Tramadol

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emsmom

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I think you made a great decision. Since your appt. with the doctor isn't until the 21st, perhaps you can call the office and asked to be put on a cancellation list. It may require you to call in every day and ask if anyone has cancelled, however it's worth a try.

I can relate to your irritability more than you know. Unfortunately, it is one of the symptoms of withdrawal. I think it is best to wait until you see your doctor, then you can both discuss a plan that suits you best :)

I was very happy to read that exercise is helping :) That is wonderful. It's hard to motivate ourselves, especially when we are experiencing withdrawal, however it really does make it a little more tolerable. Good for you!

Hope you had a great weekend :)

emsmom
 
I still haven't taken my Tramadol today. 4 pm will have been 24 hours!

I am cold and have the #2's but other than that I feel well..... The last time I Yesterday about hour 13 (when I finally took some more) I began to notice high levels of iratability and, queasy feeling and body jolts as well as cold sweats......

If I can, I am going to go as long as I can before I need to take any more...

I would like to so say, I so feel for everyone else. I don't care if you chose to begin an opiate addiction or like myself you were prescribed the meRAB for legit reasons and when they don't work you take more.... I truly feel for ya and I keep you in my prayers! No one should have to go through these feelings! I know mine isn't as severe as some and for that I am fortunate.....

Good luck to all of you!!!!
 
I was sent home from the hospital after surgery with Tramadol. Within 2 weeks, I was hooked.

I also was told that it is non-narcotic and therefore non-addictive. Wrong, wrong! I was truly addicted.

When my prescription ran out after about 7 weeks, I called my PCP. She said that Tramadol IS addictive and I should have tapered. Well, my surgeon didn't tell me that! So I had to go cold turkey.

I went through a week of horrible, awful withdrawals. Then it was over, but I will never, never take it again.

I hope your experience is much more pleasant than mine!
 
i live with fibro siatica an arthritis .painful but i use over the counter meRAB , now , lbp ya i have it an i live with it for now , with a proper exercise program, my md told me alot of people that dont exercise the mussles dont give them self a chance to get them stronger so this in turn causes more. pain , a sore mussle that does not get exercised ,gets weaker it makes some sence to me but sometimes i question it . but still keep doing it. i was 40% stronger this time last year after a motorcycle accident . 3 months since the doctor said i have siatica he said 6 months to get stronger i feel about 70%, .tramodol i just dont know it was like taking nothing for me. scott:)
 
Since my last post a few things have changed........

Last night I finally broke down and took 2! I had too or I wasn't sleeping! I tried, really did...... I was able to go 32 hours with out any but no matter how ard I tried I could not sleep! My leggs wouldn't stop....... So, I took 2 and figured I would taper that way! I would just wait until I couldn't sleep any longer and then take them. Well, today I was extremely depressed and nearly walked out on my job. That wasn't happening so I took 2 more about 4 today and guess what..... No more depression!

I don't wanna take these any more, done with them! Here are my symptoms and if anyone could offer any advice to counter act them I would greatly appreciate it!

#2's- RUNNY! I can deal with this symptom!

Cold, always cold! This one too I can deal with to an extent until I am so cold at night I can't stand it!

Leg thingies- Feels like my legs won't stop moving and I can't get comfortable. This in turn leaRAB to sleepless nights! I even tried taking 2 OTC sleeping pills!

Depression and Irratability- I can deal with this one as well provided I can get the sleep under control!

Once again, ANY help?
 
it sounRAB like you may have sleepless nights for awhile, the depresion will go away .but you have to stay stoped long enough, its funny they gave me that drug 200 mg to start took them off an on they did absultely nothing for my pain, this was about 3 weeks after motocycle accident . this was the first time in my life takin painkillers they gave me something stronger . but any how they say that you can get addicted to any drug , so just use the 10% taper plan .hope this will help you ,its funny they say say they are not a narcotic . but they could be addictive .an its true your not alone . this is not the first i hear about somone having a hardtime with tramadol, hang in there scott;)oh you could try a faster taper like on your days off as most of the wd should pass in about 3 days but the mental addiction can hang on for weeks. just know that they go away an fake it if needed. i had times wear when i was tapering a just had to keep my mouth shut because i was moody
 
Hey guys,

I will try and keep this short as possible but I do have some questions.....

I went through shoulder surgery on 02/03/09. I origionally injured my shoulder in April of 08. I have been on pain killers off and on since then. In May of 08 the wife and I went to Puerto Rico for a week. I actually ran out of my lortab the day before I left. I was completely fine until about day 3 and then I started feeling a lil "wierd" but nothing untolerable! I had a great time. However, on my way home I became extremely ill. I actually thought I caught something down there........ What I didn't know is that I was going through w/d..... I survived!

