Tramadol

when i see the doctor who in charge of my overall treatment, she showed her sympathy and tried her very best to help me.

for the pain in the throat and the head, she gave me a pain killer for severe pain, the name is Tramadol. i recalled that this was the same medicine the hospital prescribed to my mum the other time when she had a toe amputated. i was told to take 2 capsule each, 4 times a day. the other time my mum dosage is once each time, 4 times a day. so my pain is actually double that of losing a toe?

for my rotten tongue, the doctor gave a gel similar to that of bonjela, more lasting and cheaper, except it taste like tiger balm oil. this is the best thing i got. finally i'm relieved from the torture of rotten tongue.

all the torment from the past few days further reduced my weight to 65kg. the doctor was again very concern. she told me despite the treatment is going to end soon, but i still need the nutrition to fight off the side effects. if i'm not eating enough, it will hinder my recovery and prolong my suffering. initially i was thinking after the last session of radio, i no longer need to force myself eating, looks like things doesn't work that way.

when i reached home, the first thing i do is to apply the gel, then popped 2 tramadol into my mouth. things turned out to be quite good initially. my pain count dropped to 2 week new low. i dun even need to apply the anaesthetic gel to eat my porridge. my comfort didn't last very long then i started to feel a little nauseated. i stopped eating at 1pm, lie on the bed and that's it. the next few hours i couldn't even get up from the bed. my head was spinning, i had lots of hallucinations, i wanted to vomit but hv problem even reaching for the plastic bag which was just a metre away. i was so so tired but i couldn't sleep.

i threw out whatever i eaten during lunch, but i managed to keep my breakfast after hours of long fight. i think the pain killer (tramadol) is far too strong for me. but there's nothing i can do other than continue to lie on bed and wait for the medicine effect to go off.

finally, i considered myself "much better" at evening 6pm. i was totally traumatised by what happened in the afternoon. it's like suddenly i was being pulled into battle field, fought for 5 hours, managed to crawl out from it.

i surfed the net and this is what i found out for tramadol:

Contents Tramadol HCl Indications Treatment of moderate to severe acute or chronic pain & in painful diagnostic or therapeutic measures. Dosage Adult & adolescent >14 yr 1 cap as single dose. A 2nd dose may be given after 30-60 min. Administration May be taken with or without food Contraindications Resp depression, esp in the presence of cyanosis & excessive bronchial secretion. Acute alcoholism, head injuries & conditions in which intracranial pressure is raised. Patients receiving MAOIs. Special Precautions Decreased resp reserves; attack of bronchial asthma; heart failure secondary to chronic lung disease, hypothyroidism, adrenocortical insufficiency, impaired kidney or liver function, prostatic hypertrophy, shock or inflammatory or obstructive bowel disorders, myasthenia gravis; infants esp neonates; administration during labour may cause resp depression in newborn; may impair ability to drive or operate machines. Adverse Drug Reactions Nausea, vomiting, constipation, drowsiness & confusion. Difficulty in micturition, ureteric or biliary spasm; dry mouth, sweating, facial flushing, vertigo, bradycardia, palpitations, orthostatic hypotension, hypothermia, restlessness, mood changes, hallucinations, miosis, CV collapse & convulsions. View ADR Monitoring Form

i'm not mad with the doctor. but i think i need to cut the dosage to 1 capsule each time. this is really really no joke.