Tramadol

[blueeyes5262]

If tramadol is so bad,then why is it on the market?

Sometimes I wonder if they make addicts , just to later take the meds away because they aren't good for us?

Then why did you give them to us to start off????

[Madlegs1]

sapiens.org/body/

[Ardraven]

Sorry it's difficult to answer this without a little context. Where does the opinion that "Tramadol is bad" come from? I don't see that it's good or bad, like any medication it has upsides and downsides. I took it for several years on a daily basis and found that for the same pain relief effect it lasted twice as long as any other instant release opioid. It constipated me more than others of roughly equivalent strength and gave me occasional dizzy spells. Tolerance developed over the time I was on it but seemed to take longer to build than the other weak or moderate opioids I have taken.

For me compared to the ones I was prescribed before tramadol, the positives outweighed the negatives because I could tolerate the side effects with a little help and I could take the same number of doses in 24hrs but they lasted much longer and weren't significantly less effective. Therefore I had relief of my pain for most of the day and night instead of having to pick which times I needed more or less relief.

I switched to modified release morphine when the maximum dose of tramadol was no longer effective enough. There is a ceiling at a lower equivalent dose with tramadol above which there is an unacceptable risk of seizures.

I know people who have had very different experiences of the same drug though so even saying it's more good than bad can only ever be my subjective opinion and others would say the opposite.

[Konagirl60]

Exactly. It’s a joke.

They should be finding cures or developing new surgeries BUT medication management is cheaper.

We’re all guinea pigs! Western medicine rarely heals.

[Amkoffee]

You have a very jaded opinion of western medicine. While I agree with your sentiment to some degree I have to argue some of your points. As far as the US is, our government is too involved in the practice of medicine. And most of those politicians that are involved in developing policies and procedures do not have a medical degree and have little to no medical knowledge. All surgeries come with more significant risks then most medication. Specifically medicines used to treat pain such as opiates and opioids have a far less risk than back surgery, for example. Back surgeries depending on what you have done has such a low success rate that it is less than 50% chance it will reduce or relieve your pain. On the other hand opiates used to treat that pain are far less likely to create an addict in a chronic pain patient then it will with someone using it with the intent to get high. A patient who takes opiates for pain control takes them to live their life whereas a person with an addiction problem takes it to escape life.

[Konagirl60 in reply to Amkoffee]

I totally agree BUT I had entrapment and I needed decompression surgery stat! No doctor would help me get it in Canada!

I needed to go to the US. No one in Canada at the time ( 2008 ) did the surgery.

No drug helped me. I had serious side effects to all of them. Long term medication use is NOT good for the body.

I realize there are cases where no surgery exists OR surgery made it worse. It saved my life!

[Amkoffee in reply to Konagirl60]

You said that Long term medication use is not good for the body but that statement is not true with some very important drugs. Diabetics that have to take insulin would disagree. And how about people taking blood thinners to keep from having another stroke or heart attack or those with a thyroid problem who need levothyroxine. And we could even get into immunization. I have never once talked with a chronic pain patient that didn't want to stop taking opiates but could not stand to live with the pain that the opiate was controlling. I am current off opiates after taking them for 10 years and I am now practically bed ridden because of the pain.

[Konagirl60 in reply to Amkoffee]

I should have clarified that long term ‘pain medications’ are hard on the kidneys, liver and lymphatic system.

I’d been on them to no avail for four years. My lymphatic fluid was black and thick as tar! It was gross.

A Naturopath had to detox my kidneys as my glomerular filtration rate was so low and I’d need dialysis the rest of my life if I didn’t do the detoxing.

Liver enzymes increased and I developed fatty liver. I don’t drink.

Sorry for any miscommunication.

[Amkoffee in reply to Konagirl60]

I too developed a fatty liver so I had to stop all tylenol as well as a couple of other meds. But I've lost 75 US pounds (about 5 stones) and my last liver test was good.