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I was in a car accident a year ago and had neck and lower back pains since then. The pain is tolerable but when it hits hard, I take ultram and it helps me get to sleep for 8 hours. I noticed, though, that I get occasional constipation. I haven’t talked to my doctor about this since I thought it’s not being caused by the med. Did any of you guys (who may have taken ultram before) ever experienced this?
Constipation is listed as a possible side effect.
http://www.drugs.com/ultram.html
tramadol is an opiod. Constipation is a very common problem with the opiods. People often take a stool softener along with an opiod, to head off the constipation problem.
The doctors have my brother take senekot with his pain killers... It's a natural laxative available over the counter"
http://www.senokot.com/
Yes, definitely - but the fact that your doctor didn't tell you about this very common side effect makes me wonder what else s/he's doing or has done for your pain.
So pardon me for asking, how much physical therapy did you get? If you didn't get relief from that therapy, did you explore different exercises and different modalities with your therapist? If you did get relief, are you still doing the exercises and stretches? Have you seen a chiropractor or massage therapist?
Does cycling help or aggravate your pain, or not affect it at all? If it aggravates the pain, have you had a professional bike fit?
Pain medication is sometimes necessary, but I really hope it's not your doctor's first line of approach to pain.
I have never had a doctor tell me about possible side effects of any drug. Except when Imitrex first came on the market, and they said I had to have my first dose at the ER because it might kill me. Other than that, I rely on the pharmacist to tell me what I need to know.
The doctors who originally prescribed my brother pain meds, had prescribed some laxative at the same time without telling why (but we did already know that constipation's a usual side effect)... After he had to continue on the pain meds, they did give more pain meds, but not the stool softener and suggested we check with a pain specialist & get physical therapy.
The pain doctor basically went through everything & potential side effects, prescribed meds & the senekot, then started accupuncture & physical therapy, etc.
I was taking Ultram for about 9 months for lower back pain. I have a chronic low back condition called spondylolisthesis, which means that one of my vertebra has slipped forward off the vertebra below. My slippage is a grade 2, which is 50% or greater. I also have DDD and severe stenosis at the same level (L5/S1).
The Ultram did take the edge off my pain, but I experienced severe constipation while taking it. It is also extremely addictive. It is a synthetic opiate, so it's not classified in the same drug category as opiates such as vicodin and oxycontin. However, it does have many of the same properties that opiates have...including dependency and the constipation. When I decided to stop taking Ultram, I went through one of the worst cases of withdrawal I've ever experienced. I believe this was due to the fact, that Ultram also has some SSRI (anti-depressant) qualities in it, and it was this aspect of the drug that makes it very difficult to kick.
If you plan on getting off Ultram at any point, I highly encourage you to wean off of it very gradually (I didn't do this, as I was already taking a rather low dosage).
Colace (stool softener) was prescribed for my husband after his back surgery. He took everything from tylenol to morphine. The colace kept him regular without crazy cramps and runs to the bathroom.