Trying several medications for severe neck pain

[buckbo]

I'm worried!  My fiancee' has been prescribed Tramadol, which worked very well for him but he has gone through 40 pills in 10 days and the way his dr. wrote his script it says "use 1-2 tablets every 8 hours as needed" so he cannot get a refill for another 2 weeks.  He saw a local dr. who prescribed Flexeril, Percocet and Naproxen.  The Naproxen made him very sick as well as angry (the anger could also be from coming off of the Tramadol) so now he's taking Percocet and Flexeril.  I used to be a Pharmacy Tech so I know the combination of all these drugs can be (or is) dangerous and initially (while on Tramadol) he didn't use the Percocet but I found out he was using the Flexeril with the Tramadol.  He tried only 1 Naproxen and it made him sick so he said "No Way".  But now he's using Percocet (supposedly alone) but I've found a few Flexeril missing from his bottles.  He used to drink to manage the pain, he doesn't drink any longer but I think he's totally self-medicating and without health insurance, he's trying to find the same relief he got with Tramadol.  He is an addictive person and won't "throw away" the Flexeril or Naproxen, just hides it (from himself) so needless to say, he sleeps alot, is totally unambitious and needs medical help.  Long story short, how does he successfully go from one dr. to another and get strictly Tramadol?  It works best and makes him not a crazy, angry guy!  He needs help!  And if I say one thing, he says "stay out of my pills", "it's between me and my doctor" - but he never told Doctor #2 he was on Tramadol!  HELP!

[malenurse57]

Stay away from the tramadol, it is very dangerous and addictive. There has to be something else that will work. You could try talking to his Dr. and express your concerns but either way it will probably spell trouble as fiancee' will probably feel like you are meddling. Good luck and God bless.

[avisg]

Tramdol is highly addictive and hell to come off of ... It was my drug of choice If he abuses it and takes more then prescribed he can have sezuires if he mixes it with antidepressants he can have other serious problems as well .You should see if you can get him on the forum maybe that would help him.

[buckbo]

Thanks, I guess he's going to see his local dr. this week and explain the situation, I know he'll make it so that he gets the Tramadol which quite frankly if it works for him and he's not in pain and not a jerk then fine!  Right now, he's taking Percocet but not the Flexeril or Naproxen nor Tramadol (until he gets more).  He knows nothing about Doctor Shopping, it was my idea for him to see a doctor somewhere to get help for his severe pain - he has degenerative arthritis in his neck with compressed and bulging disks so I thought I was helping by taking him to my local doctor (I didn't realize he wouldn't mention the Tramadol and I think his anger, etc. is from coming off of it - I didn't know it was hard to get off of - and it's been awhile since I was in pharmaceuticals so this could be a new opiate I'm not aware of plus I'm not really an pain pill proponent - I had a bad car accident 10 years ago and I do physical therapy, advil, tylenol, a heating pad or ice pack when warranted or epsom salt baths...no pain meds for me!  So I'm Clueless Here!

[GoingToMakeIt]

Tramadol is more addicting than many of the opiates! At least the withdrawals are worse. It is recommended on the Tramadol site to not take if there is an opiate addiction tendency. He needs to find non-narcotic ways to deal with the pain. Another thing is that as he gets away from the opiates for a while. He will not have the same degree of pain.

[lady67]

This isn't good, he could get labeled as a doctor shopper and then get tagged with all doctors and pharmacies.  I hope there is some way he can get relief for his pain without continuing down the road he is on.  Good luck to you both.
Susan

[joann1975]

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