Tramadol and sleeplessness

[Emma2017]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I am on pregabalin and have been for some time. Due to extreme dryness of my skin and eyes I asked to be put on something else for a month to give it chance to clear up. So the specialist put me on tramadol. I have been on it for a while now and the skin cleared up but I will have to go back to pregabalin now as tramadol seems to keep me wide awake every night plus it does not seem to help as much with the nerve pain either. Just odd how one makes me quite dizzy but the other has the opposite effect even though they both have dizziness as a side effect.

[Hidden]

Yeah it’s the same with me always makes me wide awake I can’t sleep on it at all I know mostly it’s my pain keeping me up but I trialed it and it’s definitely the tramadol that keeps me more awake drives me nuts lol .

But I’ve been taking other medications now and CBD oil to try and help me sleep as if I can help it I try not to take tramadol between 4-10/12pm

[Madlegs1]

Tramadol is an opiate- notorious for causing insomnia for the first few months. Can also cause intense itching.

Pregabalin has other side effects. But is not an opiate.

It is different for everyone

[Hidden in reply to Madlegs1]

I’ve not been able to sleep in it in nearly ten years lol and the itching never stops for me

[Fyllida in reply to Hidden]

Me neither, but manage to get a few hours by taking 300mg 5HTP and then Diazapam 5mg in the small hours. This way, I get approx 6 hours. Fortunately, am a morning person so get done as much as possible (including work) up to mid-afternoon when conk out! Dealing with horrible pain at same time is another story.....

[Hidden]

I can't take tramadol any later than 3pm otherwise I'm awake until 4am too. Still looking for a painkiller that I can take at night. I do take pregabalin that helps with my nerve pain but tramadol is useful for my non nerve pain

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Oh god I'm the same after 4pm I can't take it until after 12am again. I'm glad I'm not the only one though.

I'm glad pregablin is helping you x

[Emma2017]

Good to see I am not the only one having this problem. Like others I now only take the tramadol during the day and before mid afternoon. It does help more with my back ache but does nothing for the nerve pain.

[waylay]

Huh! That's very interesting. I have horrendous insomnia and am on tramadol! I shall see if I can get something else for a bit to see if I sleep better. Ty!

[jpain]

Interesting that a lot of people suffer insomnia on tramadol, as I did too, yet I'm pretty sure it is not listed on the side effects.

I was faced with surprise when I told my GP about it - 'most people feel really sleepy on it' (I wouldn't even say that I didn't feel sleepy, but it was still impossible to get to sleep for hours!) then aren't they meant to report these side effects when patients tell them? Vaguely remember a post or survey on here talking about this process.

Hope you find something that helps. I came off the tramadol as for the level of pain relief (very minimal) the side effects were not worth it for me in the end.

[Hidden in reply to jpain]

My doctor was the same he just said well it can’t be the tramadol it’s meant to make you sleepy I said it’s never made me sleepy it just makes me more awake and slightly helps with my pain that’s about it lol but I’ve been on it for around 10 years and I don’t actually have any other side effects now (well until I come off it properly anyway lol)

Did you find something that worked better for you? I’m meeting my afriend in doctor in a few weeks and want to go with some alternatives for what I’m on now x

[jpain in reply to Hidden]

All I'm using at the moment is paracetamol and cbd (mostly vaping). I know you are trying that yourself at the moment too. It has took a while and I've had to increase the dose but I do feel like the cbd is starting to help now. It almost instantly helped my sleep, as in getting to sleep quickly, which makes a big difference. I still wake up after about 3 hours and sometimes cant get back to sleep but I feel like getting almost straight off to sleep (something completely alien to me well before the chronic pain!) Is much better than lying awake for hours then getting a couple of hours before having to get up.

The pain on 'resting' is possibly worse than on the tramadol especially initially but tramadol did nothing for my pain on walking etc and didn't improve my capabilities so I didn't feel like it was worth it for me and I haven't been in a rush to start on something else that will also have a lot of side effects. My GP had mentioned things like gabapentin/pregablin I think before i came off it but again the side effects sound pretty terrible. I know some people take amitryptaline at night and find that helps- don't know if you have tried that?

I just want to stick with the cbd for now and see how I go. I may have to back on some prescription pain relief (I wouldn't go back on tramadol or codeine so it would have to be something different) but I do want to at least give myself a break from it. It is a balancing act between benefits and drawbacks and I know some people have no choice but to be on a cocktail of strong medicines but I do feel like it really doesn't help as much as it should, especially over time.

[Hidden in reply to jpain]

That’s so great its finally helping you and your feeling the benefits especially with sleeping! That’s amazing your only on that and paracetamol,I bet you feel so much better in yourself now. What strength are you on now? I’m glad I started with one of the strongest it’s definitely helped me so much with my sleeping it’s a god send I still have to take everything else but I’m taking the oramorph less and less now which is great.

I tried amitryptaline a year ago and omg it was the worst thing I’ve ever done all of those drugs like that and gabapentine etc are 100% not for me , so finding painkillers that do generally help have been hard but my pain doctor is great and we are going to go through some more and my mum who’s a nurse is coming so hopefully it will be a good appointment for me.

[Emma2017 in reply to Hidden]

Hi I have taken cbd for a while now. Depending on the dose it can make me pretty dozy and kind of happy but it does nothing for the pain. I absolutely hated amitryptaline as it totally disagreed with me. Gabapentin affected my eyesight. However I do find pregabalin with paracetamol seems to help. Now my skin has cleared up I will carry on with that one for now as it is the only one that seems to touch the nerve pain. I shall face out the tramadol again as well now. However if cbd does help you with the pain then that is brilliant as it is obviously natural without the plethora of side effects.

[Hidden in reply to Emma2017]

It doesn’t help with my pain as such it just calms my spasms down , I get excruciating pain 24:7 and then on top of that I will get awful spasms which make it so much worse to the point I’m screaming in pain but since vaping CBD I’m finding the spasms calm down a lot and reduce the amount of pain from them.

Yeah all those nerve/antidepressants drugs do not agree with me at all and as I’ve taken tramadol for so long and cocodamol I don’t get the side affects off them like their people do thank god so for now they are just ok

[Emma2017 in reply to Hidden]

Hi bexamy, I just read your condition which is so very different from mine and I can imagine that none of the nerve meds will help you at all. It sounds like you have a real struggle with your condition and I feel for you especially as you are so young still. Really hope you will find something that helps you manage. Take care x

[Hidden in reply to Emma2017]

Everyone struggles in their own way don’t they I guess, and everyone has their own pain and hurt . It is hard being this age and being stuck in especially with a little one but we’ve adapted and I’ve got a good support system of help around me luckily or I would be even more of a huge mess lol.

Thank you so much that means a lot, I’ve got high(ish) hopes for my next pain meeting so fingers crossed lol.

I hope you manage to keep your pain down without all the crazy painkillers , have you tried the different types of ways to take CBD maybe a different way or strength of it could be better for you or something? X

[jpain in reply to Hidden]

Hope it is a good appointment and you find something that helps a bit more. Should help having your mum there like you say.

I am on 300mg now and as I am away and off work for the week I've been able to vape more during the day and as I move around which has made a difference. Does seem more of an instant way of absorbing the cbd than the capsules etc.

It helps doing less of my physio exercises too as but difficult to get that across without sounding just lazy to a Physio!

All the best

[Emma2017]

I have tried various ways and it does help to make me happy so that's something.

[Hidden in reply to Emma2017]

Yeah that’s a big bonus happiness is hard to find when your hurting all the time, I glad it does that at least