In the recent research review podcast I recall Austin mentioning how he would be hesitant to give tramadol to any of his patient’s. This was interesting to me since in the ED where I work the physicians very frequently give and prescribe their pt’s tramadol for moderate pain relief. I always held the thought that tramadol was a more conservative and safer relief for moderate pain when compared to the heavier opioids and narcotics. I would be interested to hear and learn more about the contraindications for this medication, and maybe a link to some of the studies done critiquing the use of tramadol as I am still very ignorant towards the use of pain relief medications.
This was interesting to me since in the ED where I work the physicians very frequently give and prescribe their pt’s tramadol for moderate pain relief. I always held the thought that tramadol was a more conservative and safer relief for moderate pain when compared to the heavier opioids and narcotics.
This is incorrect, and IMO they should probably stop using it, as it offers no clinical advantages yet has a significant number of disadvantages:
So it’s like giving an unknown dose of opioid and SNRI together. Well adding ‘prescribe Tramadol’ to my list of things not to do after med school.
Thanks for the info