Feb 6, 2011
(Started Aug 12, 2009)
-
Effectiveness
Major
(for restless feeling in legs)
-
Side effects
Moderate
(for Overall)
(excessive sweating)
-
-
Burden
Not at all hard to take
Dosage:
As needed
Cost:
< $25 monthly
Side effects:
excessive sweating, excessive sweating
Jan 10, 2011
(Started Aug 12, 2009)
-
Effectiveness
Major
(for restless feeling in legs)
-
Side effects
None
(for Overall)
-
-
Burden
Not at all hard to take
Dosage:
25 mg
Daily
Advice & Tips:
Still taking 1/2 tramadol tablet at night, with my Mirapex, still sleeping through the night. It's soooo wonderful!
Here's some info for taking tramadol for RLS, in case it helps anyone: http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/79/7/916.full.pdf
Cost:
< $25 monthly
Side effects:
excessive sweating, excessive sweating
Jan 5, 2011
(Started Aug 12, 2009)
-
Effectiveness
Major
(for restless feeling in legs)
-
Side effects
None
(for Overall)
-
-
Burden
A little hard to take
Dosage:
25 mg
Daily
Advice & Tips:
I started taking half a tablet of tramadol again, after I finally stopped taking it, in a desperate attempt to control my RLS symptoms which were being aggravated by the SNRI was on. I requested Mirapex from my doc and, after increasing the dose with no results and facing my 7th night of hardly any sleep, I read online that tramadol is sometimes used for hard-to-treat RLS symptoms. I tried taking it about 4:30 AM the first time and it worked! The next night (early morning), I tried again and it worked! The third night I took it at bedtime along with my Mirapex and I slept straight through the night for the first time in forever. I have an almost-full bottle of tramadol left which should keep me for awhile, and hopefully my RLS will have settled down to the point where the Mirapex alone will be able to control it. I know my doc doesn't like me taking tramadol along with a SNRI.
Cost:
< $25 monthly
Side effects:
excessive sweating, excessive sweating
Dec 16, 2010
(Started Aug 12, 2009)
-
Effectiveness
Major
(for fatigue)
-
Effectiveness
Moderate
(for breakthrough pain)
-
Side effects
Mild
(for Overall)
(excessive sweating)
-
-
Burden
Not at all hard to take
Dosage:
25 mg
Daily
Advice & Tips:
TFor general malaise and fatigue it worked wonderfully. For moderately severe pain, which is what it's designed for, well... it made you too loopy to care about your pain, so I guess it worked!
A friend of mine was on it for upper back pain and he kept upping his dosage until he was up to 12 a day. We joked about how much it made us sweat. Then he scared himself and got off of it, and kept chugging along, refusing to let myself take more than 3 or 4 a day, and never taking more than 2 at a time. 2 tablets at once was enough to get me really woozy and itchy under my skin.
It started becoming clear to me that I wasn't really taking the tramadol for the pain relief, which wasn't really that great. I was taking it for the energy boost. I started researching how it has SSRI properties, which got me researching antidepressants. I didn't feel depressed, but I started looking at the chemical makeup of the new SNRIs for fibromyalgia like Cymbalta and Pristiq. I decided to try Savella instead and weaned off the tramadol as I started titering up on the new drug.
My dosage was pretty low but it was prolonged (daily for over a year). I think I had about 1 1/2 days of withdrawal symptoms, which happened to come on during a cold, so I was more miserable then I would have been otherwise. I also have had a fierce resurgence in restless leg symptoms, which tramadol used to take care of.
Cost:
< $25 monthly
Side effects:
excessive sweating, excessive sweating
Sep 9, 2010
(Started Aug 12, 2009)
-
Effectiveness
Major
(for fatigue)
-
Effectiveness
Moderate
(for breakthrough pain)
-
Side effects
None
(for Overall)
-
-
Burden
Not at all hard to take
Dosage:
100 mg
Daily
Cost:
< $25 monthly
Side effects:
excessive sweating, excessive sweating
Apr 20, 2010
(Started Aug 12, 2009)
-
Effectiveness
Slight
(for pain)
-
Effectiveness
Major
(for fatigue)
-
Side effects
Mild
(for Overall)
(excessive sweating)
-
-
Burden
Not at all hard to take
Dosage:
150 mg
Daily
Cost:
< $25 monthly
Side effects:
excessive sweating, excessive sweating