Well, I had my surgery and of course I was prescribed pain killers.... I caught myself abusing them. A friend of mine passed away and I took more than I should have that day. I realized I had a problem! That night I flushed the remaining pills I had......

I am now on Tramadol 50mg and it is doing wonders for the withdrawl symptoms. My question is, how long should I stay on them before I stop taking them? Tomorrow will be a week w/o and pain killers aside from Tramadol and IB 800. I am trying to go as long as I possibly can in between taking my tramadol..... For instance, last night at 1am (early this AM) I took 2 (100 mg total-what I am prescribed). I was able to make it until about 4 pm this afternoon before I needed to take any more. By that time I had pretty bad #2 going on, jittery and sweaty.

Any advice would be greately appreciated. I know I am prolly being a pansy about this and there are many out there worse off than I am but I tried to go cold turkey w/o anything and felt HORRIBLE.... I actually wanted to find a drug dealer to stop the way I felt!

Got a lil long winded and I am sorry..... In closing here is what I was on....

I started w/ 5's in April or 08- 1 at night
Moved to 7.5- 1 at night
Then 1 in the morning and 1 at night

After surgery

10's every 4 hours
did that for about a month

dropped to 7.5 every 4 hours

Last Tuesday I flused the remaining 7.5's I had and now I am taking IB 800 3 times a day and a total of 4 tramadol's. Each Tramadol is 50 mg. I take 2 every 12 hours or so.....

Any help is appreaciated!
 
Well, I didn't call and make an appointment to see the doc. I have however began my taper again! I went from 3 in the morning to 2 in the morning starting today. I Haven't been sleeping all to great but I am dealing with it. I have found taht Ginsing has helped tremendously with the depression. I am focused at work!

Going to stick to 2 a day until Monday. The goal is to make what I have last until my appointment and then discuss the problem with him!
 
Why why why??????

Today is my day off and yesterday I had planned on not taking my tramadol at all today. I woke up @ 7 and walked in the kitchen and took 3! 3? Why am I unable to stop myself? I was doing so well only taking 2 a day and I feel like I fell backwarRAB now..... To no surprise I feel great now (meRAB) but I am so angry with myself! I wasn't even thinking.... What did I do? ugh................

You know.......

I used to do a lot of drugs back in the day. I alaways thought addiction was a mental thing. I used to rag on those who were addicts. I was able to drop an extacy addiction with no problem. I abused pain meRAB off and on as well the occasional benzo and marijuana...... All of them I just quit cold turkey! I woke up one day and decided I wouldn't end up like my father and quit taking drugs period. I then have this surgery and get prescribed pain meRAB and now I can't break myself. Is there something wrong with me? I used to wake up first thing every morning and tell myself I am better than my father..... Now I wake up every morning and argue with myself if I should take my pills or not........ I don't wanna take them, I really don't. I flushed almost 40 lortab 7.5 and never looked back but I can not drop these dang Tramadol...... What is my major malfunction?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.................................

Ok...... Venting a little there but I am extremely distressed. Any advice on how to win an argument with myself so that the logical and intelligent decisions come out on top?
 
Tossthepickle,

I'm sorry to hear you're going through withdrawals. It sounded like you were doing great - I had hoped you'd be able to get through without anymore Tramadol.

Here are some suggestions to help with your symptoms.

#2's - Go buy some Imodium - it will be your best friend for the next few days :)

Cold, always cold - take hot baths (and use epsom salts - this will also help the restless legs)

Leg thingies (I giggled at the word thingies :)) - Get out and take walks. You will have to try to motivate yourself, as walking is probably the last thing on your mind. Also, instead of taking OTC sleeping aiRAB, ask your doctor for something temporary to help you sleep. Prescribed sleeping aiRAB are much gentler on your system and most of them won't leave you groggy in the morning like the OTC ones do.

Depression and Irratability - Exercise, exercise, exercise! Again, this is probably the last thing you feel like doing, however it is the KEY to battling depression.

I hope this helps - Let us know how things go.

