Use this section to discuss your experiences with prescription drugs, iron injections, and other medical interventions that involve the introduction of a drug or medicine into the body. Discuss side effects, successes, failures, published research, information about drug trials, and information about new medications being developed.
Important: Posts and information in this section are based on personal experiences and recommendations; they should not be considered a substitute for the advice of a healthcare provider.
I took my very first dose of Tramadol on Thursday night and I took one 50mg pill around 3 or 4pm. And then I took another around 8:30pm. I had no rls that night at all, and slept like a baby.
But last night, I got home late and took two Tramadols at once at 9:30pm at night (total 100mg). And here it is, 2:00am, and I am still awake, been up and down trying to sleep since 10:00pm. I have RLS, not severe, but bad enough that I cannot sleep at all. Geez, why would it matter at what time and when I take them?
It's been 4 1/2 hours since I took them, so I don't expect them to miraculously start to work now. So I just took a hydrocodone about 20 mins ago. Damn I hope this works, I have a big day tomorrow.
Mia
You really have to try to be proactive and nail your symptoms before they show up (if they come like clockwork at a certain time) and focus on preventative care.
Have you changed your diet much at all? Smoking, caffeine etc are big problems.. Smoking will bring my RLS to the surface even when medicated, although it does fade after a while.
You should try taking several doses throughout the day.. Like maybe one in the morning, one at lunch, and one in the evening. See how that goes.
But I don't know how your prescription is written though or what your limit is.. So don't take a ton.. I'm allowed up to 8 a day personally, but I'm weird
It's also important to carry medicine with you, so that you don't have to wait to get home to take it. Especially if you are trying to take it before or right as symptoms show up
Zach wrote:Did you take them after your symptoms surfaced ?
You really have to try to be proactive and nail your symptoms before they show up (if they come like clockwork at a certain time) and focus on preventative care.
Have you changed your diet much at all? Smoking, caffeine etc are big problems.. Smoking will bring my RLS to the surface even when medicated, although it does fade after a while.
You should try taking several doses throughout the day.. Like maybe one in the morning, one at lunch, and one in the evening. See how that goes. But I don't know how your prescription is written though or what your limit is.. So don't take a ton.. I'm allowed up to 8 a day personally, but I'm weird
It's also important to carry medicine with you, so that you don't have to wait to get home to take it. Especially if you are trying to take it before or right as symptoms show up
I actually took the 2 tramadol before the symptoms arrived. But it seemed like very shortly after I took the tramadol, the symtoms showed up. So they showed up before the meds had a chance to work. So I do agree that was the problem. The vicodin took the symptoms away fast though, and I fell right to sleep. But ruined my entire day since I woke up at 10:00am instead of 7:00am like I had planned to today, so now I am in a pissy mood today.
I hate this crap!
I am over it!
It makes me look bad when my twin sister and her girlfriend show up at 8:00am and I am still in damn bed?? I am a mother of 2 young children, I should be up before they are !! It makes me depressed, it makes me feel like a complete loser and piece of sh** !! Because no one seems to understand, and even my family and husband seem to have no understanding or concern, I wonder if they even believe me how bad it has really gotten, I think they think it's just another reason for me to complain about something, damn them!
My twin sister says it's "Mind over matter" I SAY BULLSHIT!
Wait until one of those family members gets it (God forbid). My sister thought I was crazy to ask her to let me walk around during a road trip. Thought it was because I had just been put on Requip because it was popular. I had been treated for years with Sinemet which stopped working and thanks goodness Requip worked.
So she had some problems with RLS for awhile and her tune changed. Asked for my advice!
We don't want to have RLS and may never know why it's us. But never give someone grief about something wrong with them.
Zach wrote:Did you take them after your symptoms surfaced ?
You really have to try to be proactive and nail your symptoms before they show up (if they come like clockwork at a certain time) and focus on preventative care.
Have you changed your diet much at all? Smoking, caffeine etc are big problems.. Smoking will bring my RLS to the surface even when medicated, although it does fade after a while.
You should try taking several doses throughout the day.. Like maybe one in the morning, one at lunch, and one in the evening. See how that goes. But I don't know how your prescription is written though or what your limit is.. So don't take a ton.. I'm allowed up to 8 a day personally, but I'm weird
It's also important to carry medicine with you, so that you don't have to wait to get home to take it. Especially if you are trying to take it before or right as symptoms show up
Zach, Yes I do smoke cigarettes, but I really don't think that affects my rls. The reason I say that is that I did quit smoking many times before. 2 times with my pregnancy, and 2 times while breastfeeding for a year each and several other times before and I still had the rls. I don't think smoking affects my rls whatsoever (in my case that is). I do however drink coffee half the day (to keep me awake after not sleeping) so I do think that affects my rls, but I'm not willing to give that up just yet. And I try not to drink it after lunchtime.
Zach wrote:Did you take them after your symptoms surfaced ?
You really have to try to be proactive and nail your symptoms before they show up (if they come like clockwork at a certain time) and focus on preventative care.
Have you changed your diet much at all? Smoking, caffeine etc are big problems.. Smoking will bring my RLS to the surface even when medicated, although it does fade after a while.
You should try taking several doses throughout the day.. Like maybe one in the morning, one at lunch, and one in the evening. See how that goes. But I don't know how your prescription is written though or what your limit is.. So don't take a ton.. I'm allowed up to 8 a day personally, but I'm weird
It's also important to carry medicine with you, so that you don't have to wait to get home to take it. Especially if you are trying to take it before or right as symptoms show up
Okay it's 12:30pm now and I took a 50 mg tramadol about an hour ago. Big mistake, I feel dizzy, queezy and very tired all of the sudden. Now all I want to do is go back to bed! See this tramadol thing is not for me, I need vicodin, it's the only thing that works and keeps me awake during the daytime too. I hate my doctor.
