Going from Being Injured to Addict and Returning to Being Myself

Christopher Enters - May 5th 2008

I was 18 years old when I took Tramadol for the first time. Running through the football field and trying to score a touchdown, I tripped and sprained my ankle. That happened when I was 17 years ago and it sent me to the bench for the entire football season. Both the doctor and the rehabilitation specialist had assured me that it was not a serious condition and that I would recuperate from it nicely. After the supportive bandages were off and I was not so much dependent on crutches, I went to a medical center for recovery. The physical therapist recommended that we perform gait exercises and some for muscular strength as well; the one thing I could not live with was the excruciating pain. It was then when I start taking Tramadol, as prescribed by the doctor.

Speaking from personal experience, Tramadol at low doses had no effect. The doctor started me on Tramadol, prescribing for the first days a dose of 50 mg/day and continued to raise it as no improving effects were to be seen. The pain was intense and I could not perform the exercises, not to mention concentrate on doing anything else. I returned to the same doctor who had looked after my case in the first place and he recommended that I would do another X-ray just to be on the safe spot. The X-ray showed that my ankle was still recuperating and that the ligaments were still not in the right position. What was there to be done, I asked? Well, the same answer: do the exercises I can and try to live with the pain, taking Tramadol only when the pain is unbearable. In the meantime, the dose prescribed had reached 100 mg/day and I started to feel some mild effects, the pain decreasing in intensity but not for a long period of time.

Over the course of the therapeutic sessions, I noticed that my ankle was beginning to recuperate indeed and I was able to start walking only with the help of a cane. The therapist had told that this is the last stage before final recovery and that I was doing perfectly fine. Still, in order to keep up with the exercises that were given to me I had reached a dosage of 200, sometimes even 300 mg/day of Tramadol. I knew that I was on the safe side, as the doctor had told me that the recommended dosage for Tramadol (oral administration) can reach a maximum of 600 mg. He explained to me the ways Tramadol acts and how he interacts with the intricate pain mechanisms, modifying in fact the way I feel pain. As for the way I was actually feeling, it was great. The pain subsided, my entire body felt relaxed and sometimes I even felt a little bit sedated. That should have made me think but it didn’t as I was finally happy to get rid of the constant pain.

I went online almost every two or three days trying to find out more Tramadol, what other people think and what side-effects could appear in higher doses. I knew that the only way to pass through this stage of my life was to maintain my desire to be healthy and follow only the steps recommended by the doctor. When I took Tramadol, I felt fine and could occupy myself of regular activities. I never skipped doses and it did not take too long for some of the side effects to appear. I started to feel nauseous, get dizzy and it took several hours before I could get some sleep. The adverse reactions continue with shivering, sometimes sweating and additional vomiting. I was getting scared and for all the right reasons; I had read about Tramadol causing all these things and provoking dependence as well. I thought it was time to give up Tramadol and wanted to stop all of a sudden; still, my mom – a trained nurse – would not let me. She advised me against stopping the treatment with Tramadol abruptly because of the potential appearance of the withdrawal syndrome. I returned to the doctor once more.

If you are wondering what the doctor had said, I honestly could tell you that he immediately reduced the dose and said that we would continue to lower it until it was no longer necessary for me to take the drug. At every check-up, he would use to ask me if any of above side-effects had appeared but fortunately only occasional nausea and dizziness were present. Until the dose was noticeably lower, I felt constantly irritated by the presence of those around me and I noticed that my appetite was somehow lost. The doctor assured me that all these adverse reactions would disappear as soon as Tramadol is eliminated from the system. And he was right, in a couple of months I was off Tramadol, perfectly recuperated from the injury and happy. Still, Tramadol had helped me in time of pain and I was grateful for having such a medicine to turn to.