Hello,
My husband has an old neck fushion and some lower back pain that he has tizanadine and tramadol for. He just got a TKR. He is taking 3 tramadol a night. I told him he only gets one a night and he took all 3!! I am concerned he is becomeing a perscription drug addict. Am Ijust being a heartless bitch or is he abusing drugs?
I'm almost 9 weeks post op on left tkr. I took hydrocodone
For almost 5 weeks at the prescribed dosage. I stopped "cold turkey". I had physical withdrawl symptoms for more than a week. These drugs are very easy to get hooked on.
The tramadol will bite him. Them things are evil. They will give you withdrawl symptoms bad. Keep you awake to. Worse thing is they don't work. Why he's taking three.
Hi Aluviel,
i don't think anyone could comprehend just how painful a tkr is unless they've had one themselves. If it's still early after the op, your husband will need all the help for pain he's prescribed. The other problem, if you can call it that, is that his body is use to pain meds for his other problems so he'll probably need to take more than usual. I speak from experience. Saying this, I can understand your concern. If time goes on, a good length of time, and you think he's abusing drugs, I'm sure his doctor will step in.
It's not easy for you as the partner of someone who's had a tkr. Please try to be patient with him. It's a hell of an op to get over. Good luck and best wishes to both of you.
Sue x
Hi Aluviel,
"He is taking 3 tramadol a night"... How many milligram? Tramadol s an opiate. A powerful painkiller and the best available currently. You need it when the pain is ovewhelming! There is also Oxycontin (Oxycodon) generously prescribed in some countries but Oxycontin is more addictive and therefore not FDA approved in many countries. For example Thailand where I live it's not approved by Thai FDA. For my TKR operation three years ago I am still facing pain & stiffness every morning. Plus low back pain. I usually take only 50mg with strong coffee (no sugar) in the morning. I have not increased the dose. I am gradually decreasing the dosage. Half capsule or 25 mg. It works. My advise try to decrease the dose. Take it in the morning. Ligth excercise or physio during the day. No coffee in evening! Avoid standing & walking. Use escalators. Some say Tramadol will keep you awake. Not me. I sleep well every night. Good luck
The insomnia kicks in when you stop cold turkey from taking them.
3 is a lot! I'm sure it depends on his size (I'm a 5'6" female), but my Dr switched me from Percocet to Tramodal because the Percocet was making me feel so awlful. I took one a day and 1 1/2 the days I had PT. I'd call the Dr and ask. I didn't worry about becoming dependent on tramodal like I worried about it with percocet and the others. TKR is horrible and the lack of sleep is brutal. Go easy on him
Ok I will have Mercy on him. I think he is just scared about letting the pain get bad and the fact I have complained about him waking me up 4 to 5 times a night because he cant sleep. He doesnt realize..is I am the one holding the whole house together and all appointments, and doing the hour long drive to the Hospital for every little thing. His Tizanadine is 4 mg's and his tramadol is 50 mg's. He shouldnt be mixing either one with Vicodine or hydrocodone 325.
I told him ok pick one or the other to go with your vicodine at Night only.
Thank you Sue I will try to be nicer about it^^ Thats a very valid point.. hes already used to taking so much crap, that he probably needs double just to get over whatever desensitation he has.
He says they works really good. For some they do and some they dont. Tramadol.. I took one after having lightning bolt pain inmy knee all day.. WOW that night... I woke up to pee and my arms and everything was like a ton of bricks.. I was paralizyed from just one!
Hi J I agree tramadol will knock your ass out! I took one of his thinking it would get rid of my knee pain.. Its a good thing I didnt have to go anywhere the next day... Dang I was so tranked out! Not doing that again. Wow Thailand How awesome.. Bad since you cant get the right drugs for your pain. I know Tramadol used to be considered a non opiate however they have bumped it into the opiate category now because of the way it works.
Hi Alvie,
I agree with Sue. But I also recommend that he needs to be very aware. After my TKR I was on Oxynorm and Tylex for several weels. I genuinely thought I needed both. My wife encouraged me to stop. At about 8 week's I stopped Oxynorm and continued with Tylex, at about 12 week's I reluctantly stopped, I was shay and nervy for 2 to 3 days. However interestingly my knee was fine with no major pain. Soit had just become the habit!!!! I understand your husbands pain, but he needs to be careful it easy to beve dependant. I wish him the best.
Take care,
Alan
Apologies for typo errors.
Aluviel
Week's
Shaky
So it
Hello Aluviel, your poor husband is probably in excrutiating pain, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Please just look after him. I am shocked that you took medication that wasn't prescribed for you. I can assure you that the pain you were trying to knock out was minimal and the pain your husband is in at this stage is excrutiating. You're concerned about his dosage when you took the same drug to alleviate your pain? That's very dangerous. I wish that when I got home from hospital I had someone to care for me. Please just look after him and leave the jurisdiction of his drugs to his doctor and don't over medicate yourself.
Here's a discussion that will help you with this. https://patient.info/forums/discuss/tkr-brutal-surgery-543379
I had a TKR in January 2015. I have to say that it is a very painful procedure, and the necessary physiotherapy afterwards is also very trying. i took Zaldiar, which is a mixture of paracetamol and tramadol for about seven weeks, so in fact I was taking about 100 mg tramadol a day (30 in each of three tablets) Occasionally I took two when I knew the physiotherapist was going to subject me to another round of torture. . . . When I first decided (because I had run out of tablets) to stop taking it, the side effects were really pretty bad. . diarrhoea, hallucinations, terrible 'real' dreams, stomach cramps, irritibility, inability to stay still in bed, dry mouth, headache etc.etc. .so I got myself some more tablets, and started weaning myself off them gradually. it was not easy, but in my case it was possible. Not knowing the strength of the tramadol he is taking, it does on the face of it seem to be a lot. I know sleep is very difficult after TKR, and he may also be having nerve pain (I did . . it was horrific) but I don't think you are being over cautious. tramadol is a sort of synthetic opiate, and as such, it is easy to become dependent, or even addicted. Help and sjupport though, are wonderful after a TKR . . . .and I;m sure he 's getting that from you. Poor chap . . I'm glad I'm over it now, but nor sure if I would do it again!
Yes, I couldn't sleep when I stopped taking tramadol . . . now I'm on Lyrica and sleep better than ever before !
Thank you Martin,
A while back Iposted it was 50. I will keep all your symptoms in mind. Luckily he hasnt taken anyone for a couple of days. He is trying to be good.