Zach wrote:Sorry you're having such a rough time with things then, hope it works out for you though.
Well, I am just wondering why the tramadol makes me so damn tired when I take it, but yet ............ugh! I cannot explain it, I'm too tired right now......
Well for one. You have to get used to it. Just like the Vicodin takes care of the RLS, it is also likely putting you to sleep as well. The only difference is when you are resorting to the vicodin it's because you want sleep, so you are perhaps not minding that it does that.
Narcotics in any dose will do that until you become tolerant to their effects at a particular dose. Tramadol also does this to a certain extent. It's just a thing you have to go through.
I can guarantee you it will not make you tired or stuff once you find a steady dose that works for you. If that is not the case, then you would be advised to stop taking it at that point as something may be wrong.
The first two weeks I was on Vicodin, the bliss was indescribable.. Every night.. Pop a few, lay back and play a video game or mess with the PC until I couldn't keep my head up... But over time, that kind of thing fades. Tramadol never really put me to sleep perse (unless I was already tired), but when I did wake up I felt like everything was awesome, and didn't have a care in the world.
Zach wrote:Well for one. You have to get used to it. Just like the Vicodin takes care of the RLS, it is also likely putting you to sleep as well. The only difference is when you are resorting to the vicodin it's because you want sleep, so you are perhaps not minding that it does that.
Narcotics in any dose will do that until you become tolerant to their effects at a particular dose. Tramadol also does this to a certain extent. It's just a thing you have to go through.
I can guarantee you it will not make you tired or stuff once you find a steady dose that works for you. If that is not the case, then you would be advised to stop taking it at that point as something may be wrong.
The first two weeks I was on Vicodin, the bliss was indescribable.. Every night.. Pop a few, lay back and play a video game or mess with the PC until I couldn't keep my head up... But over time, that kind of thing fades. Tramadol never really put me to sleep perse (unless I was already tired), but when I did wake up I felt like everything was awesome, and didn't have a care in the world.
Well, maybe i just have a strange brain. I took an Ambien about 7pm tonight, hoping to catch the rls before it hits me tonight. So now it's been two hours since I took the ambien and I am wide awake?? Strange huh? Maybe my brain and body are just wacked ! Ambien is supposed to knock you out, but it's all I have left, I am out of the hydrocodone and I refuse to take the requip, and I do have tramadol but am afraid to feel that sleepy this early. I'm at a loss, a complete and utter loss. I think I am just going to go straight to a Pain Management doctor this week, the ones who aren't afraid to try new things on me.
Thanks so much for being my biggest support system Zach, you are the best!
Mia
bharrod wrote: It makes me look bad when my twin sister and her girlfriend show up at 8:00am and I am still in damn bed?? I am a mother of 2 young children, I should be up before they are !! It makes me depressed, it makes me feel like a complete loser and piece of **** !! Because no one seems to understand, and even my family and husband seem to have no understanding or concern, I wonder if they even believe me how bad it has really gotten, I think they think it's just another reason for me to complain about something, damn them!
My twin sister says it's "Mind over matter" I SAY BULLSHIT!
You know, I think one of the hardest things to do, when we have such a debilitating condition, is to cut ourselves some slack. Someday I hope to be functioning again at 100%, or at least 90%, but for now I'm just beaten down by all that's happening with the old body. And it's so hard to not compare myself to others who are functioning better.
So, my advice - be kinder to yourself! You have a medical condition that is making you miserable. So what if you don't get up by 8am. Is there some kind of cosmic law that says you must?
And if others are making you feel bad, even if it's your sister, keep your distance for a while.
I do hope you get this thing better managed, and soon. RLS sucks.
bh, just a thought particularly since the tramadol works....how about taking just a 1/2 tab to see what that does or how it effects you. If you have some positive results perhaps experiment a bit more in how you space a 1/2 tab & 1/2 tab apart or something like that. Maybe even a 1/4 tab.
I do think that Zach has a point in that sometime we do have to give our body a chance to acclimate to starting new meds and discontinuing old meds etc. But, not walking in your shoes, it is hard to say when enough is enough or how long to give someting a fair shake. I posted that question on a thread a while back and you may want to try to find it for some different opinions. Still, having said that, there is such a thing as "one trial learning" and you'll have to decide about that.
As much as I hate to say this, and meaning no offense to anyone, but I think the majority of the people on this board, myself included, have "strange brains." Otherwise, most would not be here as the common meds would do what they were designed to do and I, for one, would be happily sleeping right now. That's part of what makes this "family" work, we have strange brains but are not brain dead!
Your posts suggest you have been through a lot lately. If you are able, take a deep breath (again), count to ten (again) and maybe see if with a little more time you and the tramadol can have a meeting of the minds--particularly since it does seem to help.
I sincerely wish you the best and, again, hope that tomorrow will be better for you than today.
This post simply reflects opinion. Quantities are limited while supplies last. Some assembly required.
Mark wrote:As much as I hate to say this, and meaning no offense to anyone, but I think the majority of the people on this board, myself included, have "strange brains."
Amen to that!
Last edited by ViewsAskew on Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.
I, as well as some others get a bit stimulated by the ultram. I have to space it an hour apart as well as taking an ambien otherwise I don't hardly sleep at all.
