On a scale of 1-10, he's usually at an 8 with Tramadol/Tylenol. Yesterday was a 9 and today is a 10+.

He went to a new neurologist on Friday and he is not on call this weekend.

The neurologist said if he gets a rebound headache, he needs to taper off Tramadol/Tylenol.

How can we tell if this is a rebound headache or just more pain because he stopped Tramadol/Tylenol?

Since he is trying to taper off, you could try giving him a partial dose, if you can do that with Tramadol. I know some of these meds you can't cut in half. The other option in lowering the dose is to spread the doses out.

If it is a rebound, of course he will have to endure some suffering to get off the meds. But it seems it could be done more slowly so that he doesn't have to suffer so much.

sending my prayers...

quote:

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Originally posted by Lymetoo:
EEgads! I feel for the poor guy! Sounds like he went "cold turkey??" Why don't you call Dr C? He would help.

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Jake's new neurologist wants Jake to try a new med and he needs to be off Tramadol/Tylenol before he starts it.

The neurologist wanted to know if Jake would get a rebound headache. If he does, then he needs to taper off Tramadol/Tylenol.

Jake wanted to stop Tramadol/Tylenol yesterday. (He's 18 so he can do that!) Yesterday wasn't much worse than normal but today is. We called the neurologist's office and he wasn't on call this weekend. We will call him tomorrow morning.

Jake could take the Tramadol/Tylenol now to see how it affects him. At this point, he wants to tough it out.

The neurologist isn't LL but Dr. C also wants Jake off Tramadol.

Sure hope those headaches go away soon!

I have read that naproxen (Aleve) doesnt' cause rebounds. Can it be substituted termporarily? Probably wouldn't help so much with rebound, but if the pain is just from being off the tramadol/tylenol then it might help (combined with something-?.

I think Butalbital is the same as Fioricet. Jake was taking Fioricet 3 times a day and getting really little relief.

The new neurologist might prescribe a skeletal muscle relaxant to relax the muscles in Jake's neck. He thinks the headache is caused by a sore neck. I don't think that is the only cause, but we'll try anything at this point.

The chiropractor and physical therapist documented for me recently their opinions that although my daughter has considerable muscle tension in her neck, this is not the cause of her headache and may even be the other way around: partly a result of her headache pain, which would then cause muscles to tighten.

Personally, I think neck muscle tension contributes to the head pain, which then contributes to the neck pain, in a viscious cycle. I wanted them to work on the muscles, but they said chiro/PT were not helping her at all and that the head pain was from some "internal process" which is unknown.

Lyme causes muscle tightness and pain for us, naturally. The LLMD also attributes the head pain to Lyme encephalopathy (sp?).

The pain specialist said that some injury to the brain (not meaning trauma, but broadly covering everything from trauma to infection) could set off a situation where the brain cells interpret sensations in such a way that pain is amplified. I bristle a little at this, but he assured me this was not a fancy way of saying it was psychologoical, but a truly physical phenomenon.

The reason I asked for documentation was that a diagnosis of head pain from muscle tension is interpreted by many MD's as being psychological or emotional in origin. In the absence of positive MRI, MRA or EEG, we were starting to hear that my daughter should see a psychiatrist.

I have taken her to two psych. providers recently and they have both given her a clean bill of mental health.

This is great, but her head still hurts. Since Jan. 6th, 2003. Your son has had pain much longer than that, and I hope he gets some relief soon. A child with a 10+ headache isn't too easy for a mom to bear, either, so my thoughts are with you.