addiction; my story

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nevamo

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hi, forgot 2 introduce myself. Name's Neve & I'm addicted 2 Ultram/Tramadol for the past 8-9yrs. It srarted with bad back pain. One day the pain got so bad, I decided 2 take a double dose. Not only did it cure the pain.but it made me feel real good. So I started taking more and more, it made me feel so happy & crazy,I would go off shopping 4 crazy things & cleaning everything,
nothing was a problem, I was superwoman!! Nowadays, I'm just taking it 2 stave off the w/d which r so horrible that I just cant face them. So I feel that I will just continue 2 b a slave 2 this monster. Please can u help? taperting is ok till I get down 2 150mg then Icant seem 2 go any lower b cause its No.1 Sneezing. 2. Yawning incessantly. 3. Extreme tiredness.4. Cant sleep at night but want 2 sleep all day. Irritability, I just dont want 2 deal with important matters & I cry 4 the smallest reason.I Know how Secretts is feeling right now, and all I can say is my heart is with u and I hope u make it into a brighter drug-free existence u have SO MUCH! 2 live for and achieve. God bless everyone
 
Hello Neve

I tapered off Oxycodone, an opiate. Although Tramadol is not an opiate, it is very similar in withdrawal.

What I found worked for me as I neared the end of my taper was to go really, really slow. I pretty much stuck to the 10% rule... making cuts of only 10% and staying there until I leveled out ( week to 10 days or so). It is a tedious process at the end of a taper.... we must discipline ourselves to keeping the cuts small and waiting each time to level out. I often had to crusg the pills and eyeball the amount to take. Shave them with a razor if you want. Just keep those cuts small. I also stuck to my own rule... once a cut was made, it stayed made. There will still be some withdrawal, but hopefully in amounts that are doable.

It also helped me to look at the symptoms of withdrawal as symptoms of healing. Those sneezes and the yawning? They truly are signs of the respiratory system restoring itself. When I first started yawning, it dawned on me that I had not yawned in years, even though I so often felt dog tired. When the yawns did start, they were like 1/2 yawns, never complete. When full yawns finally started happening, I was excited because I knew that my body was truly restoring.

The irritability and depression are just things we have to work through with pattience, knowing that they are part of the healing process that we must go through. They come because the brain must now relearn to create the chemicals needed to feel okay. We had been doing the brain's job for it with the pills and it neeRAB time to start producing enough of the chemicals naturally on its own. Again, as hard as it may be to see it, these are truly signs of healing.

Go slow, be steady and true and you will find success. Read lots and lots of threaRAB here... you will discover hints to help you through this and lots of knowledge to help you stay clean and then move forward into sobriety.

Wishing you well
reach
 
Hey Neve,

Yes, I have been there honey but I can promise you that if you start to drop your dose like REACH stated you will make it thru it. All those w/d symptoms you were describing are unfortunetly ones we can't get around. However, if you taper slow enough the w/d's should be minimal.

We are here for you and we will do anything we can to help you thru this. You have to take a long look in the mirror and tell yourself you can do this. Bottom line, you are worth it and no drug should control our lives. Think of it this way... Would you let another human being control you? NO! So we certainly do not want to let a pill do it.

I am here for you.... Keep posting! It does help!
Hugs and Blessings!
 
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