Thursday 9 March 2017

Had to put my nurses hat back on

We made the horrific discovery last weekend that what I thought was a cold was actually withdrawal from tramadol. Him indoors is very bad, like a drug addict going cold turkey. His sleep patterns are disrupted and he has had several emotional crises.
When he went to the doctor because he was not sleeping post op I can only think it was a misunderstanding due to the language. He was given tramadol which I now know to be an opiate. At no point were we warned about how addictive it is. I have been out of nursing for around 15 years now so did not know the drug. With hindsight I should have asked questions and looked it up. No good going there now as I have my work cut out trying to help him through this. I am currently sleeping in the spare room so he does not have to worry about waking me up. After one all night vigil I am happy to do this.
I have spent years removing chemicals from our lives, firmly believing they are bad. This drug has undone all I have achieved by poisoning him indoors. I am very angry about it.
We are taking things very slowly. He has no appetite and no energy. I am managing to get him to have small amounts and do a short daily walk. I have removed all the tramadol from our house and tomorrow will take it to the chemist for disposal,
This will take a long time and yet again puts a big burden on me!
Thank goodness Spring is not far away which improves everyone's mood.
Yet again big business profits come before what is best for people. What it has done for me is to make me with draw even more from all big business. If I don't make it we don't have it!

4 comments:

  1. How awful for P! Stay strong - he will need your support.

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  2. I'm so sorry about this.

    I have been on Tramadol-Acetaminophen (37.5-325mg) for years for chronic pain related to herniated disks in my neck and other pain areas, many related to the way I walk due to MS making my left leg fairly unusable. I take two of these tablets every eight hours, every day.

    I'm telling you all of this because I am almost out of my current RX, so I have decided to cut out the middle dose until the RX can be filled so that I don't run out altogether. Yesterday, the pain I felt from early evening until about an hour after my bed-time dose was awful.

    I think it is amazing what you are doing to help your husband through his withdrawal. You are a strong person, so you will persevere, and your husband will be better for it in the end.

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  3. Thanks Beth, it must be awful to be in so much pain. We are on day 5 of cold turkey today and it is getting better. He is still not sleeping and has no appetite or energy but generally his mood is better. It is like having a young child again but I am determined he will get off this. I do not give in easily!

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