How to deal with hot flashes/ feeling hot side effects from pain meds?

How do you deal with the side effect of feeling hot all the time from pain meds or antidepressants for pain that cause feeling hot as a side effect? I take Tramadol and it makes me extremely hot all the time along with me also having a problem with having low estrogen so the hormones are affecting me too. I take the maximum dose of Tramadol and can't lower it because this is the only thing that works for my severe nerve pain from CRPS/RSD.

[PainConcernHelpline Moderator Community Champion Pain Concern]

Dear PresciousGod,

I am a forum moderator at Pain Concern.

I am not sure if I have replied to any of your previous posts. I read them all, but sometimes other forum users responses seem to answer posts so well, I don't feel that I can add anything. If I have and I am repeating something I have already sent to you - better to receive it twice than not at all!! If I haven't replied before it will be because of the above reason.

The two links below are specifically concerned with opioids, I am not sure if you will find the answer you need, but have a read / listen - I think yoou will find both articles interesting.

painconcern.org.uk/product/...

painconcern.org.uk/airing-p...

I have read that you have CRPS - at pain Concern we do have information about CRPS, if you are interested I would be happy to send you the links to the information. Just send me a message and I will send you the links.

Best wishes

Pain Concern

[Hidden in reply to PainConcernHelpline]

Yes thanks for that. I read the articles of the links you sent but they didn't answer that question unfortunately. I would like more information on CRPS bc although I've had it in all 4 limbs/full body I don't know anyone else who has it or have any support of any sort for it. Plus I have questions about it as well bc you can never educate yourself enough about that weird unfriendly disease so yes I would like that!

[PainConcernHelpline Moderator Community Champion Pain Concern in reply to Hidden]

Hi PresciousGod

The links to CRPS info as follows

painconcern.org.uk/product/...

painconcern.org.uk/airing-p...

painconcern.org.uk/airing-p...

painconcern.org.uk/airing-p...

The next link is to Versus Arthritis, a UK charity, this page also has lots of info on it.

versusarthritis.org/about-a...

Just to add that I can empathise with you. i broke my wrist pretty badly 8 years ago and subsequently had CRPS. I was lucky that it was isolated to that arm. I really struggled with the whole brain/pain thing. I had some intense physio, but it took the best part of 2 years to subside. It still lingers, and it was the beginning of a long (still continuing) journey of chronic pain, but I have learned to self-manage the symptoms.

There is a book called Explain Pain, by Lorimer Moseley - expensive, but makes fascinating reading.

Good luck and I hope the info above helps

Chris

Pain Concern

[Hidden in reply to PainConcernHelpline]

Thank you for the links. I will look them up. I'm so sorry to hear that you are another fellow CRPS suffer as it is such a horrible disease to go through I know you know. Not to say that you're in a good position but I would love it if I could get to where I didn't need pain medicine but unfortunately I do. I have had full body CRPS starting with getting it in my right foot and then it spread to the rest of my body but I've had it for 16 years now. I have been on Tramadol 400 mg a day which is the maximum dose that you can be on for 15 out of the 16 years because the first year nothing worked until a doctor would put me on that. I hate the side effect of it making me so hot as I already struggle with being hot all the time with the RSD and then with my hormones being all out of whack due to anorexia plus I have anxiety which causes you to be hot too.

Let me ask you... Do you feel hot all the time like almost as if you're in menopause from the CRPS? I have heard that this is a symptom of CRPS because of the autonomic nervous system being disrupted and I wondered if you experience this as well? I'm just so hot all the time and I feel like part of it is the CRPS along with all my other causes that I know are causing it.

I'm very glad for you that that you were able to get off of all medicine and are able to deal with the pain without it. My nerve pain was just so bad that I don't think that I could ever do that unless of course I was forced to.

[PainConcernHelpline Moderator Community Champion Pain Concern in reply to Hidden]

So, definitely in the first couple of years I was constantly hot - generally, but the affected arm could be hot or cold. Now, well I have times when i feel like I have hot flushes - definitely not the menopause, that was years ago now. I put it down to flares of CRPS

[Hidden in reply to PainConcernHelpline]

Hmm. Yeah I can't figure out if it's the CRPS or the fact that my estrogen is so low. All I know is that the Estrogen patch isn't working for me at all and I have been on 0.075 mg for 3 weeks now and effect on the hot flashes.