"C" is for Cookie that's good enough for me,Drowsy at work
2 days ago, I started to develop left ear pain and subsequently diagnosed with external ear furunculosis (boil). Since the ear canal does not have any subcutaneous tissue, any inflammation there will cause great pain.
I was advised to start on a course of antibiotic and to take some pain relief medication. Since I have quite a high tolerance to pain, and I always try my best not to take any antibiotic unless it is really truly necessary for healing (e.g. if I am already in sepsis), I decided not to take any medication at all.
However, this morning, I woke up at 3.30am with SEVERE pain in my left ear which actually radiated to my right ear and causing me to have a terrible headache. It was so bad I couldn’t even move my head, much less touch my ear.
Going through our medication box, I could not find any paracetamol but instead found some mefenamic acid (a.k.a ponstan) and tramadol. Figuring that ponstan would not be enough to relieve the pain, I opted for the latter, forgetting its common side effect… drowsiness.
I felt like shit at work this morning. Our ward pharmacist was very quick to comment, “You look really exhausted. Are you post call?”
Half laughing, I told her, “No. I took tramadol at 4am this morning.”
She laughed.
Around noon, I was still extremely sleepy so I asked the pharmacist again, “How long does the effect of tramadol last?”
She gave me an apologetic smile and said, “Quite long.”
Hahahahahahahaha. The effect did not wear off until about 4pm. I totally had no idea that the effect could last that long. 
Even my specialist noticed that and said, “Nuraini, you look very sleepy today…”
I quickly replied, “Sorry boss, I stupidly took tramadol this morning.”
He laughed too.
I would NEVER ever again take tramadol in the morning no matter how desperate I may be. Lesson learned.
Leave a Reply