Good luck,
emsmom
 
I started taking Tramadol about 16years ago for Low Back Pain after surgery
and if I miss one I get the sweats twitching fell really bad My GP told me all those years ago that they were not addictive I now they are. This is me for the rest of my life I still have LBP but have tried patches but no joy there so I think I will be taking them to the day I die. Is there any help out there for people like me
regarRAB
 
you should be ok to taper down to nothing by now. as tramadol is not a narcotic . its worth a few days of wd wich it sounRAB like you have already done . good luck scott:):wave:you could go down to 1 50 mg tram twice for a few days more than 50 a day then none.they say that a 50 mg tram is the same as 5 mg hydro , tram did nothing for my pain , but its interesting to hear that there helping you taper. do what works for you , hope this helps. you will feel better soon
 
Tossthepickle,

Good for you! I think you made a good decision. Just be careful and wait until you can see a doctor regarding a proper taper plan :)

Good luck, keep us all posted.

emsmom
 
Hey TTP, I'm sorry you're going through this. I take opioiRAB for pain everyday but the only one that screwed with my brain was tramadol. Scientifically (and this may help you to understand why you feel compelled to take them), Tramadol has a seretonergic activity in the brain. This means that because it stimulates seretonin, it makes you feel more calm and comfortable (warm and fuzzy). The problem is, your brain gets lazy about producing its own seretonin and when you don't take the tramadol, you feel crap and on edge. Dilaudid has a similar action.

Easiest way for you to stop the cycle at this point? Go to your dr and explain the situation. You seem to be deteriorating at the moment which must make you feel awful. An antidepressant would also help sort out seretonin lags when you quit the tramadol - they would likely make a massive difference in my opinion but your dr will know best. Just please don't ever accidently take the two together if you do get an anti d.
 
Thank you guys!

Once again, sleep was not so good last night! Woke up 3 or 4 times and finally around 4 I woke up and took a steaming hot shower and layed in the tub until the water went cold!

Still at 2 a day tho! Once again, 2 this morning..... I have 16 pills left (after todays) and I am going to try and make them last as long as I can. Prolly won't make it to the 21st but who knows. I do feel rather relieved as tomorrow was my scheduled refil date but I have enough to last me another week, even at 2 a day!!!!

Thank you for your support!
 
Hey Tossthepickle!

I hope you are feeling a little bit better. The best advice I can give you as I have been in your shoes before is to stay hydrated since you are having #2 issues... For your leg "thingies" which I also found amusing you called them that... HOT BATHS AND WALKS!!!!!! It will help you and I too agree to call your Dr. for an rx to help you sleep. Sleep is key and it's almost impossible while going thru withdrawals.

You hang in there!! It will come to an end!!! I promise you that. Stay strong and post it out.. That helped me big time.

We will be thinking of you so keep us posted!
Hugs to you.
 
Hello there,

I took tramadol for a month. Tramadol is a synthetic narcotic. It hits the same receptor that lortab does. It is also extremely addictive. Tramadol is not for people with a history of drug abuse. Some folks on this board said it it just as hard, if not harder, to get off of. When I tapered off Tramadol, I had THE worst withdrawals. I read that it wasn't a narcotic and wasn't addictive so I took it for pain. Like 56789 said, it didn't do much for my pain, however I got addicted to them fairly quickly.

I would suggest a slow taper. You've only been on it for a week so you could take 150mg (one in the morning, two at night) for a three or four days, then take 100mg (one in the morning, one at night) for three or four days, then take 50mg (one in the morning or one at night) for three or four days. Once you've taken your last 50mg, you can take one every other day (two or three times) and you should be fine.

This is only my opinion - do some research on Tramadol. See what others have to say regarding addiction and withdrawals. You could stop tomorrow and be compleatly fine, you never know.

Let us know how it goes. There are some wonderful people on this board with alot of knowledge. Hopefully someone else can fill you in on their experience with Tramadol. I think it is just as bad as the other narcotics that are available (in terms of addiction).

Good luck, hope it all works out for you. Have you considered seeing a counsellor about becoming addicited? Flushing your pills down the toilet was a step in the right direction, however you should talk to someone as you need to protect yourself in the future. Perhaps NA meetings?

Have a great day,
Sincerely,
emsmom
 
Thank you everyone.......

Since my last post I kinda gave up trying to quit! Not that I don't want to, just that I have so much depending on me! My carrear requires me to be alert and motivated.... I am a leader and when I am not on my game that whole staff suffers! One thing I have learned is the impact I can have on others with my attitude alone! Most importantly tho, my wife deserves to be happy. We have been going through a really rough patch and I have come to realize it is because I was trying to not take them and becoming so irratable that I would snap for no reason.....

Last night I started an argument about rolling the car window down. She tried to laugh it off and that made me even angrier..... I was able to realize what was going on but not before we really got into it!

My next doctor appointment isn't until the 21st..... :(

I am going to call him tomorrow and try to get in sooner than that. I will do as you say and ask for an rx for sleep.

I have been working out a lot here lately and it does seem to help. My wife even goes to the gym with me and it has really helped our relationship!

Once again, thank you guys.... Like I said, I had given up until I came back and read your responses! Your support is much appreciated!

I will deff keep you updated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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