Stamperlou
New Member
Hi all.
I haven't shared this story before, as I don't want to be negative, but I feel it needs to be discussed.
I was lucky enough to have a gastric bypass 14 months ago & it was the best thing that I ever did for myself. The surgery went without a hitch, but I did experience some problems due to the Tramadol that I was taking right up to the day before the op.
I was in a fair amount of pain before the op, mainly as my ankles & knees couldn't take the strain of my weight. I was already taking strong co-codamol every 4 hrs, also Voltarol which is also a strong painkiller. I was still suffering, so my GP prescribed Tramadol. At this point in my life, I didn't care what was in the tabs, so long as they worked. I immediately began to take them as often as prescribed.
After some amount of time (months) I happened to run out of these tablets and I intended on re-filling the prescription the following day. Within a few hours of when I would have taken the tablet, I became really distressed and panicky. I was uncontrollably tearful and couldn't bear to be alone. Luckily, I managed to get someone to come to my aid. I immediately went to the surgery & collected the prescription. After taking the tablet, I felt better in a matter of minutes.
This should have been a warning about how strong & addictive these things were.
On my pre-op assessment, I mentioned the Tramadol, but neither the surgeon or the assessment nurses thought it would be a problem, but it certainly was.
Immediately after the surgery, I remember coming round & being hit by a wave of pain. I was crying & hyper ventilating. Because it is major stomach surgery, I didn't feel I could take a breath, so my oxygen levels dropped. I was on a Morphine drip, which was checked by the staff & found to be working. The initial post op proceedure is to give you a button to push which administers the Morphine. I was maxed out, but still in horrible pain. I couldn't leave the recovery room for a few hours and I can still remember crying in pain several hours later. By the next day, it had subsided & I was ok. After a while the Morphine drip is removed. I was ok for a while, then sometime later, I began to suffer withdrawal symptoms from the Tramadol, which had been masked by the Morphine. On the 3rd night post op, I found my legs were convulsing violently, totally out of my control. I began to overheat & sweat heavily, then feel freezing cold. I was throwing up & had diaorrhea. This lasted about 10 hours and I got no sleep. The night staff didn't have clue what it was, and it eventually dawned on me that I was detoxing badly.
The reason it happened when it did was because Morphine & Tramadol are a similar type of drug. Taking it for a period of time would have blocked the pain receptors in my brain, making the Morphine redundant, but when my system was finally clear of both drugs, I went through major detox, which would have been bearable, had I not had major surgery to recover from.
I am not alone in this experience. A good friend of mine had emergency surgery for a totally different reason and because she had been on Tramadol, she suffered in the exact same way.
If you are on the waiting list for surgery and are currently taking Tramadol. I would strongly advise that you talk to your GP about getting off it before you go to hospital. Chances are, if you take it regularly, you are addicted to it. (don't believe me? try NOT taking it for a day & see what happens!)
so being without it will be hard, but if this story stops one person being in the mess I was after surgery, it will be worth it.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
P.S, the surgeon did actually apologise for not advising me to stop taking it before I went in for my op, so I guess this reaction is something they know about.
Take care all.
Lou.
I haven't shared this story before, as I don't want to be negative, but I feel it needs to be discussed.
I was lucky enough to have a gastric bypass 14 months ago & it was the best thing that I ever did for myself. The surgery went without a hitch, but I did experience some problems due to the Tramadol that I was taking right up to the day before the op.
I was in a fair amount of pain before the op, mainly as my ankles & knees couldn't take the strain of my weight. I was already taking strong co-codamol every 4 hrs, also Voltarol which is also a strong painkiller. I was still suffering, so my GP prescribed Tramadol. At this point in my life, I didn't care what was in the tabs, so long as they worked. I immediately began to take them as often as prescribed.
After some amount of time (months) I happened to run out of these tablets and I intended on re-filling the prescription the following day. Within a few hours of when I would have taken the tablet, I became really distressed and panicky. I was uncontrollably tearful and couldn't bear to be alone. Luckily, I managed to get someone to come to my aid. I immediately went to the surgery & collected the prescription. After taking the tablet, I felt better in a matter of minutes.
This should have been a warning about how strong & addictive these things were.
On my pre-op assessment, I mentioned the Tramadol, but neither the surgeon or the assessment nurses thought it would be a problem, but it certainly was.
Immediately after the surgery, I remember coming round & being hit by a wave of pain. I was crying & hyper ventilating. Because it is major stomach surgery, I didn't feel I could take a breath, so my oxygen levels dropped. I was on a Morphine drip, which was checked by the staff & found to be working. The initial post op proceedure is to give you a button to push which administers the Morphine. I was maxed out, but still in horrible pain. I couldn't leave the recovery room for a few hours and I can still remember crying in pain several hours later. By the next day, it had subsided & I was ok. After a while the Morphine drip is removed. I was ok for a while, then sometime later, I began to suffer withdrawal symptoms from the Tramadol, which had been masked by the Morphine. On the 3rd night post op, I found my legs were convulsing violently, totally out of my control. I began to overheat & sweat heavily, then feel freezing cold. I was throwing up & had diaorrhea. This lasted about 10 hours and I got no sleep. The night staff didn't have clue what it was, and it eventually dawned on me that I was detoxing badly.
The reason it happened when it did was because Morphine & Tramadol are a similar type of drug. Taking it for a period of time would have blocked the pain receptors in my brain, making the Morphine redundant, but when my system was finally clear of both drugs, I went through major detox, which would have been bearable, had I not had major surgery to recover from.
I am not alone in this experience. A good friend of mine had emergency surgery for a totally different reason and because she had been on Tramadol, she suffered in the exact same way.
If you are on the waiting list for surgery and are currently taking Tramadol. I would strongly advise that you talk to your GP about getting off it before you go to hospital. Chances are, if you take it regularly, you are addicted to it. (don't believe me? try NOT taking it for a day & see what happens!)
so being without it will be hard, but if this story stops one person being in the mess I was after surgery, it will be worth it.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
P.S, the surgeon did actually apologise for not advising me to stop taking it before I went in for my op, so I guess this reaction is something they know about.
Take care all.
Lou.
