Tramadol

buckingham

Iv taken tramadol for knee and hip pain. For maney years now, 2 mornings,2 evernings. Don’t stop bad pain. Can anyone advise me ,what can take work, to get rid of constant pain.

Ami2301

Hi @buckingham welcome to the community! Sorry to hear you're in constant pain. Have you been referred fo a pain management clinic?

pigeon55

I was refered to pain management as tramadol didn't suit me. I was put on butec patches for osteoarthritis of most joints and disc problems to my spine. Working for me at the moment have to have the dose increased over the last 2 yrs. Helps with pain but doesn't fix the problem.

EmmaB

Dear @buckingham

The problem with Tramadol is that the body develops a tolerance for it, making it ineffective over time... You'll need more and more for it to have an impact, and given it's side effects I'd be wary of any medic claiming this is a viable option if you also want to live any kind of life...

You don't really say why you have knee and hip pain but in my experience of having both due to having very deformed joints is that finding a GOOD physio is crucial, the problem [also in my experience!] is that finding a good one is not easy.  They may recommend certain exercises or, what I've found really helpful, stretches.

Your GP can refer you or if you have PIP/income you could find a private one.

I would also suggest you look also consider mindfulness, I have recently read this book which I would recommend even if you just read the beginning about how pain works ie about primary and secondary pain as it is really fascinating and I think it really helps to understand what pain is all about even if you think mindfulness won't work for you [which you won't actually know unless you try it for a number of weeks!]:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-Health-practical-relieving-restoring/dp/074995924X/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=52136689334&hvadid=259191283360&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9045302&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13807128962966470246&hvtargid=kwd-380593260677&keywords=mindfulness+health&qid=1556046232&s=gateway&sr=8-1

I think too many people are searching for the answer to pain at the bottom of a pill bottle and it simply doesn't work long term, monitoring what aggravates your pain, managing those activities, doing exercise, stretching, mindfulness are all longer term solutions - they all involve more than opening a pill bottle and for some reason this seems to put people off but as someone who has had 49 years of living with pain I say it's definitely worth the effort.

Best of luck finding what works for you.

Emma

Topkitten

As has been said, Tramadol (like all Opiates) can become less helpful over time but the amount and speed of this varies greatly from person to person. Patches are useful as they (in theory) provide a constant trickle of medication. I say in theory because some people (like myself) can override the system used to regulate the dosage and take too much too fast leading to an overdose situation and consequent side-effects. Almost everyone using patches starts off on Buprenorphine based patches but around 50% suffer allergic reactions to the patches themselves (not the medication) and it is available in slow-release tablets as is a Tramadol variant. Fentanyl patches are used if the patch method works and Buprenorphine types don't. Fentanyl is stronger but, like any Opiate, there is a limit. Currently the maximum dose of Tramadol is 8 50Mg tablets in 24 hours and Fentanyl max's out at 125 microgrammes per hour. Fentanyl is 25% stronger than Buprenorphine btw.

However, most Opiates do NOT work well with neural pain usually caused by nerves coming into contact with the bones. This type can respond (as in my case) better to Tramadol than it does to stronger medications but the help is still not very effective. People unused to Opiates disagree with this but mostly they are not suffering constant pain but intermittent pain and the opiate effect gives a positive feelings over and above the pain killing aspect. For neural pain there are 5 (what are called mid-nerve) pain killers and these are Amitryptylene, Nortryptylene, Duloxetine, Pregabalin and Gebapentin of which the most commonly prescribed is Amitryptylene. 3 of these were developed as anti-depressants and the other 2 as treatments for Epilepsy. For reasons that most doctors do not understand they all CAN work well with neural pain but ALL rely on accumulation within a persons system so are not an immediate help. There is also the problem of compatibility as all can cause pretty bad negative reactions. For me they work well but my body tolerance for all of them is too low for them to be effective.

Another possibility for arthritic pain is NSAID's (Non Steroidal Anti Inflamatory) such as Ibruprofen and other slightly stronger variants. Personally I have problems with these and everyone needs to take regular breaks or negative side effects can occur (such as stomach ulcers). Normally they are prescribed with a stomach protector such as the one I was given but cannot remember the name of lol! If it's important I'll look it up for you.

TK

Topkitten

Sorry, I meant to comment on Emma's reply.

@EmmaB, I spent the first 5 years of my Chronic Pain going through all the Pain Clinic courses (6 of them) and fully implement the useful parts as much as possible. However, they all assume fairly constant pain levels and not progressive conditions like mine. Also there are major differences between arthritic and nerve damage conditions (like Sciatica) which only damage small parts of the spine and more large scale damage. Conditions like mine which affect ALL of the nerves from the waist down and which has gone on for over a decade leading to permanent neural damage (permanent damage can exhibit effects from numbness to severe burning pain by simply touching the skin). I currently have between 9 and 12 discs collapsing and distorting the spine and the pain levels mimic a similar number of slipped discs. With such tremendous pain levels it is simply not possible to use pacing and mindfulness to relieve the suffering. All I can do to help is to keep my spine as horizontal and relaxed as possible 20 plus hours a day even when on the most powerful pain killers. It would be possible to completely stop the pain (in my case) but that would mean NEVER being upright (not even sitting) and being confined to lying down 24/7. Personally, having had a very active life, I find that prospect insufferable.

TK

Tra7cy

I'm so sorry to hear of all your pain. I had kidney failure 2 yrs ago caused by ibuprofen, it was touch and go for a week, but obvs I'm still here! I was taking that plus tramadol, pregrablin, Cocodamol after 3 weeks I came out with pregablin, Cocodamol, n butec patches which I was allergic to the square bit, not the plaster. Now I am on as above, without the patches plus quinoric and now putting me on methotrexate, so I feel all of your pain!!
It's hard to find the right medication to deal with pain but for me I do self medicate a lil bit but I try to keep my sense of humour! To me this is the most important thing! Do things that make you happy, watch things that make you happy! See or speak to people th a make you smile n chuckle!
As much as we hurt we also have to feel xxx
As always delicate hugs xxx