11-04-2017, 07:39 AM
Even veterinarians are backing off on prescribing them. That really shows you just how much Trams are coming onto the radar. My Chihuahua-mix (Cooper) has chronic back problems. His vet used to give out (Fifty)-50MG Trams at once. Now she wants me to go OTC for his pain! This is the same vet that used to prescribe him ALP for his anxiety due to thunder, so she is not afraid of doing the unconventional thing. I agree that, as Trams move up the Sched, there will be even more scrutiny and they will be even harder to get for legit reasons (such as in Cooper's case) and for non-legit reasons alike. I also agree that it was Big Pharma that caused this problem. I believe that they certainly knew the potential for habituation, tolerance and withdrawal issues. The two docs I worked with, as a psychiatric counselor, were giving them out like they were M&M's. As we all know, some of the biggest selling medications of all time are one's employed for off-label use. Gabapentin comes to mind. After it's first year or two on the market, there was so much off-label use that some prescribers probably lost touch with the original "indications for use" of the drug. Trams were quickly heading down that same road, but I think the fact that public awareness has been raised to opioids and the crisis regarding them, there is a push to stop all other would-be drugs epidemics (even though TRAM is NOT a true opioid and primarily functions as an AD). It didn't have to go this way and is a true shame. As usual, legit users suffer first and worst.