Tramadol Side Effects

Tramadol is a pain reliever prescribed after surgery, for or an illness, chronic pain from a disease or past injury. It is a highly effective pain reliever, but it does have negative side effects for some people. Nearly 71% of all patients who take tramadol will experience some sort of side effect, with the most common being drowsiness. Drowsiness causes people to feel extremely tired to the point where they can not perform their normal daily functioning. Drowsiness can cause such extreme fatigue that the person may fall asleep while working or driving. This affects 17% of all tramadol users. Many people stop taking tramadol because they never feel rested and have problems focusing on their work. The extreme drowsiness from tramadol can interfere with a person’s quality of life and create a dangerous situation.

Another common side effect is nausea. Nearly 17% of all tramadol users report feeling nausea during the day which causes them to take other medications to reduce the nausea. When this happens, patients keep adding more and more medications to treat the side effects, and can become confused as to why they are taking each medication. Nausea can interfere with a person’s work and leisure time. It can be very painful at times leading to missed work and missed activities with their family or for fun while they have to stay at home to lie down to try to feel better.

Dizziness is reported as a side effect of tramadol for 15% of people who take the medication. Like drowsiness, this is a very serious side effect. Patients can lose their balance and fall when standing or getting up from sitting. Having a dizzy spell while driving can be at a risk for a car accident. A person can fall while walking or lifting a heavy object at work or at home. Even turning around to see something while driving or working can cause sudden dizziness and the person can lose their focus or their balance.

Headaches are reported by 11% of all patients taking tramadol. Headaches can be moderate to quite painful. Often, the headache sufferer will need to take another medication to reduce the pain of the headache. Severe headaches can cause people to miss work or family activities because of the pain. People that experience frequent headaches may be able to cope with daily life, but will always have the pain lingering from the headache.