"before my recent l4-l5-s1 fusion i was on tramadol for almost 2 years.  3, 50mg tabs a day was adequate, just enough to dull the pain without dopiness.  after my surgery i was changed to hydrocodone 5/325, 4x daily.  after a month of that i was feeling miserable with mediocre pain relief.  on a really bad day i decided to switch back to tramadol.  wow!  almost instant pain relief and a huge boost in my mood.  tramadol is a strong anti-depressant versus the downer effect i got from hydrocodone.  couldn&#039;t be happier!  only &quot;bad&quot; side effect for me is a little impatience sometimes that is easy to control.  for what its worth the doc says i&#039;m the exception to the rule.  it&#039;s hard to predict how this drug will affect a particular person so go slow at first."