I'm not a big pill popper as a rule, I generally skip pain medication, even aspirin so being on Gabapentin and Tramadol for months for pain is weird for me. The main warning on both medications was not to quit suddenly or without doctor's oversight. I read on the Internet that there could be some nasty withdrawals from Tramadol so I asked and was told that it is a non narcotic and so it is not an issue. I know any idiot with an opinion can post them as fact on the Internet so I chalked the withdrawal warnings up to that. Funny story, sometimes the Internet is right.
I have felt the pain meds were mostly gratuitous and asked about weaning off of them. "No problem, stop them at your own pace" was the response. So cool. I went from 3 times a day down to 2 then at night only. Three days ago I decided enough was enough and I quit taking all of them. OK, what happened next was not expected. Itchy, crawly, yuckiness. Not much more pain, yes a bit more achey ness, more stiffness in the morning, and when standing up but not intolerable. Oh, but the itching, bitching, moody, malaise that showed up...what the hell! Oh, and the runny nose and desperate desire to sneeze every 5 seconds, just the frosting on the cake. Sneezing hurts like you would not believe still, so I have spent much of the last several days doing the breathing I learned in Lamaze class 22 years ago to keep from sneezing and to recover if I do. Lamaze breathing was nearly useless for labor in my experience but has proved useful time and again for other weird life events. People should take the class even if they aren't pregnant. Of course, you would probably get weird looks and awkward questions...
So, three days later I'm not quite as itchy (still damned itchy, but less), I definitely feel tired, teary, dreary blue with a latent desire to just kill something. Oh, if I felt better I might be dangerous! Not really, in real life I'm mostly bark...some bite but not fatal, to date anyway. No withdrawal symptoms my ass.
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