Tramadol for pain

sunbeam
sunbeam Member Posts: 8
edited 5. May 2014, 21:14 in Living with Arthritis archive
HI Everyone
I have recently been diagnosed with arthritis in my ankles(back being investigated?), after going to my GP and explaining that the pain is too much. I can not stand or walk it even hurts when I am not doing anything. The doctor has given me Tramadol to take which does great with the pain in my ankles but it isn't doing much for my back thou.

With the Tramadol all I want to do is sleep, the doctor is reviewing me in a few weeks he thinks that I might need another medication.Can anyone advise on any Meds that help you?

I do work in a job that is demanding on my feet so I really need suggestions on what I say to my Area Manager without sort of saying I can not do the Job. I don't want to give her a reason to sack me I love my job and I need the money to pay the mortgage.

I work has a Manager in a charity shop so there is a lot of standing on your feet, we are not supplied with chairs or a staff room. I want to say to Area Manager that I can not stand on my feet for 8 hrs a day. We are pos to have an hrs break for dinner but there is no where to take this break so I just work through it.

Thanks Jackie :)

Comments

  • 19smp59
    19smp59 Member Posts: 105
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi there,

    Would it be possible to provide your own chair so at least you could rest your ankles? I take Tramadol daily and I do think you get used to after a certain amount of time. Good luck x

    Suzanne
  • barbara12
    barbara12 Member Posts: 21,280
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Jackie
    I couldn't get on with tramadol...but to be honest I just gave them a week then went to cocodamols..I have butran patches for my back and gabapentin I do think the latter works the best for my back and the patches seem to ease the other pains a little.
    I'm with Suzanne,I am sure your work place has to make things easier if you have a disability or a least something to put your feet on..hope you can get some help at work...
    Love
    Barbara
  • sunbeam
    sunbeam Member Posts: 8
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Thanks Ladies
    I will suggest the patches to my doctor :) I will also tell my Manager that I need a chair. I hate not being able to do things but hopefully once Tramadol calms and I get the pain under control I will feel better.
    Have you found that the arthritis has got worst with time?

    Thanks :)
  • Fionabee
    Fionabee Member Posts: 146
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi there.
    I have been taking Tramulief SR for my back for a few yrs now with Gabapentin. To begin with it did give me good relief, life was tolerable. Evenings are a bit of a writeoff, I am always so tired I rarely make the 10pm news and we don't fo out much at all.
    Problem is, I think I have got used to the dose of both and relief is less and I wonder where I go from here??
    Started off with cocodomol (latterly 30/500) but the constipation with it was intollerable despite every measure, more on that topic elsethread!
    I work in a charity shop one afternoon a week as well as still working P/T in a library. We do have a stool at the till and the manager who wks 3 days a week has a little cubicle about the size of a loo with a bench, computer and chair for the admin stuff. Apart from that there is no seating in the workroom, it is a long narrow room packed to the gunnels with boxes and carrier bags full of books, its a real obsticle course, for that reason I have not yet returned post knee surgery and going through a bad period with my back. Most of the staff work a morning or an afternoon, so only 4 hrs at a stretch and to do the sorting sitting down isn't feasible, but surely some of your admin could be done sitting?? Its not reasonable to have NO seating at all and your bosses must have some sort of responsibility towards your well being. Could you take in a light plastic garden chair and position it in the shop if nec, dor a sit down? I always take a collapsing (collapsable?!) stool with me to sit on if I am doing anything with low shelving as i can't bend, saw some in Aldi this week although mine came drom TK M...
    And yes OA gets worse, sorry about that. Because you have it is one area does not necessarily mean you will get it in others, it is not the beast that is RA. While I was in having my knee done, I did chat with a lady who had had some ankle procedure carried out, not sure what tho.
  • Fionabee
    Fionabee Member Posts: 146
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hii Jackie
    Its Fionabee again (above reply) iPhone playing silly bugs again. I have learned about butran patches, must look into those.
    Lots of good advice here, good luck :0)
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    The stronger the pain relief the more you are taken away from the pain, not vice versa. Tramadol is an opoid (related to opium, remember the 19th and 20th century pictures of blissed-out humans smoking opium in a den?) so no wonder you are feeling so tired. I prefer to keep my pain relief to a minimum so that I am alert, plus it leaves me an escape route for when things worsen. Mind you, I am shortly starting my eighteenth year, have two sorts of arthritis with 39 affected joints so I've had time to adjust. :wink: For pain relief I take four 30/500 cocodamol per day - that is a strong one, they come in 8/500, 14/500 and I think another level too before you hit the 30: the former number is the codeine content, the 500 is paracetamol. Some people can't tolerate codeine but I am one of the 'lucky' ones.

