Tramadol and the nature of pain

It might sound an odd way of starting off a discussion of pain, but could you solve a math problem if you didn't know any math? Now we come to the point. If you had the right software on a piece of computer hardware, you wouldn't need to know any math. You could just feed in the question and the answer would come out. Well that works great if you have the right software and the machine can give you the results you need. Hey, why did you need to solve the math problem in the first place? Was it for a class test? Does your school allow the use of math packages? Well, to avoid getting too complicated, let's assume this is for some other purpose. Can you use the answer if you didn't understand the question?

Now let's switch words. Instead of math - a subject so unpleasant, only geeks like it - let's talk about pain. What's to understand? This is an unpleasant sensation and when it doesn't stop, you take a pill. Well, yes, this may work well when the pain first starts, but is this the answer you want? You're getting frustrated now. What's to know or worry about if the pill makes the pain go away?

OK, we need to start again. One of the problems with most drugs is they work really well when you start taking them. Your body is surprised by the strange new chemicals in your blood and it does nothing to stop these chemicals from working their magic. But these chemicals are foreign invaders and your body's auto immune system is designed to react when the blood is contaminated. Notice this is an automatic process. You can't tell your body, “Hey, these chemicals are doing me good so don't mess with them!” As time passes, you build up resistance. Doctors call this tolerance. No matter what the name, the effect is the same. The drugs slowly stop working. This leaves you with a choice. Either you increase the dose or you switch to a stronger drug or you find another way of dealing with the problem. Well, what's the problem with just taking more pills? This can very quickly lead to dependence. As your body continuously adapts to these chemicals, you can find yourself trapped if you later want to stop. The withdrawal symptoms can be much worse than the original problem. Just as important, can you afford the cost of all these drugs over the years? Let's assume $1 per pill and three pills a day. That's $1,095 a year. Now start taking more pills or watch the retail price increase.

So there's a place for Tramadol. For short-term pain relief, there's nothing better on the market, even for severe pain. Equally important, it's significantly less addictive than the opiate painkillers. At low doses, you can take Tramadol for quite long periods of time and still be able to stop without too many problems. But it's far better to understand the questions posed by pain so that you can learn the answers without having to rely on a pill. Just as you cannot always rely on computer hardware to solve your math problems, you cannot always rely on drugs to solve your pain problems.