Whitney Dafoe and Ativan. Can someone explain?

[Issie]

In which way does the Tramadol help you?

I've done a lot of post on it over the years, both here and on DINET. Never could figure the exact science of why it helped as it has so many properties. You might like to do a search and see those possible connections.

As to how I felt and how it helped POTS, calmed down my autonomic nervous system, balanced out my moods and took a very slight edge off pain. We are talking of 1/4 to 1/2 of the lowest dose available and only 1 to 2 times, if needed. And rotating on and off, as you build a tolerance and it stops working. Many just would up their dose, but I wanted to not get addicted and have a smaller amount keep working. And when real bad a Bentyl added. But it had a tendency to cause depression as it not only worked on pain and muscle spasms, but helped a bit like an anti-anxiety medicine would. Tramadol, before it was put into the opiate category and classed, was also being used off label for those with bad or no response (treatment resistant) to SSRI or SNRI. It works on all the neurotransmitters and NMDA (glutamate) and opiate receptors. It also has a mild calcium channel blocking affect and there seems to be issues with that channel with both POTS and MCAS. (My Emergency MCAS medicine, when I don't get on top of it fast enough, is GastroCrom and it too has a mild calcium channel blocker affect. I no longer use antihistamines. See post on MCAS.)

 

[Chfrazzle]

Thank you very much for explaining your experience with the Tramadol.

 

[HelenM]

I find that tramadol helps too. I initially had it for a bad back but noticed instead of feeling sleepy as expected with tranadol that I was actually feeling energised and less fatigue and brain fog. When I first took it, it gave me insomnia if taken in the evening. It seems to lower heart rate somehow. Im still on it 5 years later. Its useless for pain but still helps my pots. I take 2 x 50mg a day usually.

 

[Issie]

Tramadol works on so many levels. It had been my best POTS medicine and took a slight edge off pain. I found that I had to rotate on and off it for it to continue working. Then I could stay at a lower amount and it worked. (Even a 1/4 pill of a 50 mg. Helped then.) Dejurgen and I may have come up with more reasons for it working for me than I realized. But it does work on all neurotransmitters including NMDA receptors which are glutamate receptors. It also has mild calcium channel blocking properties. I found that it along with a mild muscle relaxer (Bentyl) was an even better combination.

I'm not on it now, just if a real bad POTS day. But trialing some herbs and other supplements that seem to be helping. I did find that both Tramadol and Bentyl gave me more brain fog after time. Bentyl also tends to cause a bit of depression as it is a suppressant. But still has been my best combo POTS medicines. I think with prolonged use though, when they wear off, there is a bit of a rebound effect and the pain is more intense. Same happens with opiates and this is now classified as a very mild opiate. Though it has sooooooo many other properties.

(I just realized I had put some of this info above.)