please help

[judya1943]

Can some one please help me with advice.  I am suffering a sich tummy all the time.  I have been taking pain injections for my back pain.  Two years ago, my Dr gave me Tramadol.  I took 1/2 pill 3 times a day for about a year.  No problems I can tell.  Then, back pain got worse and I started to take 3 pills a day.  For the past 10 months I have been sick to my tummy.  Have cut back two days ago, to 1 1/2 pills and still sick tummy.  I am losiing weight..don't feel like eating. I am 5'4" and weigh 108 lbs. Can this all be from Tramdol?  I don't think I am taking much.  I do have a my a sensivte stomach.  I can't seem to get over it.

Can Tramdol do this to me? I could really use some advice.  I have had numerous tests, all fine.  PLEASE help.
God bless.  J.

[Dnpe]

God bless you and give you the strength and encouragement you so desperately need. I'll think about you and hope you're doing well. Peace be with you.

[judya1943]

Dear sweet new friends.  I am going to the Drs. now.  We have a plan on getting an MRI tomorrow and then we will discuss going to the Laser Spine place in Tampa, fl or Mayo.  I want to thank all of you who encouraged me.  I will probably not write anymore.  Going to work on getting better and healthy.

God bless all of you.  Judy

[ImDONENoMore]

Hi judya1943 - boy you've had a heck of a time recently haven't you?  I'm so sorry you're suffering so much.

I think you are doing the right thing by seeing the Dr.  If all is well (and I will pray for you that it is) than at least you will be able to put your mind at ease.

Hang in there - it will get better with time and I wish you the best at your appt. tomorrow.  Please let us know how you make out.

Best wishes to you for a good night and some sleep too.  I'll be checking on you later!!  :)

[judya1943]

I am not doing great.  Going to Dr for a test tomorrow.  Don't know if the Tranadol maked my tummy sick or what but I am still sick.  Been off Tramadol for 7 days now.  Back pain is bad.  Am trying.  Thinking about going to Mayo in Jacksonville, fl.  We live in Fl.  My appetite is back about 2%.  Saying alot of prayers.  Thank you for asking.  Judy

[Dnpe]

How are you doing??

[judya1943]

thank you all for writing.  Almost landed in the ER this morning.  Felt so bad that I didn't know what to do.  Dr had me take some stuff to help witht the tummy.  I had beef broth and crackers for lunch.  Am taking Boost until I go to store and get Ensure.  I am so thankful for all of you.  Wish we could meet and give hugs.  

I wish you the best.  Day 3 without!..I think.  (it seems like forever!)

God bless.  Judy

[Dnpe]

Judy,

I am glad you are doing a little better. Definitely try the bananas or the RLS OTC meds (which i just learned about, wish i would have known they had OTC meds like that three days ago). Anyway, i am on day 4 still and trying to eat and gain my weight back. Try Ensure Plus from the grocery store. It is 350 calories per 6 oz bottle and $9.99 for six bottles. Expensive but worth it! Keep trying baths and purchase some muscle soak from your market. At night, light a candle yummy and soothing smelling candle 2 hours before bed. It will relax you and give you peace of mind. Fight the good fight and keep it up. Trust me, I am on day 4 and yesterday i wanted to die. I'm much better today. Hugs!!

[ImDONENoMore]

Definitely hot showers.  They helped so much and I agree with tramahater, as hot as you can stand it and stay in there for a while.  I think the hot water helped to slow down my breathing too.  It helped for all kinds of symptoms.  Sometimes I took up to 3 showers a night.

And maybe a hot cup of tea and some toast if you think you can stomach it?  Or some warm milk?  They might help with sleep too when you get to that point.  And try and OTC pain reliever, like advil or motrin or tylenol if the others hurt your stomach.  It should help with your back pain.  And the heating pad is a great idea.  Just go slow honey, everything you are feeling now is totally normal.  Keep telling yourself its your body ridding itself of all the toxins.  This discomfort is a good sign believe it or not.  Your body is actually getting well right now so try to keep that thought in mind when it gets real bad.  And keep coming here, talking all of this out will continue to help.

