Severe Reaction to Ultram: Story

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DesertKnight

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I've been reading everyone's stories about how your BFS began, after illness, after certain medications, etc. Less than a week before I started twitching I had a severe reaction to Ultram that I had been taking for my back pain. I swelled up like a blowfish (my eyes looked like I'd lost big time in a bar fight), I itched all over from head to toe for days and had a horrible rash. The rash finally scaled up and peeled from my face and neck, almost like a sunburn. That was the first time I've ever had an allergic reaction to any medication. I believe it was 3 days later when my calf started going crazy.I also have dealt with GAD that I was diagnosed with 18 years ago...most of my anxiety takes the form of health anxiety. I'm sure this is a major contributing factor, and definitely a continuing factor in this ordeal. Just curious to know if anyone else had a start similar to mine. ~Frances
 
I cannot remember if my twitching started with an illness or bad reaction to medication, but I WILL say that I have read many, many accounts over the years of BFS starting in this manner. I will also say that I LOVE tramadol (Ultram) and it works great for me in many ways....so any left overs you have feel free to drop it by my house! :p
 
It made me so mad when I reacted like that because I had been taking them for a couple of weeks for my back and leg pain with no problem. I loved it too...unfortunately I've had to go back to Lortab which works so-so but at least I don't have the side effects.
 
Hi Frances I also suffer from health anxiety....I believe that I got bfs from extreme stress which I had for six months prior to the twitching starting...I also was a google addict so I googled twitches didn't I.... :eek: ...I honestly believe that I have fried my nervous system so badly that I don't know if it will ever recover..I hope it does one day cos I hate twitching...shannon
 
Shannon,I have no doubt that severe anxiety could have triggered mine. I also think that perhaps BFS is something that can happen for a number of reasons. What I find amazing is how much my symptoms vary from day to day. Today, I have hardly twitched and I haven't taken any Xanax at all. Which leads me to wonder if perhaps I should stay off of it for a few days and see if it stays like this. I don't know. This stuff is unpredictable! ~Frances
 
Hi Frances...I have days like that too, where I hardly twitch and I think great it's easing off, the twitches will st...but then usually they come back...I hope your twitches stay away, not sure about Xanax causing them it's meant to stop them.... :D) ..but bfs is so weird it's hard to know....and yes it's totally unpredictable...best wishes shannon
 
Yep, that theory flew right out the window this morning when I realized it was BACK full force. Xanax does make my mom twitch when she takes it though, so I was hopeful. Oh well, a month in and who knows how long to go. I've got to get a more positive outlook otherwise this stuff is going to eat my lunch.
 
Hi Plainslady, My advice would be to stick to what is known and that is that you were diagnosed with GAD and we know that twitching is a symptom of GAD. If I had a GAD diagnosis in my pocket I would disappear from this site and treat the GAD. Talk to you doctor about Lexapro, its anssri and its on that is proven to work on GAD, i'm presently taking it and its very good. Also don't shy away from the xanax, it can help short term.Lots of luck to you!!Lefty
 
Lefty, thanks for your response. A month in and I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this indeed, in my particular case, is directly tied to my ongoing anxiety. I had been on Zoloft for over a year which had been managing my anxiety very well when I started seeing a new psychiatrist who said "no, you don't have anxiety, you're bipolar." She insisted I stop my Zoloft immediately, cold turkey, which was brutal to say the least. I endured the horrible withdrawl and was getting ready to start Abilify for bipolar disorder, but when I researched it I decided against taking it because of the long list of serious side effects. I was feeling pretty good at that point, so I decided that maybe this time I was going to be able to make it without the antidepressants, but about 6 weeks into no meds it came back full force. I was stubborn and decided not to go back on meds even though my GP strongly recommended it. It was the beginning of July when my anxiety started back up, and by August I was back to not sleeping, eating poorly, and worrying about every single pain and twinge I felt in my body. However, it took the twitching to make me start my meds back up, back on the Zoloft and Xanax. I'm just shy of 3 weeks back on my meds, and I do feel better. I also am recieving behavior therapy and love it. I'm still hyper-aware of my body, but now I can at least apply logic and realize that every feeling I have doesn't mean I'm dying of some hideous disease. I'm hopeful that as time goes on and the Zoloft builds in my system along with therapy, I will gain control over my thoughts. All this stress I have put on my body, all the adrenaline I have dumped into my system and lack of sleep will take some time to repair I'm afraid. I will say that my twitching has dramatically been reduced since it started last month, with the occasional horrible day thrown in when I am under extraordinary stress or do not get quality sleep. For instance, after spending a day with my father (let's just say we have an incredibly strained relationship because of his alcoholism :mad: ) I twiched so terribly I couldn't stand to sit down and rest. I paced the house just so I wouldn't feel the constant movement in my body. It was awful, but by noon the next day they had begun to subside as my stress was alleviated. I know there are many people on here who don't have severe anxiety, so I by no means think it is what causes everyone's symptoms, but you are right on when you say "treat the GAD", because in my case it is the elephant in the room. It seems riduculous at times to think this could be from anxiety, but anyone who has had a serious panic attack knows what it's like to feel like you're having a heart attack or stroke. If it can cause that, I know it can cause this.
 
It sounds like you have some parts of your problem figured out, that being said it's still going to be hard to get a grip because you are in heavy anxiety state. From what I understand with GAD there is usually another anxiety attached, like social anxiety, or in our case Health Anxiety.You throw together Health Anxiety and GAD and you have a perfect storm to deal with inside your mind/body.Give yourself lots of time to get better, set up your boundries, take some meds and listen to your Doctor.Lefty
 

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