Got an RX for 12 post-surgery Tramadol, so I looked it up, of course. Discouragement???
Well, it is an opioid, so one could expect you would not be feeling highly motivated while on it…
It’s an opioid narcotic for pain. All narcotics are, by definition, depressants. They depress respiration, they depress metabolism, they depress digestion. And although they can make a person feel giddy-high and euphoric (hence the attractiveness of the addiction), they can also depress one’s mood.
Opioids do have depressant effects, no question about it. Tramadol is no exception. It does have some SSRI-like effects too, which are touted by some as reducing the risk and severity of the depressant/sedative effect.
If you’ve got 12 doses, that’s a decent enough number for post-op pain control that shouldn’t result in much if any long-term effects, unless you’re neurologically wired that way.
I think the question might be about the specific word “discouragement” - I’ve seen “depression’ listed as a side effect plenty but I’ve never seen “discouragement” before. And while looking up “discouragement” as a side effect, I found it here under “more common” . That site also lists” “depression” under “Incidence not known” so now I’m wondering what exactly is the difference between “discouragement” and “depression”
Agreed, “Discouragement” is a weird way of expressing the effects of an opioid. It’s like if the medicine I take for ADHD advertised itself as “Encouraging.”
It might have something to do with the potential confusion between “depressed mood” and “clinical depression”.
My guess is this is another manifestation of a term getting such a bad name, they find a synonym or different characterization of the same phenomenon. Draft = Selective Service. Handicapped = Physically Challenged. Negro = African American.
Suicide is a real epidemic these days. Depression is common and carries with it so much baggage. Discouragement sounds less weighty. Word crafting. Nothing more. Consider it depression.
If it had a foreign manufacturer, it might also have been a translating slipup.
OP, have you taken any? Let us know what happens to you. Hopefully, all it does is reduce your post-op pain.
I was discouraged by Tramadol because it had no effect on my pain, but I don’t think that’s what they mean!
I have ankylosing spondilitus and take three to four tramadol a day. The only side effect I have observed is that I no longer wake up screaming when I turn over in bed.
At least it didn’t say “ennui, with a creeping malaise and a general disenchantment.”
Oddly enough, ditto =)
Though for me, serious joint issues, including lumbar spinal stenosis and arthritis in my neck. Not screaming in pain is usually a good thing =)
The hospital I had my proctocolectomy unilaterally decided that in order to not risk addicting me to opioids, they were following some newfangled European protocol that was gabapentin and tylenol. So I pop awake in my room, to discover they were medicating me with 300 mg gabapentin and tylenol 3x day instead of 100 mg tramadol 4x and 600 mg gabapentin 3x - I raised a really loud argument about not being cold turkeyed from a drug I had been taking effectively for 10 years and my gabapentin cut in half. I got my normal dosage of gaba and my tramadol.
And yes, I admit, I am addicted to tramadol - however I also point out that if I am not moving on to something zippier, and am well controlled at my level that I am functioning the way taking a pain killer is supposed ot let me function.
You amaze me, Sir. I take 50 mg three times a day, and have never noticed anything approaching addiction. If I forget to take it at night, my back is uncomfortable in the morning. Only my rheumatologist can prescribe it, my GP is in fear of losing his license if he prescribes it, so it obviously may be addictive.
That’s an irrational fear, unless your GP is terrible at documenting what they’re doing and why. Too many docs claim they can’t prescribe opioids because of “the DEA” or “the Medical Board” when in reality they just don’t want to be bothered with the extra documentation burden.
Nailed it.
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The usual cure for discouragement, seldom heard these days, is being given a range home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play.
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It does sound odd as a side effect. I’m not sure if it is better than ennui. I think I would prefer them to say it may cause Weltschmerz.
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Doctors do a mediocre job of treating pain, from my experience. Emergency doctors treat a lot of it. Many are very stingy with addictive medicines, with some reason, but there is a reasonable sweet spot between choosing ineffective medicines or doses or quantities, never prescribing narcotics or being profligate and without practical precautions. Some overrely on ineffective medicines like codiene. Others give ridiculous quantities - a single tablet or many hundreds. Others do not try better things first, better medications, or correctly diagnose the type of pain, or, as the Oxford Handbook states, on occasion, “who is causing the pain”.
People may become physically addicted to a drug, and there’s a lot of overlap between that, and dependence.
And what’s the difference between the two?
If you are dependent on a drug, your quality of life goes up, and if you are addicted, it goes down. Yeah, I know it’s a lot more complicated than that, but that is the basics of it.
Regarding tramadol, are we talking addiction in that you trip on it, or that without it you wake up screaming from pain in the middle of the night?
Preach it!
Tramadol seemed to be the “replacement” for Darvocet. I miss Darvocet, it was always effective for me in controlling pain.
Apparently Tramadol has disappointed many others, because it is also called “Damn It All.”
~VOW