    I have a folding stool which I use in the kitchen when dong food prep, cooking, washing up, ironing - it doesn't take up much room and can be folded away to save space. It also has a slightly-forward sloping seat which helps my back but it's also hard which doesn't help my sacro-iliac joints - I can't win! :lol: This could be an answer for your work-dilemma. Of course you can still do your job but the management is under an obligation to make it possible for you to do so - I'm not hot on Employment Law but I know they have a duty of care: it sounds prehistoric anyway, standing for so long and no proper breaks due to lack of space - that's not good for anyone. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • sunbeam
    sunbeam Member Posts: 8
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi All
    Cocodamol makes me feel sick and dizzy, that's why the doctor gave me Tramadol. I am going to start easing back on my tablets and start taking them when I can not put up with the pain, or if I am going to be on my feet more. I have only took 2 tablets today and I have been up since 7am and now its nearly 5pm. I am feeling not to bad at the moment but haven't been moving around much. :) 39 effected joints that must be so painful for you :( I only have it in my back and ankles at the moment and that is bad enough. Take care

    Jackie
  • DebbieT
    DebbieT Member Posts: 1,033
    edited 6. Apr 2014, 10:16
    Hi Jackie,

    DD & I never agree on Tramadol :lol: I've taken it twice a day for around 4-5 years whereas most people take as an emergency med. Tramadol is a synthetic opiod so it often has less side effects than its counterparts like codeine. Like you I'm a space cadet on that stuff :lol:

    Have you tried modified/slow release tramadol?? U only take it twice a day. U can take 400mg in total per day, I don't take that much ... I leave some in reserve so if I'm in a flare of arthritis (I have 2 types) or of fibromyalgia I can top up on the normal release ones, I was advised to do this my rheumy at the time & it's worked well for me on the whole.

    Wot uve said about reducing ure meds I'm afraid I don't agree with hun. From a pain management point of view you'll be chasing ure pain instead of trying to stay in front of it, which is the aim with chronic pain conditions. Trying to catch up with it is a real struggle I'm afraid & if you flare ul know exactly wot I mean :( Its best if you can stay on a maintenance dose of meds then add in top ups wen you flare then reduce back to ure maintenance dose as the flare subsides!!

    Have you been advised to use paracetamol daily? It's very helpful wen used daily too. Also are you on an anti inflammatory? Naproxen etc? They can help a lot as well. Ensure ure given something like Omeprazole to protect ure tummy if ure given any anti inflammatory tho.

    Re ure boss. They are obliged, I believe, to make any changes that are reasonable, to help you at work!! The Helpline team are available on the phone lines week days & they have their own section on the forum as well. I think they'd be able to give you loads of great advice on ure employment situation & rights.

    ((((Hugs))))

    Take care.

    Xx xX
    Healing Hugs
    Debbie.x
  • GraceB
    GraceB Member Posts: 1,595
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi,

    Not sure how much help I can be but.

    My daily meds are 6x50mg Tramadol, 6x500mg paracetamol regarding pain, plus a stomach protector. This is my usual dose - on bad days it's 8 of each.

    I wake up in the morning slightly muzzy headed, with a nagging headache over my eyes. It usually clears with the aide of a coffee and the next dose. I've been on Tramadol for ages - I used to take Co proxamol but that was taken off the market. Dihydrocodeine 30mg used to help but became ineffective for me, although I slept well on it!

    One thing I do find with the Trammies is that I can't tolerate a lot of alcohol. Makes for a cheap night out though! I've just got used to not drinking very much and to be honest I'd rather have a coffee than a glass of wine.

