09-03-2017, 01:00 PM
(09-02-2017, 05:44 PM)BlackSocks Wrote: I'm very glad. You dealt with a difficult situation very adroitly Barq however i'm mystified as to the pressure to quit or reduce tr@m@0l - are there side effects you don't want to put up with? If it was me and I was taking the two pain medicines you're currently prescribed the medicine I'd look into first would be L#&c@: it has side effects that are potentially irreversible.
I may be reading this incorrectly - do you feel people are judging you? It would be a harsh judgment to make about someone with a bona fide pain condition that they are abusing tr@-@d0l prescription.
I can see why you would prefer to be free of taking painkillers - question is at the minute do you know if you can be cured in the future? Of the pain? Sending warm wishes,
No, I don't feel judged, and you are right to be mystified - I certainly am! :-)
I don't have any problems with the tram side effects. I get a dry mouth, but just chew gum or drink water. This doctor insists that tram has no effect on neural pain and so we should cut it out. I don't agree because a) it is also treating my non-neural neck/back pain (she says paracetamol will cover that, but I may as well take a sugar pill!), b) subjectively I think tram does help neural pain, and c) since it is serotonagenic that is a pathway that possibly helps neural pain, but also gives me a definite antidepressant effect. Since I have a long history of depression and anxiety, the latter is very welcome. For me, tramadol does several helpful things so I'm very happy with it (I'm probably too happy for this doctor's liking). I'm young enough to expect physical improvement in my condition so hope tram isn't forever, just medium term. (There is a surgical option if time doesn't heal things.)
Gabapentin is a problem for me. I'm amazed people take it recreationally because it seems horrible to me! I need my brain for work and having my memory impaired is very unhelpful. Because this doctor is only looking at the neural pain part of the situation, I suspect she'd say that if I don't need gabapentin, then I don't need tramadol.
Anyway, I've reduced my gabapentin dose myself (don't worry, I did it slowly!). 2700 down to 900mg was fine. I suspect that the last bit to zero might be a PITA, so I've kept the spares in case I need a much longer taper than this doctor will agree to. There is no temptation to (ab)use these "spares". I assume gaba withdrawal works rather like benzo withdrawal, but if anyone knows more, or timescales, then it would be useful.
Selazzie311 - Do you mind me asking what sort of dose of tram you were weaning down from? I'm on the max dose, so what seems like a reasonable period of time to you? How long would you have liked to have had to detox? Interesting that muscle relaxers helped - presumably diazepam would help? Thanks for sharing your experience with me. Congratulations on managing it!