TKR Going through awful pain med withdrawal....

[HoneyB]

Tramadol provides a mild antidepressant. I think that gives us a "double whammy" because most of us are trying to stop taking Tramadol at about the same time we reach that "blues" period of TKR recovery.

 

[Ellie@0318]

@Jajakio - I’m so sorry that you have gone through this withdrawal thing... but it sure is helpful to know that I am not alone. I appreciate you sharing that with me.

@Josephine - I wish I had asked earlier. The last dose I took was 4 days ago. I really don’t want to start the process again hoping I’m through the worst of it. I think others on this site can benefit from that information. Neither my OS or my PCP mentioned coming off of pain meds. I know we’re all different, but I’m sure that with all of us trying to manage pain, some must need that information. Whoa! And thanks for the info on Ativan! I take that infrequently for anxiety, but was going to take it to try and help the Tramadol withdrawal.

@Laurenkate, @Cementless - Thanks for replying. And @Lynn12168 - I’ve been on pain meds since Feb - oxycodone, dilaudid and Tramadol. As of now, I’m just taking ibuprofen a couple of times a day and trying to distract myself to get through this withdrawal.

The good news is that ROM and better sleep are keeping me optimistic.

 

[Josephine]

because most of us are trying to stop taking Tramadol at about the same time we reach that "blues" period of TKR recovery.

I think that's faulted reasoning. If you're depressed and in pain, the very last thing one needs to do is to try and stop the pain meds. I had quite a serious depression/anxiety state after my first knee also horrible pain. My GP suggested that I take extra Tramadol now and again (150mg per dose). I did but very infrequently and not even daily. Still I was taking Tramadol for 4 full months though it has to be said that towards the end, the last 6 weeks, I was unintentionally reducing them as the pain subsided. So in the end, I had no need to do a planned reduction as it happened by itself, so to speak!

 

[Ellie@0318]

@Josephine - Your story is very interesting. I suppose if I had just kept taking the Tramadol as directed (PCP gave me a BUNCH) I might have withdrawn automatically as the pain subsided. Honestly I’m feeling more stiffness and scar tightness than knee pain. So I thought I could stop this awful sweating if I stopped the Tramadol. I’m not even sure that what is causing the sweating and other symptoms I’m experiencing. I just know I feel crappy. I’m going to call my PCP on Monday and tell her what’s going on to see if she has some suggestions. You have been a great help and I thank you and everyone else that responded.

 

[HoneyB]

@Josephine -
My response was based on my experience and the experiences of three of my local friends who all had TKRs within a few weeks of each other. At about the 6 - 7 week mark, we all stopped taking our pain meds (all had Tramadol) because by that time our pain was mild enough that if we had not had TKRs and had started having that same amount of pain for some other reason, we would not have sought pain medicine from a doctor. However, all of us were also "blue" at that time frame. Not truly depressed; just tired of sitting on the sidelines instead of getting on with life. Stopping the Tramadol made all of us feel a little "weepy" when we were already tired of being cooped up.

I've completely stopped my Tramadol now. On this first day without it, I had only mild pain and felt just a little increase in stiffness. I'm hoping the ear ringing stops soon. All other side effects seem to be gone. For the remaining pain and stiffness, I can't take 4000mg of Tylenol daily because it makes my ears ring. I can't take the daily dosage of ibuprofen because it makes me swell a lot and quickly. Today I tried alternating between Tylenol and Ibuprofen every six hours. Is that ok? My knee felt SO MUCH BETTER with the ibuprofen. I know it can cause problems if taken long term, but I'm so jealous of people who can take the recommended daily dosage. I hope I can take it twice daily without swelling.

