Hiya zorro,

I was taking 50 mg, up to 600 mg/day at one point. I had no problem stopping them, i.e., I had no withdrawal, and since they weren't helping with pain (or even gave me the slightest buzz for that matter), I didn't miss them at all. But I'm glad that they work for you.

At the risk of being a broken record here, the only rx that has ever consistently relieved the foot burn for me is Ambien, but that has an obvious major drawback. zzzzzzzz

Ambien hah? Hmmmm never heard of that being used. Are you saying that it works because your asleep or does it really work?

It works even if I'm awake. I don't know if I'm the only one it has that effect on or not--I discovered it by accident. I keep telling doctors about this, but so far I haven't found one who is the least bit interested-you'd think maybe they'd want to know for their other patients to try. But you'd be wrong if you thought that.

I get tinnitus with tramadol, too, especially when I have to take higher doses. I have PN, herniated disc, etc., like many of you and it does work well for me. I was surprised to see how many people experienced relief from burning. I take Neurontin, too, thought not as much as I used to when I was first diagnosed. I just let it go because, I think I forgot how much it helps. Time to increase, I think. Linda

Tramadol contains serotonin which is why it can help with burning pain, FWIW.

EEO3,
What other drugs contain serotonin?

Also Im getting very mild double vision which is new and about the same time I started on tramadol even though Im only on one tablet, I had reduce back from two as I was la la land ( im am very sensative to meds)
some brain fog.

My pn cocktail

150 lyrica (cutting back to 100)
10 elavil
50 tramadol

they all work in diff areas of brain and so far they work pretty good. the tramadol can be adjusted on demand for any breakthrough

I don't know all of them as I'm not a chemist/pharmacist. I just have experience with tramadol as I'm a long time user of it as I can't tolerate a lot of other meds. I also know that I can't take other meds with serotonin as it can lead to serotonin syndrome which can be dangerous. To my knowledge, antideprressants and the muscle relaxer flexeril are all off limits. Hopefully Mrs. D. will see your post and offer a thorough answer to your question.

Tramadol does not contain serotonin per se.

But it does act on serotonin receptors. This may be a function of the action it has on mu receptors (pain area) and other receptors like the kappa one.

Some opiates also do this. Oxycodone has quite a serotonin connection in some people.

Some neurotransmitter actions are cascades...initiated by one system and then a second one becomes active. Histamine in the brain is like this, initiating other systems.

The bottom line is that many drugs overlap onto other systems and have actions that complicate things for people.
Some of these are discovered during trials, but many take years and years to come forward, during post marketing.

Yes I get tinnitus. Lyrica does it, tramadol does it, neurontin does. LOL

Its starting to settle now that I have adjusted and yes agree with your post. That usually means time for a higher dose