Tramadol question

[bladerunnerb]

I've got a question.  I'm tapering down from Oxycontin (done a week ago) and now hydrocodone (down to 4 per day- 5mg).  Dr. has me on .1 clonidine to help with the physical withdrawal symptoms as we move down.  But, today he prescribed me tramadol...with lots of refills and for long term use.  I had never heard of it, and the point was that I decided it was time to move off opiates and try some other non-narcotic pain relievers.  I can't use NSAIDS due to GERD (I take nexium for it), and didn't even think twice about the tramadol (ultram).  Now I'm reading places that it acts on one of the three mU receptors, and is addictive.  Some people even say it's harder to get off of than hydrocodone or oxycontin.  Does anyone know anything about this?  I mean, it seems odd that he would be working to get me off the opioids, and then prescribe me something that might be as bad or worse...it doesn't make sense.  The handout that came with it says "it is similar to narcotic pain medicine" but not a narcotic.  Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.  I'm not an addict, but definitely have physical withdrawal symptoms which is why he's helping me taper with clonidine.

[bladerunnerb]

Thank you so much for your thoughts and sharing your experiences with me!

[sandee1818]

I will tell you my experience, I was off oxy for awhile and took the ultram and it made the wdraw very low almost none.

[IHatePainMeds]

Well I can just tell you my experiences, but you should know that with withdraw everyone can react differently. That said, I was on Ultram ER (200 mg 1x daily) and Ultracet (37.5 mg 4x daily) and was taken off of them to switch meds temporarily but then switched back recently...anyways while I was getting off of them I had little withdrawl symptoms and not even close to comprable of when I had withdrawls from oxy/percocet/morphine....

However as far as "long-term use" this is a drug pain specialists have given me long term and I've seen multiple specialists and been on/off many different drugs to find the lowest dosages/ least harmful meds I can use that take my pain down to a tolerable level. But it is a strong drug (not classified as a narcotic) and if you have doubts or concerns you should really talk to your doctor or get a second opinion from another doctor instead of me or anyone else.

[Toomanyadvil]

Tramadol does work in similiar ways to narcotic pain medication. It is not a controlled substance.
But It can be habit forming and cause withdrawls. And it is true some believe it is harder to get off of than narcotics themselves.
But of course stopping a medication or experiencing actual withdrawls can feel more intense to one person than the other.
Someone might tell you that they had no problem with tramadol, addictive or otherwise and someone else will tell you it is the worst medication when it came to getting off of it.

There is really no way to know why your DR prescribed it to you along side the clonodine unless you ask him.  A  complete and total guess would be because you have a problem taking NSAIDS and so besides narcotics and NSAIDS its the only other medication strong enough to support what your going through as advil is a weak NSAID itself. Your DR may not consider it to be as addictive as some others feel it is.
I know a friend of mine prescribed it to me a few years ago and she was really anal about narcotics and would rarely prescrible them to people, so she obviously didnt think of it as addicting as it is said to be.
Or maybe this is what your DR regularly prescribes to his patients when he tapers them from narcotics.

But those are only shot in the dark guess'.  Defenitly ask your doc. Dont go by what any of us say here when it comes to taking medications and reasons behind them.

Hope the withdrawls are all over with soon