time I was on it, (and now I look back some things are clearer than they were at the time) endocrine problems actually started fairly early on, although getting those properly diagnosed at the time didn't happen despite visits to Urologists and Endocrinologists, even a Psychiatrist (It was all in my head! Heard that one before?) - I just had the problems, and had low blood tests to prove it, but they were not as low as they eventually became; and it is only as they became more serious over the years (hypogonadism - rock bottom low testosterone was the most extreme of the hormone problems but I had others) and other low endocrine function and particularly adrenal hormones (low cortisol - so I was flaking out" with that) did I suffer *real* problems from these, although getting treatment for all of this has been a real challenge!
Thing is, ALL opiates not just Tramadol are known to causes such problems, and I may well have had them on other opiates, so I can't really be certain Tramadol was the only cause, just I didn't develop them whilst on Codeine products for a few years before.
Thing is, if you have pain, you need pain relief just to function, so the options are Tramadol or some other opiate pain killer, and there are ill effects 
I have been on it on and off since 2008 and 2 months ago I stopped using it due to increasing side effects, I found it a rather insidious drug that changed my moods and at times made me aggressive without me really noticing that it was specifically the main cause, it took a good two weeks for me to clear it all from my system, I'm now only taking Codeine sulphate for main nerve pain and I feel a lot better for it.
Perhaps I am lucky - I've inherited my mother's weird metabolism and get very little effect from many tablets - including tramadol. Fortunately, this also means that we have had no problems coming off them.
Many thanks for cheering me up regarding the tramadol, as I have a first time appointment with a pain clinic next week as the dose of tramadol I am taking at the moment is not working, I am not sure what to expect at the pain clinic but I will give it a go enjoy this good weather.Jacqueline.
I was on Tramadol for about 7 years and although there are side effects, that is to be expected. You sometimes end up having to take another drug to deal with one symptom of the first drug, but in terms of moderate pain relief, I don't think it is too bad. I moved off Tramadol, when despite being on the maximum dose, I was getting little benefit, so I was switched to Zomorph, which has its only little problems. I am now on Zomorph and Morphine Oral Solution for breakthrough pain. I was very interested to read that someone said that they struggled with what they initially thought was Restless Legs Syndrome, whilst on Tramadol, because my restless legs problem continued on Zomorph and so I am on two antiepilepsy drugs (although I do not suffer from epilepsy) to control the leg kicking. Mixed success, but as I am recovering from twin knee replacement operations, controlling kicking is pretty critical.
I have been on max dose Tramodol for 7 years ago which has worked for my pain and I have not noticed any side effects. I also take zoomorph which also caused no problems until the dose was put up when my pain went way up after major surgery (unavoidable, I would be in a wheelchair now if I had not had it). Everyone is different and I just think one has to have the attitude that changing drugs is playing at chemistry but has to be done if you want a better life. Recently I started topiramate as well, with no ill effects and good pain relief. It is a migraine preventer but works for chronic pain. My advice: avoid any kind of surgery if you possible can - your pain will go up a lot, all over. My consultant said this to me and he was right.
Hello BOB here
I have been taking Tramadol 50mg now for over ten years, all seems ok if you take a back up dose to feed your system If you stop sometimes can have problems for several days afterwards so will need to taper down slowly
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