Hey Bob, I'm glad the Tramadol works for you. I've been on it for about a year now and I'm not really sure why I keep taking it. It seemed to work very well at first but I must have built up a tolerance for it very quickly because it hasn't really worked as far as I can tell for a long time. Either that or my pain got much worse very quickly. Do you know if there's any other drug I could try that's comparable to it (as opposed to hydrocodone, for example)?

Here's another thought: my surgeon required that I stop taking Tramadol before I had my hip surgery. I went back to it when I was done taking hydrocodone for the surgery pain, and it seemed like it worked very well for about a week, then again, it stopped being effective. I wonder if it's possible to alternate/rotate different pain meds (while being very careful not to overlap them, of course) to avoid building up a tolerance...and if so, would a doctor go along with that?