 

[ChrissiG]

I also have terrible withdrawals from any opiates Ellie. I was on dihydrocodeine for 2 weeks after my tkr (April 26th) cut down over a couple of days and then stopped - thinking I would be ok. I was terrible - felt like I was dying. Hot and then cold, diarrhoea (sorry tmi) sickness, trouble breathing, panic attacks the lot! Ended up calling 111 who sent an ambulance and the paramedics decided I needed to be in hospital. I was there for 3 days having various tests but in the end it was all put down to withdrawal. I would say it took about 10 days to get through.
It was truly horrible and I feel for you. I would try to hang on now that you’ve come so far through it. I did take the occasional 2 mg diazepam that I was prescribed some time ago but never used. I was careful only to take the odd one though - I didn’t want to add to my problems!
Hope you soon start to feel better.

 

[Jamie]

I've completely stopped my Tramadol now. On this first day without it, I had only mild pain and felt just a little increase in stiffness. I'm hoping the ear ringing stops soon. All other side effects seem to be gone. For the remaining pain and stiffness, I can't take 4000mg of Tylenol daily because it makes my ears ring. I can't take the daily dosage of ibuprofen because it makes me swell a lot and quickly. Today I tried alternating between Tylenol and Ibuprofen every six hours. Is that ok? My knee felt SO MUCH BETTER with the ibuprofen. I know it can cause problems if taken long term, but I'm so jealous of people who can take the recommended daily dosage. I hope I can take it twice daily without swelling.

As long as you do not have any history of bleeding or problems with NSAIDs, you should be able to take ibuprofen safely for short periods during your recovery, if you feel it helps with your pain. You should talk with your GP about it. It is possible you could use a different NSAID such as Celebrex which has a slightly lower risk of stomach issues. Be sure and take any NSAID with something to eat...even if it's just a couple of crackers.

 

[Ellie@0318]

@ChrissiG - I read your note out loud to my husband. We both said “Wow”! I’m so sorry that you had to go through such awful withdrawal.

Isn’t it interesting how we all are different? Some just don’t do well coming off of pain meds. You must have been scared out of your mind! Your experience closely resembles what I am going through now. I would imagine that this is one of the reasons an addict keeps them taking the drugs. I did read that taking Imodium, Dramamine and an anxiety drug would be helpful... but @Josephine warned me against taking the Ativan regularly so I haven’t.

Still living with the intestinal trouble, nausea, sweating (not sure if you had that symptom). It seems to be getting a little better, but like the left TKR, two steps forward, one step back. I thank you so much for validating, in some way, exactly what I’m experiencing now.

It was really helpful to know that there’s an end point to this and I thank you for saying that. It makes it a lot easier to bear this sick feeling. Again, knee is doing great... I’m lucky with that. I went a flight of stairs today, using both knees with no problem. Yea! Progress! Now if I could just stay out of the bathroom.... I forgot to ask.... How are you doing? Thanks again.

 

[Mumu]

Dramamine helped me when I was having such a horrible time. My withdrawal symptoms lasted four miserable days. I will never take Tramadol again!

 

[Ellie@0318]

@Mumu - So you’re another one who had trouble coming off Tramadol! I’m so sorry! You know how sometimes you have a medication left over and you “save” it just in case? Well... I’m dumping what’s left of that stuff! If I had known about how some people have trouble getting off this stuff... and I mean feel really SICK... I never would have taken it. Again, it doesn’t happen to everyone I guess, but just recovering from the TKR, I didn’t need this added problem. Thanks for your note...

 

[Mumu]

Ellie: Last week I dumped my few remaining Norco and a ton of Tramadol. Last year after TKR #1, i dumped a whole bottle of Percocet. I will have to find an alternative if i ever need narcotics again!

 

[Ellie@0318]

Me too... Good riddance!

 

[CaliCat]

Thank you all for responding! (I just bookmarked this thread...couldn’t find my original Recovery Thread so I took a chance and wrote a new one. Thanks for moving it.)

Celle - yes, the sweating happened with the Dilaudid. It feels very much like hot flashes but much more and more frequently, especially in the early am.

Kneepain2 - let us know if you find out anything.

@Josephine - I’d be happy to answer any questions.