    I was told to make sure I had sufficient meds in me to keep the pain under control. I liken it to a battalion of soldiers going up the hill and finding a barricade (soldiers being the pain and the barricade being the meds). If I miss a dose of meds or am late taking it, those dratted soldiers break through that barricade so when my next dose goes in, that barricade has to be re-built, forcing those dratted soldiers back down the hill. I try to keep that barricade in place all the time to make life as good as it can be for me pain-wise.

    At the end of the day, it's down to your GP to find a pain regime that suits you and if that means you get a loyalty card from your surgery for weekly visits until that happens, so be it. Don't give up whatever you do.

    Take care,
    GraceB
    Turn a negative into a positive!
  • Fionabee
    Fionabee Member Posts: 146
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Out of the blue, after reducing tramadol sr by half a tab am & pm over the w/end, a rotten night's sleep (because I had a lie down round tea time) I have been to work and had a pretty good day!
    Naproxen- any of you who take this, are you taking it for a flare up or is it part of your long term regime? I have reduced it by half a tab as well am & pm, believing I should get off it asap, I'm 12 wks post TKR.
    My new knee has been good during the day, but it hurts at night, recently it has been more sore (its painful to be honest) during the night than it was 6 weeks ago???
    Fiona
  • Slosh
    Slosh Member Posts: 3,194
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I have just had my pain relief meds reviewed by my GP. I am 9 weeks post a neck op and when I had my 7 week check up, despite saying I was still in a lot of pain, and having been warned that surgery might not resolve this was told to start reducing my pain meds and see my GP. I did try but couldn't do it. My GP just said that it was "ridiculous" that I was told that and if I needed pain relief I needed it. He then reviewed my meds, kept me on duloxetine (30mg once a day), Naproxen(500mg twice a day), something for my stomach, and then took me off co-dydramol (10/500, 2 4xa day). He said I couldn't have Tramadol as I am on duloxetine but instead gave me Meptazinol 200mg, 1 x 4 times a day and paracetamol. Pain does seem better today, don't feel too drowsy/doopy so will see how it goes. Only thing is they are making me a bit nauseous but hopefully that will go off.
    I have also found it helps to try and avoid letting the pain kick in as much as possible as it's then harder to shift and just don't do late evenings any more, usually go to bed at about 9.30 as by then I just can't get comfy. Thank goodness for virgin media!
    He did not say you will not be storm tossed, you will not be sore distressed, you will not be work weary. He said you will not be overcome.
    Julian of Norwich
  • lynnoot
    lynnoot Member Posts: 52
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I had to laugh at getting a loyalty card from your GP!

    I'm having a hard time with pain relief. Tried almost everything, but the codeine/tramadol/diclofenac ones give me terrible constipation. I take Fybogel and Senna tabs, plus figs, pears and oranges, but it's still not easy.

    I will have to speak to my GP once again about something that might work that doesn't have horrendous side effects.

    He offered pain patches (which I had along time ago) but not sure what to think about them. I feel I wouldn't be in control with those.
  • sailrib
    sailrib Member Posts: 327
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    sunbeam wrote:
    Hi All
    Cocodamol makes me feel sick and dizzy, that's why the doctor gave me Tramadol. I am going to start easing back on my tablets and start taking them when I can not put up with the pain, or if I am going to be on my feet more. I have only took 2 tablets today and I have been up since 7am and now its nearly 5pm. I am feeling not to bad at the moment but haven't been moving around much. :) 39 effected joints that must be so painful for you :( I only have it in my back and ankles at the moment and that is bad enough. Take care

    Jackie

    2 tablets is very good per day. For a while before my first surgeries, I was in so much pain that I had to take 8 tramadol and 8 paracetamol a day. Now after my 4th operation I'm taking 2 paracetamol and 2 tramadol a day.

    When I first took tramadol, I felt really sleepy and felt really sick as well but after about 6 weeks, my body didn't react to it. Might be worth giving it time.

    Regarding work, look up Access to Work. They can give your an assessment and tell you what you need to be able to do your job well. I had an assessment for my joint problems and my deafness.