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Tramadol Killed My Mother
I was lucky to only have hallucinations.
I don’t often write serious stories. There is enough pain and tragedy in the world, and I choose not to add to it. But after a recent experience when stopping tramadol, I had to share so others will know what to expect.
First, tramadol did not kill my mother directly. But it was the catalyst. She had been in pain for years from a neck surgery in her 50’s, and with what was probably the onset of arthritis in her 60’s. She divorced and remarried in her 60’s, and moved with her husband to his home state of Florida, a place where the doctors rub their hands in glee to see an older person walk in. Perhaps she also doctor shopped, I don’t know, but I do know when she died at a very young 72, the M.E. said she had an unusually large number of prescriptions in her overnight bag.
She had become addicted to tramadol, but 15 years ago opioid and tramadol addiction was not a mass media touchstone. We saw changes and considered that she might be addicted, but since everything she took was prescribed, we didn’t argue with the doctors. Plus we, her children, were in Texas with no access to what she was taking.
She was late to my sister, Debi’s, wedding. We almost had to start without her. As she made her way into the church on her husband’s arm, she said, “Nobody understands how much pain I’m in.”…
