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Health: Diane, 33, breaks the taboo on Tramadol addiction
Opioids are painkillers that can have devastating addictive effects. In France, testimonies are piling up. Diane, 33 years old, began to withdraw from Tramadol.
(France 2)
Opioids are painkillers that can have devastating addictive effects. In France, testimonies are piling up. Diane, 33 years old, began to withdraw from Tramadol.
When Diane Wattrelos opened her medicine cabinet every morning, she did not imagine that she was in danger. “I put my Tramadol next to my paracetamol”, she remembers. This opium derivative was prescribed to this 33-year-old woman for facial pain caused by a neurological disease. She becomes dependent, withdrawal crises multiply. A year ago, a neurologist spoke out about her addiction. The family is shaken.
In France, Tramadol is prescribed to 6 million people each year. In 2022, seven deaths occurred from overdose and 116 serious cases from poisoning. Taken during pregnancy, it caused Capucine, Diane’s daughter, a “withdrawal syndrome”, which disappeared in a few days. Diane Wattrelos recounts the taboo of addiction in a book. On social networks, she interacts with hundreds of people like her. Treated in an addiction center, Diane has been free of Tramadol for three months. She treats her pain with other medications, without risk of addiction.