Mumu - I just quit PT this past week after 2 weeks with an overly aggressive guy who pushed me too far. I’m considering weaning off the Tramadol too. I get much more relief from my ice machine anyway. I’ve just started to get some sleep routines back. However my super sensitive skin next to my scar getting rubbed by the sheets keeps me up as well.

I’m 8 weeks out thIs Thursday. Thank you for taking the time to write!

Hi, @Ellie@0318 - I noticed your comment about the skin next to your scar being sensitive to the touch of the sheets at night. I'm having the same issue - I've just been give the go-ahead to leave my incisions uncovered, but they're still tende. What I've found works well for me is to VERY LOOSELY wrap an elastic bandage around the knee so it covers the scar. it shouldn't compress the knee, it's just there to provide a little coverage - but because it's elastic, it won't restrict motion or hinder circulation as long as you don't wrap it firmly. Works like a charm for me!

 

[Ellie@0318]

@CaliCat - What an awesome idea!! I just leave my affected knee out of the covers to start but then I get chilly and slide the leg back in. In, out, in, out - all night long. I wonder if anyone else has this “extreme skin sensitivity”. One side of my scar is totally numb and the other, I can barely touch. It’s been hot here so I can hike my shorts up and over the scar during the day, but night time is difficult. I’m heading out the store today to buy a wide elastic bandage for tonight! Thanks so much!

 

[nuttybrunette]

So sorry to hear of your Tramadol troubles. I’m trying to get off of it too. I’m taking one 50 mg at night this week. Based off your info I’ll taper some more. Do you think I should do the 50 every other night for a week, then 50 every other night for a week, then be done, OR break in half and do 25 every night for a week, then 25 at night every other night for a week? I start back to work in a week and can’t go thru something awful with withdrawals.

 

[Ellie@0318]

@nuttybrunette - What a great name! How do you feel at the current taper? Are you having symptoms now? (once again... sweating, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, etc.) I would continue at a VERY slow rate if so. You might ask @Josephine as she is medical and I'm not. I think I would try going down until I started to feel symptoms and then do the 1 one night and 1/2 pill the other for a while and downward. You know, not everyone gets these symptoms. You may come off it in great shape especially if you're not getting symptoms now. I had the sweating ever since I started taking the Tramadol. The other stuff came as I stopped taking it. I probably came off too soon (8/day and tapered down quickly over 5 days, but I'm through the worst now so I'm not going to go back on it and taper. Awesome that you're doing well enough to go back to work. Take care!

 

[Mumu]

Nutty Brunette: you may want to ask your G.P. about a reasonable way to taper off the Tramadol. I think Ellie and I both tapered too quickly and then suffered really debilitating consequences.

 

[Ellie@0318]

@Mumu I agree. But in my defense, no one (OS, PCP or any of the nurses I was in touch with) even mentioned that I might want to taper off of any of the drugs. I would think that would be something that should be covered in their information they give us. That and don’t shave you legs the morning of surgery! That was in tiny print on one of the pages and pages of info they gave me.

 

[nuttybrunette]

I laugh at the shaving of legs. I shaved the day of too, on my first TKR 10 years ago. Then stressed so much about it when I figured out I shouldn't have. This second TKR I went in with hairy legs, like days worth! Just went for it!

I'm not having any of those withdrawal symptoms really, so maybe I'll be okay. I did experience the sweating tho and never put it together that it was because of the Tramadol, but you're right, the whole time I was on it I would break out in those sweats. Different than hotflashes for sure. I see my OS tomorrow and will ask about tapering.

@Ellie@0318 Thank you so much for this thread, wish I had come across something like this earlier in my recovery.

 

[Jockette]

. That and don’t shave you legs the morning of surgery! That was in tiny print on one of the pages and pages of info they gave me.

My pre op class covered this: no shaving for 3 days before surgery!!! To make sure there were no cuts from the razor. I can’t even remember how long it was before I could do a decent ( ? ) job of shaving after surgery!