3 months off Tramadol and having more surgery in one week

First, a question: Were you taking any other SSRI concomitantly?

Don't mention the feelings of euphoria (or all that other stuff) to your doctor. Focus entirely on the issue of blood pressure. Tell them you definitely do not want to take tramadol again. Be adamant about it. You really should be on a real opiate (as opposed to an opioid).

By the way, it is common to experience depression after a surgery. (My mother experienced it every time, even for minor operations.) Although I would recommend a benzodiazepine for this, they may want to give you an SSRI, and you can't do that while on tramadol (but you can on an opiate). So there's another excuse to give your doctor, should it come up.

Oh that does not sound fun at all. I'm sorry you went through that. From the research I have done on tramadol and the people I've talked to on this forum it seems the drug has more of an antidepressant effect than a pain reliever, it does affect the serotonin in your brain which means it alters your mood. If you stop taking it, it sounds like it can leave you depressed or lacking that extra happy chemical.

What I find absolutely hilarious is the fact I listened all this evidence to my Dr and he, and I quote said "The Tramadol is just for pain. It doesn't have any antidepressant effects." Uhhhhhh..... My a** it doesn't!!!??

Oh that makes me cross.

Anyways. I can tell you from talking that stuff for one day I experienced insomnia, weird thoughts,, anxiety, and it altered my mood. I haven't heard too many good things about antidepressants either.

1. You may need an antidepressant to balance things out. But be careful, do your research. I myself have been taking st John's wort, it has the same effect but is more natural, ie less side effects. It also helps with nerve pain. Also diet and lifestyle plays a role. Yoga helps tons!!!!!

2. In my book, after surgery your best bet for pain is opiods, albeit potentially addictive it won't f*ck with your brain chemistry as bad as an antidepressant. I swear those antidepressants are the new antibiotic, my Dr tried to prescribe me the same stuff for four different ailments.

Take care of yourself, try to relax (tea, massage, yoga, etc), always always do your research before taking a new drug, at least in my experience Drs won't tell your side effects, interactions with other drugs/supplements, look into taking st John's wort.

A note about st johns, it does have a lot of interactions, because it is a powerful herb. I've already looked up flexeril, ibuprofen, and alcohol. I never NEVER take all those together, but none of them interact with st John's as far as the herb helps pass the drug more quickly through the system. It has done wonders for my sciatica.

Wishing you well.

Stacy

I said opioids I meant opiates....

Hi Michele, I 've been on tramadol for over 17 years and have only in the last year reduced, once abruptly and others slowly,I was last year on 400mg slow release daily and now 150 mg slow release daily.my nerve pain means unfortunately that a long with other drugs I need tramadol,but in the last 6 months I have been given a bottle of liquid tramadol of which not only helped me reduce but also helped on the days of really bad pain,I say all this because instead after your op they give you tramadol tablets/capsules which the lowest is 50 mg you can ask for tramadol drops which are 12.5 mg each pump from the bottle,so as I have found you deal with your pain better/ happier on less tramadol because you feel safe knowing the bottle is on the shelf when needed,take 12.5 mg wait 20 minute then another if the pain is still unbearable and that's only 25 mg so when your better it will become easier to reduce then stop.hope this help and have a happy healthy new year. ☺

I've heard about depression when coming off Tramodol but I have started getting depression while on it .I have been on it for seven months now I take it for osteoarthritis and arthritis in my spine with two paracetamol aswel I'm thinking of coming off it because of depression and sometimes I don't know what I'm saying too . Don't get yourself chewed up about the surgery I know it's easy said than done but try and forget about Tramodol Say to yourself I'm going to beat this longing for them . Good luck hun x

Hi Michele,

As of yet, I have never tried to come off Tramadol - like many others I was put on them when I had surgery. I was on a lot of painkillers in hospital Morphine, Oramorph, Paracetamol and an Epidural. Needless to say I was "high as a kite" most of the time, the drugs caused also caused me to have a "medical nightmare", which means you are in hospital wanting to go home, in my case I was dreaming people were being removed from the ward and having organs removed, what I could not understand was it was so real, and yet it felt like a hospital ward from the 50's!

Because I nearly died twice within a few days, the second operation was an emergency, and worse than the first. Basically, I was dying from the inside out, in medical terms it is called "Small Intestinal Ischemia and Infarction", in simple terms over 50cm of my intestine was removed because it turned gangrene. Two days later, when I should have been getting better, I became worse - I could keep nothing down not even water, so all my normal drugs were given to me intravenously, it got to the point where I was vomitting bile. The surgeon phoned my wife and said that I was in emergency surgery, and they were not sure if they could save me. Course my wife rushed to the hospital and signed the consent form, because my condition was deteriorating very fast. I was in surgery for 6-7 hours. They found part of my intestine, which they thought they had removed all of it, had actually spread, and was also on my liver.

It was not the first time I had surgery done, I nearly died about 8 years ago from cancer - so you could say, three times lucky. I went to my doctor, whom gave a weeks supply of anti-biotics - for 6 weeks. I said to her before she dished out more antti-biotics that I would like to be referred to the hospital, mainly Oncology - she was shocked, when the results came back from the hospital that I had cancer. Most people should never go around the web looking for possible symptoms, however I did - my dad passed away from bowel/colon cancer which spread rapidly after he was operated on. It was by listening to him and what I had resourced on the web that I came to the conclusion that I had cancer. To this day, my doctor has always been amazed that I knew I had cancer without having any scans done, and she was giving me anti-biotics for it!!!

I was in hospital for nearly a month, it took me nearly a year to fully recover - even being on all those painkillers. I was sent home on Tramadol, at first just 50mg a day, then 100mg, and because they do not make a 150mg one, I was stuck on 200mg SR (slow release). I have to take them every 12 hours along with Amitriptyline and Paracetamol. I would love to come off them, and even my Neurologist Consultant done a referral to the Pain Management Clinic, they tried me on Gabapentin, after just 2 weeks of being on them I had to contact my GP, because all the time I was on them I had diarrhoea so I was taken off them.

So, even now I'm stuck on Tramadol - my Neurologist Consultant is adamant that I should come off them, as well as the Amitriptyline.

I am also on Sertraline for Chronic Depression, which as only recently happened, well about a year - which would coincide with Tramadol being increased.

The main problem I have is, I am on over 30 tablets a day and 6 BoTox injections every 10 weeks, administered  by a Neurologist. I have booked an appointment now with the President of British Neurology at the end of January, hoping I can some how get off Tramadol. Some medication I am on is to counteract side-effects from others, but the main problem is that Tramadol should never have been introduced to me, because I suffer from Epilepsy and Functional Seizures.

A tip for you - eating a banana a day will bring your down blood pressure. I have one everyday with my breakfast!

BTW, sorry for the long post - but I thought I would inform you what I have been through with Tramadol. I could tell you much more about them, mainly the side-effects that I have had. My brother-in-law is also on Tramadol and been on them for over 15 years, after having brain surgery. He is on a much lower dose than myself, but takes them for headaches, not the sort a normal person would suffer from. He has a shunt from his brain into his stomach.

I wish you well Michele and hope all goes well with your forthcoming surgery.

Regards,

Les.

good luck. surgery must be tomorrow...i would take opiatesover tramadol...tramadol has to many other effects