ultram

I have been on ultram now for close to 2 years, it helped at 1st now not as much. Is there another non addictive pain pill out there? I have bad back pain that goes from my tailbone area to my hips legs and feet(feet mostly in the morning) I have had mri's but they never show anything,however my x-rays do show inflam. so weird??? so of course my back doc says well its prob a female prob, i will continue to give you pain meds until you find another doc. wasnt that so helpfull!! aaarrrgh. My fear is not only never finding what the prob is but also getting addicted to pain meds, he had me on lortab until i asked for the ultram. i did find another doc who did blood work and found my ana was high which led to me finding out my sister(whom i dont really talk to) has rheumatoid arthritis.  my new doc thinks poss Lupus but wont call it that until i develop more symptoms. I am just very frustrated right now and very tired of being in pain!!!!

Hi Loni123,

Going on pain medications is a scary thing no matter how you look at it however it is a definite neccessity when you suffer from chronic pain. I've heard Gramps say before about how you are not a drug addict if you are taking meds from a dr. and for a real pain problem but Gramps I want to let you know something that happens at my PC. On your first appt. you have to fill out a lot of forms about your history and pass drug use which in and of its self is ok and of course your medical background as well. However one of the last things you have to read and sign is a statement saying that if you become a PC patient you will be considered a drug addict from that point on. That was a scary thing to sign but what choice did I have when it really came down to it?

I don't know if this is a State thing or a hospitol or even insurance thing but unless you sign that form you are not allowed to be seen by a pain dr. As I've said before I would rather be addicted to medications prescribed by my dr. than be addicted to pain with out relieve. Is this a State thing or what? Mind you the hospitol and PC I use is a 7thDayAdventist organization and that does make a difference.

Like I said I did'nt want to sign that paper but I really had no choice in the matter, it was sign or go home and that was definitly not an option?

So anywhoo Loni123 good luck on your path and I am sorry that I went off track with my other observation I do hope you will get better pain relieve asap. I'm out for now,

                                                  Toritoo

                                            

I don't condone health care professionals forcing their religious beliefs on others and it sounds like that may be happening with you, Toritoo. It's one thing to say your body will become dependent on certain medications, like narcotics, but it's another to use the word "drug addict". Because that's not how addiction is defined medically, and that's something I know as a professional. That being said if you're getting what you need from this doc you may just need to hang in there, but try to "erase" that word from your mind. I might even suggest discussing the word with your doctor, but I don't know if it's worth it for you. I think I recall you get your pain managed well from your doc (although I can't count on my memory anymore!). I'd probably let it go and just go forward with my life, and replace his words in my own mind.

Contracts are usually up to the discretion of the doctor. It's not uncommon for CP patients to be forced to sign contracts, but I wonder if they do much good. If you're going to (or already are) abuse the drugs, the contract probably won't matter. It just makes it easier and more clear cut for the doctor to dismiss you from his/her practice if you violate anything. There are protocols like Muzz suggested - such as not getting pain meds from more than one doc, and using one pharmacy. Those are common. It's amazing the hoops we have to jump through, or rather trip over!

Something else caught my attention, Loni123. You implied that Ultram is not addictive. It is. I was Rx'd it once to give it a try. Did nothing for my pain. Could have been taking tic tacs. In the meantime, doc had Rx'd a bottle of 120. My ex-husband found em and started eating em like candy. When the bottle was empty, he jones for me to get more.

No way.

Looked into it, Ultram is addictive.

On the other hand, I have never been addicted to anything. When I am in pain, sometimes the meds help, sometimes they don't. I don't take them when I don't have pain.

I could be wrong but I think when ultram was first marketed, the company made the claim that it was non-addictive. But post-marketing research and data collection proved that it is slightly addictive - but that it is at a lower rate than other narcotics, thus "safer".


As far as the pain contract stating that a person will become an addict anytime they take narcotics for long term pain management - I think that not only is it outrageous (!) but it is treading on being malpractice!

The only thing I can think of is that the addiction specialist community wrote that pain contract. I have learned over the years of reading the literature about narcotics and pain medicine that there are two very opposite viewpoints about this: the pain med docs have their own definitions for addiction, tolerance, withdrawal, dependence, etc and the physicians who treat drug addicts have other definitions. To the addiction specialist, addiction means that you will experience withdrawal when you stop taking the medicine (and other physical signs and symptoms); the pain medicine specialist define that as physical dependence, and addiction as the compulsion of using the drugs in spite of harm to yourself (a summary to the defintion). So it seems that your pain clinic is being run by addiction specialists and not pain management specialists....because of the way they are defining addiction.

I find it hard to believe that a pain management clinic is telling their patients that they are now an addict! Wouldn't you think the government would find that alarming too? Basically they are telling the world that they are purposefully making addicts out of their patients! unbelievable.....