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Addiction (Expert Forum)
Length of time to come off of Ultram
Answered by
Jeffrey T Junig, MD PhD - Psychiatry, Addictions, Chronic Pain Treatment, Anesthesiology, Buprenorphine
Fond du Lac Psychiatry
Fond du Lac - WI
Questions in the Addiction forum are answered by a medical expert.
Length of time to come off of Ultram
by cindy430, Jul 05, 2009 05:14PM
My 66 year old mother-in-law was taking large amounts of Ultram, Ativan, Ambien and Amitriptaline. We put her in a detox facility where she stayed 2 weeks. It has now been 4 weeks and her new doctor has put her on Lyrcia for pain. I think this is still pain from her body detoxing but she insist she has to have it. How are you supposed to detox your body if you subsitute one pill for another one. I am thinking of taking the capsul and removing the medication and just giving her the empty pill. Would this be cruel or a good idea?
Doctor's Answer
by Jeffrey T Junig, MD PhD, Jul 11, 2009 10:31PM
, Jul 11, 2009 10:31PM
While there is always a significant placebo effect with chronic pain, she may have 'real' pain as well. It is viewed as unethical for a DOC to give a patient a placebo, and I think that family members should be very cautious doing something like that.
Some medications are problematic long term, and others are not. All meds similar to ativan or lorazepam, for example, cause 'tolerance', and also have direct addictive effects on the brain. Ambien and Ultram are both potentially harmful as well. Lyrica doesn't have the same tolerance problem and so may be a more appropriate medication for her. But in general, treating addiction in a person with chronic pain is a very difficult thing to do-- successes tend to be small, and so appreciate them if/when they happen.
Some medications are problematic long term, and others are not. All meds similar to ativan or lorazepam, for example, cause 'tolerance', and also have direct addictive effects on the brain. Ambien and Ultram are both potentially harmful as well. Lyrica doesn't have the same tolerance problem and so may be a more appropriate medication for her. But in general, treating addiction in a person with chronic pain is a very difficult thing to do-- successes tend to be small, and so appreciate them if/when they happen.
