Tramadol

[Flossy]

I am prescribed a small amount of Tramadol for Fibromyalgia flare-ups. My GP prescribes me 30 pills and that always last 90 days. I only take it when the pain is too much to cope with or to get up my stairs without stopping. Sometimes the Fibro pain is in my legs and sometimes wrists. Sometimes both. Always triggered my incoming stress. Pristiq usually controls the Fibro pain and panic attacks stop altogether for me on it.

A couple of months back I had a treatment on my scalp to burn out an ulcer type of sore caused when I was bitten by an insect ages ago. It just would not heal. The treatment was to burn out the affected tissue which may be caused by a parasite. Hopefully leaving healthy tissue too. heal.

It meant that my head was really sore for a couple of weeks while the ulcer got swollen etc. then the Escher came out. It is taking ages to close up the ulcer hole.

In that time, I could not cope with the pain. I took the Tramadol for it. I guess I took it for about ten days straight...one a day dissolved in water and I sipped half in the morning and half in the afternoon. One or two days I took one full pill twice a day.

I am paranoid about addiction and hate being reliant on anything. If I ever take a Serepax, I take a quarter of a tablet to have control.

My concern is that I have not taken any Tramadol the last four days and I feel very agitated and teary. My head is still very sore but healing. It is the healing that makes it so sore because It is like my scalp is squeezing my whole head.

I am on edge. I feel depressed, I have a bit of SI, a bit of Fibro pain and am scared I am/will get addicted.

Tramadol is the only thing that has ever pulled me out of SI and I have held this thought for the future as my biggest fear is that my husband will die first and I will be all alone in the world with Suicidal thoughts and not be able to ask for help or get help.

In typing this I am having Fibro pain so maybe my symptoms are from stress and not from not taking any Tramadol for four days? After taking it for ten days..mostly one. a day.

My question is...
1. Am I addicted?

2. Is it OK to have the Tramadol for those times I have bad Fibro and/or to pull me out of SI usually one or two days every few months when the assholes of the world are getting to me. (toxic mother in law...now no contact)

3. I read somewhere that it is not necessarily addiction, it is just that Tramadol should probably be tapered down when stopping it.
I do know I get brain zaps if I miss one day of Pristiq, so maybe this med needs tapering ?

I really hope my fear of being dependent is enough to stop it ever happening as I do feel I need Tramadol as my emergency med. My GP is supportive, but I have not told him about the head ulcer and treatment as I tried in the past with other doctors and was given side-eye as no "infection" came back in lab tests. Nobody tested for a bug bite. Nobody would.

 

[Sideways]

Tramadol should probably be tapered down when stopping it.

Yes - long term opioid use is definitely something you should taper off. Even 10 days straight you’d be considering tapering.

I really hope my fear of being dependent is enough to stop it ever happening as I do feel I need Tramadol as my emergency med

This isn’t how dependency works.

Dependency is a physical response. You can no more ‘fear’ yourself out of opioid addiction than you can fear yourself out of having an allergic response to something. Regular opioid use, even for very short periods of time, will give you withdrawals like you are currently experiencing if you stop taking it.

Not because you’re weak, but because you’re human. That’s what opioids do to all of us.

Is it OK to have the Tramadol for those times I have bad Fibro and/or to pull me out of SI usually one or two days every few months when the assholes of the world are getting to me.

The problem with opioid use for pain is that when you stop taking them, the pain will return, irrespective of whether there’s a physiological cause. Dependency is nasty like that.

There are other options for fibromyalgia. They aren’t great options, but pretty much anything beats pumping opioids into your system long term, even in small doses.

Opioids are not prescribed for SI for very good reasons. You should speak to your prescribing physician about getting a couple of referrals: (1) to a pain specialist, since your GP is obviously out of their depth if they’re prescribing opioids for fibromyalgia; and (2) to a psychiatrist, who will actually be able to prescribe something that targets the cause of your SI, rather than something that will simply mask it and create other big problems.

There are solutions. Letting go of the Tramadol probably seems like an impossible option right now. But you’re not only doing this the hard way, it’s created (and now feeding) another problem on top of the ones you already have.

 

[Defaultxlove]

Difficult to read but as soon as I saw the title I had to share

This was one of the scariest meds I came off of.

Idk why but me and Tramadol - bad

My cousin had to talk me down into reality

I was on it after a car crash and during physical therapy and recovery

 

[Flossy]

Yes - long term opioid use is definitely something you should taper off. Even 10 days straight you’d be considering tapering.

This isn’t how dependency works.

Dependency is a physical response. You can no more ‘fear’ yourself out of opioid addiction than you can fear yourself out of having an allergic response to something. Regular opioid use, even for very short periods of time, will give you withdrawals like you are currently experiencing if you stop taking it.

Not because you’re weak, but because you’re human. That’s what opioids do to all of us.

The problem with opioid use for pain is that when you stop taking them, the pain will return, irrespective of whether there’s a physiological cause. Dependency is nasty like that.

There are other options for fibromyalgia. They aren’t great options, but pretty much anything beats pumping opioids into your system long term, even in small doses.

Opioids are not prescribed for SI for very good reasons. You should speak to your prescribing physician about getting a couple of referrals: (1) to a pain specialist, since your GP is obviously out of their depth if they’re prescribing opioids for fibromyalgia; and (2) to a psychiatrist, who will actually be able to prescribe something that targets the cause of your SI, rather than something that will simply mask it and create other big problems.

There are solutions. Letting go of the Tramadol probably seems like an impossible option right now. But you’re not only doing this the hard way, it’s created (and now feeding) another problem on top of the ones you already have.

Thank you. I will ponder on your knowledge and bring it up with the doc. :)

Difficult to read but as soon as I saw the title I had to share

This was one of the scariest meds I came off of.

Idk why but me and Tramadol - bad

My cousin had to talk me down into reality

I was on it after a car crash and during physical therapy and recovery

Wow that is scary. Thank you.