Giving up Tramadol – A Patient’s account
I gave up tramadol, but the road was long, and the result was FANTASTIC!
A Doctor from the practice rang me up to discuss giving up my tramadol. I lost my temper as I did not want to give it up, as I thought the tramadol was still having an effect on reducing my pain, or so I believed! Confirmation from the Senior Partner at The Burns Practice and a Pain Specialist at the hospital convinced me to give up. They explained that for the time I had been on tramadol, there would be no pain reducing effect. I agreed to reduce the dose monthly, taking over 6 months to give up the drug as I took 150mg of Tramadol twice each day. The Burns Practice supported me throughout this. Whilst the dose was being reduced I had very few side effects, if any!
I was scared to give up Tramadol as I mistakenly thought it was still working. I was afraid that giving up Tramadol would make my pain worse. After 9 years of taking Tramadol, I can now say that it had no pain-relieving effect but only adverse side effects!
My mental health and mental ability has improved since giving up Tramadol, I believe my blood pressure has dropped too. Previously it was stubbornly high but when checked recently it was 116/80. I also lost excess fluid from my body. When GP’s state the opiates lose their pain-relieving effect over time, IT IS TRUE!
I am ashamed to say I was clinging onto this drug like an addict, which had NO therapeutic effect, only adverse effects. MY PAIN DID NOT GET WORSE AND I FEEL MUCH BETTER by slowly giving up the drug. I feel that my pain may have reduced a little bit, making everything more tolerable. Reports about opiates are correct, they lose their efficiency over long term. It would be best to trust what is said about the lack of opiate effectiveness in the long term and take the first step in giving up.
Most importantly, you need to know that you have the full support of a GP during this process. The Burns Practice gave me excellent support whilst I gave up the drug. I was very well supported each month by the same GP, so we could track my progress coming off Tramadol.
I now feel so much better, and my pain level may have even improved a small amount, after giving up Tramadol!