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10 years of DHC

Posted , 3 users are following.

Guest
Guest

I was on 180mg (6x30mg) daily for just over 10 years due to a motorcycle accident in which I broke four bones in my lower back. I was very lucky not to be in a wheelchair. Anyway, I took then as prescribed until 5 months ago when I decided they were not working so like a fool I stopped taking them 48 hours after stopping I had headache like my head was being crushed, pains in my legs and very bad diarea. This lasted for about 3 days then started to ease until about 3 months ago when I had to have a review with the doctor. I explained that the DHC worked only just until the winter time when my back pain was at times so severe that I just could not get out of bed. He decided that I needed something a bit stronger so he kindly gave me Tramadol 50mg two four times a day plus, Naproxen 500mg one twice a day.

I have no back pain now but just walk around in a stupified daze. Only on doing some research on the net did I discover that I came out of the frying pan and into the fire as both Tramadol and Naproxen are highly addictive. It now seems that what would have been up to a week of discomfort coming off the DCH has turned into up to three months of hell if I go cold turkey on the Tramadol and even then I may not win.

If you are on DHC and want to stop then do it slowly by reduction. DO NOT ask for something stronger because the next step up is Tramadol which has the same dependancy as Morphine and is harder to get off than morphine.

See your GP and ask for a lower dosage of DHC and after about threemonths you will be DHC free.

1 like, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    Hi John Mac, Unfortunately analgesics DO have an effect that is Habit Forming and you have to ask yourself 'do I need a stronger painkiller'. The Doctor only advises and prescribes drugs we are the one's that take them.

    My disibility is similar to yours and the pain's agonising, I also take Tramadol etc and honestly couldn't care less about habit forming, as I'm like you, my disibility isn't going to get better; it's there for live. I'm only glad I've got something to take to quell the pain and if it dosen't help anymore I'll be back to see my Doctor for something new, that will.

    Also beginning any new painkiller, there is the early part of taking the drug you will get side effects but in my experience they disappear with time.

    My experience with them extends over thirty-nine years.

    Take care, Ron

  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    I am sorry, but you are wrong. Tramadol is 1) not stronger or harder to get off than DHC, and 2) definately not harder to get off than morphine. These are not my opinions, they are fact.
  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    I'm sorry but you HAVE to stop taking DF118 and Tramadol. In a previous post I gave an account of how I was addicted to these drugs for 30 years due to a severe back injury.

    They would be ok for a few days to get over a fresh injury but what you have to understand is they destroy your body's own natural response to pain so that when you come off them your pain will be 10 times worse!

    You need to reduce your dose gradually, quite frankly I don't recommend cold turkey with an injury like yours and whilst reducing gradually build up the muscles around the affected area with physiotherapy. It will take 6 months to a year for your body's natural pain killers to return and in the meantime you will ache and your neck will be painful.

    When I went cold turkey for the last time my back was excruciating. It took a year of exercises to recover and now I have no pain at all.

    However, it takes a LOT of willpower not to give in and relapse.

  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    I had a horseriding accident Sept 2008 and was prescribed tramadol 400mg daily for pain until I underwent reconstructive hip surgery in August 2009. I reduced my dose from 8 x 50mg a day to zero in December 2009 over a ten day period and suffered no ill effects at all so be reassured that, if sensible you should have no problems stopping tramadol when you make a recovery.
  • sandie.c
    sandie.c

    Posted

    i have been on dihydrocodine 30mg and take them 2, four times daily and then when i wake in the night in pain that feels like my spine is being snapped like a pencil. this has been just over nine years now i am on many other tablets for mscle spasms and 3,600md of gabapentine daily.

    the pain never go away but ease enough to get me through the day, but sometimes i feel it is just not enough and i can't hardly move with pain.

    i'm glad i have some help with the pain but there are days where i wish i had no feeling from the waist down just so i could have a pain free day.

    i have a neuromusculoskeletal disorder so i feel i am lucky to be alive and if these tablets help a little then i;m one of the lucky one's.

    if they help then feel lucky if they don;t then i wish you luck.

    try to be happy and enjoy life however it is, atleast we are all still alive.x

  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    I have just been diagnosed with arthritis in my spine due to psoriasis I have been prescribed DF 118 Diazepam and naproxen i'm going back for a 2nd opinion because the pain is just as bad even when I have taken them, I dont want to become addicted to something that doesn't even work for me.
  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    DHC is working for me and I wish I had been prescribed them earlier. I had been taking 2 x 50mg Tramadol 4 times a day with Lansoprazol (to protect my stomach lining) and 2 x 250mg Naproxen 4 times a day with regular paracetamol to control chronic back pain. The change from tramadol to DHC has been significant and has stopped the ringing in my ears (side effect??), bi weekly diarrhea and the fuzzy thinking. DHC is not less / more stronger than tramadol it just works in a different way. By the way diazepam / valium is the next stage up from this according to my doctor. One other tip, if your doctor prescribes amatryptaline for back pain dont plan anything for the next morning as you wont get up.....Oh and if you do manage to get up, you wont be able to think straight.
  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    I found Tramadol to be much less effective than Cocodamol so used them as a \"TopUp\" when the CoCo was not working very well. I if I did not need Tramadol for a few days I just did not take any. I suffered no withdrawal symptoms.

    I have now completely stopped Tramadol, again no side effects, however I am now on DHC, which seems to be working very well (80% effective).

    I have Fibromyalgia and OA in Spine, Neck and many other joints.

    I have read all your posts with interest.

    DP

  • Stobban
    Stobban

    Posted

    I wonder why on nearly every occasion when a patient mentions painkillers, such as DF118, Tramadol etc, someone then issues advice on how to stop them or relates they are not good for you. Has it dawned on these people that maybe patients like myself, do not wish to stop them as they give pain relief which we need badly. The Doctor has prescibed these drugs to us and under his direction we take them, and if we feel they are causing problems we tell him.

    All patients taking painkillers don't necessarly abuse them and at the end of the day I want my painkillers to eliminate my pain and not for me to get High!!

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