[LeaAnn807]

Judy, do you have a heating pad?  Use it on your back if you do.  First take a hot bath or shower, as hot as you can stand and stay in there a while.  

[judya1943]

it is 9:00 Pm.  I am feeling horrible.  My back is hurting so bad.   I am doubting what I am doing is right.  Not looking forward to a horrible night.  Guess I am a whimp.  Please say prayers for all of us who are not far along in this venture.  I feel so bad.

God bless.  Judy

[throwindatowl]

I hope you feel better. People here are so awesome. I sure hope we all have a better New Year as well! I cant do another year like the last one.

[judya1943]

thank you all!  I appreciate you all saying what youdid.  It is SO GOOD to know someone out there is there for you.  Thank you!  I did type in Tramadol recovery room and got some of the things you were all talking about.

God bless us and I hope we all have a better New Year ahead!  Judy

[ImDONENoMore]

Hi Judya1943,

Hang in there.  It's going to get worse for a little bit and then it's going to get SO MUCH BETTER!!

In addition to bananas, try the Hylands Restful Legs - I understand you can buy it at Walgreen's, Walmart or CVS.  I think it's somewhere near the OTC sleep aids, or just ask the pharmacist and they can find it for you.

I only needed the bananas for my restless legs - something to do with the potassium in the bananas that helps with the RLS.  Also, tonic water WITH QUININE.  Has to be the kind with the quinine though for it to work.

Keep going - it will get so much better I promise.  You will be so glad at some point that the tramadol is out of your system.

Thanks laurel452 for providing the link to emilys posts.  They were a g-dsend for me and I think they will be for you too, Judy.

Here's to a new year without tramadol!!  :)

[Dnpe]

I am on day four of withdrawals. I am down to 90 pounds from 105. Some of the things that have helped me is hot baths every 2 hours, protein shakes, bananas and sleeping medication. Try advil pm or if you can, get a prescription from your doctor. I know what you are going through. The restlessness in your legs is so evil and incomparable to anything i have ever been through. It's not easy, it's really really hard. Just remember this is temporary. Do light exercise before bed. This will help with your legs and will help with breathing. I wish you the best of luck. Just remember you're not alone, they're are lots of us going through this utter hell.

[laurel453]

Here, Judya :)


http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/251730/Tramadol--Ultram-Recovery-Room-Part-40

[judya1943]

HI. I am now on day two of no Tramadol.  Had an anwful night.  Back pain is bad and I had to move my legs on the time.  Could not help it.  Made it hard to sleep.  I think someone said that happens.
Thank you for your notes.  I appreciate every word.  I do not know how to look at the "thread" on Emily.  How do I do that?

Thank you.  J

[ImDONENoMore]

Hi Judy,

I'm so sorry you're having such bad stomach issues.  Some of the things that worked for me for the stomach problems were immodium AD (has to be the AD stuff), apple juice, ginger ale, chicken soup (or broth) and saltines (the no salt added kind).  Bananas were easy to take and toast with peanut butter helped too.

And check out the thomas recipe, there are some really great suggestions in there.  However, keep in mind, early on it was very difficult for me to keep anything down.  Yogurt would sometimes be okay, and my hubby bought me something called "b goodness" which was a b vitamin protein shake/smoothie.  I would mix the b goodness with orange juice and basically lived on that and toast for about a week.  It was all my stomach could handle in those early days.  The stuff I recommended first was for later on in recovery, probably about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks after I quit and when I felt my stomach was strong enough to handle more.

