Tramadol: The Secret Opioid Killer
Tramadol is a prescription opiate painkiller. Innocent until proven guilty, Tramadol is claiming lives around the world. Like other opiate prescription painkiller drugs, Tramadol is safe when used appropriately. Not reported to have the same dependency effect as more popular opiates like Oxycontin, Tramadol only becomes dangerous when abused with other substances.
Available by prescription only, the trend of Tramadol abuse is finding life on the black markets. When prescription drugs land on the streets, they usually aren’t the same pills picked up in pharmacies anymore. Seeing a need for the production of the pill due to demand, illegal drug manufacturers will make a pill very similar to Tramadol, indeed using many of the same ingredients, but also including other substances which might be even more harmful.
What is Tramadol?
Tramadol is used to treat chronic and/or severe pain. When searching for Tramadol results indicate that it is a drug which puts patients at a high risk for addiction and dependence, though pharmaceutical publications claim otherwise.
What are the side effects of abusing Tramadol?
Unlike other narcotic opioid painkillers like Hydrocodone or Oxycontin, Tramadol has two purposes. First, it is used for its opiate qualities to treat pain because it is an analgesic. Second, Tramadol is used as an antidepressant. It has the ability to prolong chemicals that are important to regulating emotion in the brain like serotonin. Tramadol can also be combined with acetaminophen in the same way morphine is combined with acetaminophen to make an opioid painkiller.
Side effects of Tramadol abuse can include:
- Respiratory depression (slowing of the heart to a dangerously slow pace or stopping completely)
- Impaired judgment and control of motor function
- Seizures
- Increased risk of suicide in patients with co-occurring diagnosis of depression
- Reaction of hypersensitivity including throat and tongue swelling
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness
- Itching
- Constipation
- Weakness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Loss of appetite
The chance and intensity of these symptoms occurring is increased when Tramadol is abused with substances like alcohol or medications it is known to have an interaction with, such as anxiety medication.
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