Hi--
I know many of you take tramadol like me and when I got sick this time, and I really got very ill throughout, pelvic, kidney, spinal pain and new stenosis, the tramadol had really masked the abdominal pain very well. It could not mask the spinal pain though, which was severe like in meningitis. I read the patient insert and it talks about being used cautiously in people with abdominal problems because it masks abdominal pain so well. When I switched to hydrocodone (10mg) I was really in pain!
So I asked my doc about taking breaks from the ultram periodically and switching to an appropriate dose of another pain med for a week every month just to make sure that nothing is going on. I can't believe how much pain it masked. I recently began taking it, still having abdominal pain on 10mg of hydrocodone and it took care of it, though not my back so well.
I've been on tramadol constantly for five years or more without problems, other than this.
Marji