It's impossible though to guess how long it will last for you - we're all different in that aspect.  And as far as the pain goes, I found that after about a month, my pain diminished quite a bit.  And now?  I take Aleve and it works great for me.  I used to try to do the OTC meds when I was "in between" scripts (basically dealing with mini withdrawal constantly since I always ran out of my meds early) but found they didn't work as well.  I now believe that my system was so blocked with the narcotics from the tramadol that they had no chance to work.  It was only after a few weeks of getting the drug out of my system that the OTC stuff finally worked for me.  Of course, I'm not a Dr. (obviously!) so this is only my personal experience.  But I think after you've been in recovery for a while, you start to really understand your body so much better and are able to feel and recognize things you couldn't when taking the tram.  It just messes up your central nervous system so badly and that just seemed to make it impossible to gauge my pain in any real way.  And not sure if you can relate to this, but almost every time after I took the tramadol I would get stomach pain and really bad nausea.  You would think that alone would have made me stop, but nope.  I kept taking it because I literally thought I had to to keep from losing my mind.  I believe it was the anti-depressant in this drug that messed up my psyche so much and made the withdrawal all the more difficult.  And I do know that they recommend tapering from this drug but I didn't have that choice.  I stopped cold turkey and I wouldn't suggest this to anyone else.  But if you're in a no choice situation, please don't panic.  From what I understand, there have been no reported cases of seizure after you've stopped taking this medication, only when taken in high doses.  And I know many of us have quit this drug doing a home detox so please take some comfort in that.  But definitely, for some real peace of mind, speak to a Dr. about what's going on.  That's the only way you can know anything for sure.

Also not sure if you had a chance yet to check out Emilysposts - they were such an inspiration to me and gave me so much knowledge.  Stuff I needed to know so I could really understand exactly what was going on.  And then I could be prepared for it when and if it happened (and a lot of the things she experienced I did too).  And it also made for great reading when I was not sleeping and needed a distraction in the worst way.

Hope this helps - I'm here if you want to know anything else about my horrible experience with this horrible, horrible drug.  I have confidence in you - you CAN do this.  And being here is a great way to start.

p.s. i'm sorry about such a long post.  it just really gets to me when i see others suffering from the same things i did from taking this rat poison.  just awful.

[LeaAnn807]

It gave me a sick stomach. It's a very dangerous med. Could you ask your doc for something different?  I would hate to see you stay on it and get like I got in the end.

[vicki595]

Judy--Tramadol should really be tapered off. Otherwise you'll feel just horrible. You haven't been taking that much but the length of time weighs in here. The med could be part of your stomach problems.

Call the prescribing doctor and make an appt. Take something OTC for your stomach, push in the fluids and try to eat.

Stay in touch--

[judya1943]

HI.  I am not sure you will get this because I am not very good with this computer stuff.  I have been off Tramadol for 24 hours.  I feel bad.  My stomach is sore and I feel like my throat is burning.  The pain in my back is worse because of being off the Tramadol.  Is this the way I will feel for awhile?  How long will this last?  I so want to feel better.  I am pulling off strenghth from your note.  Thank you for writing.  Please say a prayer for me.  I have so many blessings...but I want to feel better.

God bless.  J.

[ImDONENoMore]

I had four (yes, four) intestinal blockages and I KNOW they were caused by the tramadol.  If messed up my stomach BIG time and it wasn't until I stopped taking that poison that the stomach problems disappeared.

Tramadol is a horrible drug.  It also contains an anti-depressant that further adds to the awful withdrawal when quitting.  And I also lost a LOT of weight on this drug (about 50 pounds).  And I am absolutely convinced that it was the drug that caused all of these additional problems, never mind the addictive qualities of the drug that made my life a living he**

Please refer to the link after you've googled "tramadol withdrawal" that reads like "day 45 again cold turkey tramadol withdrawal emilys posts".  This thread literally saved me.  It wasn't until I learned about the nature of this drug, and what it does to our body, that I finally (slowly, yes, but finally) realized what I was doing to myself.

I wish you much luck.  I'm so glad you've realized early on that there is a problem.  This drug should be removed from the market.

p.s. they also did numerous tests on me and never found anything.  it wasn't until i ended up in the er throwing up blood that they finally admitted me and discovered the blockage.  i had never ever had stomach problems before taking tramadol so i know it was related to this drug.

[soaddicted]

hey there! i am on tramadol myself and have no sick stomach at all. but everyone is different, i know that some people get sick from vicodin and other pain meds. so the tramadol could be doing this to you.. have you talked to your doctor about it??

[IBKleen]

Hu Judy,

I am sure Tramadol can have that effect on you, it is an opiate so it can have different reactions with different people. Have you spoke with your doctor about this? I suggest that and I also recommend a good check up with blood work. Anything we tell you is simply a guess and not a good substitute for a real doctor. Please get checked out and rule out other possibilities. Best of luck.