Ultracet/Tramadol for pain. I get debilitating pain from IBS. Would this be a good pain reliever?

Question

Vicodin works but I'm concerned about it being habit forming. The doc prescribed Hycosymine. It makes me very tired and does not ease the pain.

I eat very carefully and use homeopathic remedies but when the severe pain hits I need something stronger.

Any info would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi...you raise such an important point, which I'll rant about for a second before addressing the specific problem. For background I had major surgery over a decade ago, suffered severe nerve damage during it, and have had severe pain since. To say pain management is a topic I know well is one of the biggest understatements I could make. So on to some of what I learned.

You worry about medication being "habit forming." In pain management there is a HUGE difference between your body becoming dependant on a medication (which will happen to everyone taking such medication) and "addiction" as we see all over the TV and news. The odds of a person with legitimate pain that is properly diagnosed taking narcotics and becoming addicted is less than 1%!! When a person taking drugs for recreational purposes, they get a euphoria or high feeling, which is why they get addicted. When a person has pain the medication works on the pain and that euphoria doesn't exist. You may feel lethargic or have some side affects when first starting a medication, but if you are being properly medicated then that will never happen. I could write pages on why it is far more important to properly medicate pain (from quality of life, to overall better health, to more complicated but serious situation of once a body learns chronic pain it is almost impossible to unlearn it, and many more). Sadly Hollywood looking for hot storylines and celebs looking for excuses have done major damage IMHO to people really understanding all this. I know in the beginning that was me, I bit the bullet and I likely have much more pain for the rest of my life as I let it snowball and until I was in so much pain I couldn't function and my nervous system learned to misfire furiously and continuously.

Anyway back to you. Another misconception my Pain Specialist (one of the top in the world and n one of the few that deserves that title) educated me about is how it's not right to view medications as "stronger," "more powerful," etc. I know I have had better sucess combining medications which are considered "weaker" than when I take continuously "strong" medication.

If you are not seeing one I would STRONGLY suggest you find a board certified Pain Management specialist. They will work with you to try different medications to find what works best for you. Likely you will end up with a baseline medication and another medication for "break through pain" when the first medication isn't handling the pain. Very importantly they will know what medications are likely to be more effective for your issue, and start there.

Also they should know (and this does vary with quality of MD) other medications that remove symptoms if need be. IE they might prescribe Provigal to keep you alert, or Tigan to remove nausea. If a medication is effectively taking care of your pain, and you can't find another one that works as well without the side effects, then it is worth adding medications like this so you overall quality of life is better.

And of course all you can do to alter your lifestyle to prevent flare-ups the better. But since I'm not a pro on IBS I'll leave that to those who know.

You might feel better doing some reading on pain management--I know I was very concerned about addiction until I read several documented reasons why it is safe. I'll try to find the bookmarks to the sites that let you search for legit pain management specialists (not sure if they all are board certified so never hurts to ask) across the country. The sites are also great resources. Will add this info shortly.

Best of luck with this!!!

http://www.aapainmanage.org/
Probably the best resource for locating a pain specialist. For MD click Patient and you'll see various options for locating local MD's.

http://www.pain.com/

http://www.asahq.org/patientEducation/managepain.htm

http://www.painfoundation.org/

http://www.howtocopewithpain.org/resources/pain-organizations.html
Interesting site with some good links (some not as good IMHO, but overall good resource IMHO).

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Ultracet/Tramadol for pain. I get debilitating pain from IBS. Would this be a good pain reliever?
Vicodin works but I'm concerned about it being habit forming. The doc prescribed Hycosymine. It makes me very tired and does not ease the pain.

I eat very carefully and use homeopathic remedies but when the severe pain hits I need something stronger.

Any info would be appreciated.

Answer 3

I am on tramadol for my fibromyalgia. It works very well for me. It does not make me tired, or loopy the way narcotics do. I do not recommend taking the actual ULTRACET because that actually has tylenol in it, I would use the ULTRAM instead. The difference in the two is this: ULTRACET has 375mg of Tylenol, and 37.5mg of the actual tramadol. The ULTRAM is only the tramadol and is 50mg. I have been on it for 2 years, and it has helped me so much with the pain associated with my fibromyalgia. They do say that it can be habit forming, but that really all depends on YOU. I can tell you this though. After being on it for so long, the doctors wont just cut me off one day, they have to ween me off of it because it has been in my system every single day for the past 2 years, and they dont want me to have withdrawl symptoms. (that is if they thought it was ok to get off of it, but they want me on this to help because they dont want me on narcotics any more than I want to be on them) They also know that this is actually helping with my severe pain, and that is why they are there, to help. I hope this helps you! Good Luck!

Answer 4

call your doctor and ask. They usually have a list of medications you can take while pregnant. The only thing I ever took was Tylenol when I was in unbearable pain (back). But make sure you call and ask first. Depending on your pregnancy there may or may not be risk factors with taking any kind of medication. For more natural approaches, try a cool compress on your head for the headache. For your back, try a bath or a shower, however, make sure your headache has resolved before you step into the bath or shower. Doing this may increase your headache because the warmth opens up blood flow which will intensify your headache. Also, try a prenatal message for your back. They can also do facial/cranial messages as well for your head.

Answer 5

I have IBS and I thought I was eating correctly given my medical knowledge. I have learned a whole different way of eating and controlling the pain through a web site I have enclosed. Go through all of the different pages you will learn so much. The lady who owns the web site also has IBS been has learned how to control it.

Answer 6

Tramadol would work for the pain, it is not a controlled substance, and not quite as addictive as the vicodin.

Answer 7

Tramadol is strong enough but it's addictive too.
See some info below.
Good luck!