- Tramadol is in a group of drugs called opiate agonists. It is used to treat moderate to severe pain by changing the way the body senses pain.
- Tramadol can either be taken as a normal tablet or an extended-release (long-acting) tablet to be taken through the mouth. The regular tablet can be taken with or without food every four to six hours or as needed.
- The extended-release tablet should only be taken once a day around the same time every day.
- When using extended-release the patient either needs to always take it with food or always take it without food.
- The extended-release tablets should only be taken whole. It is dangerous to split, chew, crush, snort or inject the dissolved form of the tablet.
- It is important to only take the medication as the doctor prescribes because it is a highly dependent drug.
- Grünenthal established that Tramadol has a weak respiratory depressant effect when compared with morphine. it changes the way human body feels pain.
- Tramadol provides adequate pain relief in patients with different types of pain.
- Tramadol has many clinical trials have showed that is more effective than other analgesics in some particulars kinds of pain.
- Tramadol has many other trials have demonstrated the acceptable safety profile of a well administered dosage schedule of Tramadol in patients with low back pain and hip or knee osteoarthritis.
- generally well tolerated
- proven efficacy in a broad range of painful conditions
- respiratory depressionis less common and less pronounced than with other opioids
- lesser constipation effect than with other opioids
- withdrawal not considered to be as severe as that produced by other opioids
- low abuse and dependence potential
- more effective than NSAIDs for controlling post operative pain
- antidepressant-like (mood improving) activity
- local anesthetic activity
- low interaction potential
- devoid of immunosuppressive activity
- reasonably priced - available generic formulation
