tapentadol

[groovyguy]

After going up to 20ml of pred (once again ) with moderate relief my Dr suggested trying tapentadol to maybe help a little. Well I must say after maybe an hour I was almost pain free and stayed that way till around lunch time and was able to do some minor repairs around house. Has anyone else had any relief from this medication. Thanks

[SnazzyD]

Hello. Is this pain PMR or your other conditions (asbestosis and OA)? Where is it? Tapentadol is an opioid with a potency somewhere between Tramadol and morphine, so there is a high likelihood of dependence and possibly affecting your general function, eg driving. For this reason I’d think very carefully and ask whether this is a long term solution or a short term one. If the pain relief was for the PMR and if it was me, I’d at least try a much slower reduction as advised in your last post. Before, you were doing 2mg per fortnight which was noted as being very fast. How long did you stay at 20mg before reducing? If it is for your other conditions as well, I’d ask myself if all other avenues had been exhausted eg. Pain Specialist input.

[groovyguy in reply to SnazzyD]

Thanks for that. I have an appointment on Tuesday and wont take any more till then

[Blearyeyed in reply to groovyguy]

If you are taking a Opiod as a short term solution until your Pain is under control and then you taper it , much like when we discuss using a higher Steroid dose for 7/10 days and tapering back to your original dose in the three days after you have had a number of Pain Managed days taking things like Tramadol and this medication should not cause a dependency issue , and you should feel confident to take it in the short term.

I've had Tramadol off and on for years for specific types of Pain , it's been well managed , it is possible to use it in the short term when in need and not to become dependent on it.

If you need it at the moment take it , you are seeing your GP next week and your response to it will help your GP or pain specialist assess exactly what types of pain you are suffering from and if , in the future , you will need a combination of pain relief more specific to your individual health needs. Basically , Pred and something else.

I will say though , that you are also making one of those Self Care errors. I notice you said you did some minor repairs in the house because you felt Pain Free. Lots of people do this because they forget that a big part of getting a Pain issue under control is combining rest with their pain relief.

Until you pain is well managed , and to allow any potential damage or inflammation to be reduced you do need to stop usual physical activities for a while so you body can concentrate with dealing with the pain. Trying to grab the drill a few minutes after you feel fine because of meds only means it takes longer to solve the problems.

Rest , fluids , healthy food and a little gentle exercise until you see the GP will do you more good.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

There are 2 options:

This is PMR but you haven't used a high enough dose to get the inflammation under control and unless you use enough, you won't get rid of the pain long term. If the dose isn't high enough there will be some inflammation left over every day and it will mount up. The existing accumulated inflammation must be cleared out and the daily dose must be high enough.

This isn't PMR that is causing the pain at all - very few people get pain relief from opiods in PMR.

[S4ndy]

Yes, I take Tapentadol for my osteo in my back, knees and shoulders. I am on the slow release version and take 150mg every 12 hours. Its really helped me and I don't seem to have any side effects from it.