Well this sucks, never felt like this before.

[brintiff]

Okay, so I went from 20-25 50mg trams a day to only 5 yesterday. My plan was to take a few if I felt any WD's, I guess I wrongfully assumed I could take a few when WD's set in and the WD's would go away. Well I was very wrong. Before I went to sleep I took two trams and an ambien, I was up all night thrashing around, could not sleep. I got up for work at 6:30 and could barely get out of bed, back hurt, short of breath, skin crawling and very angry, almost like a rage.

I took two at 6:45 and waited, nothing. Then the nausea set in and the runs. I called out sick and took a promethizine and went bad to bed. I still feel like shit, nausea gone and so is the rage, still very achey and pretty depressed. I don't know what WD's are, never had them but if this is them I now see why people do what they do to stop them.

Maybe this is a coincidense and I'm just getting the flue or something, if it is WD's why wouldn't the symptoms go away as soon as I took the trams and they metabolized?

[WhyCatsPaint]

Welcome to hell...

How long have you been taking tramadol? And this is your first experience with withdraws.... Definitely not the flu. If you hate what you are going through now then I would stop while your ahead. If possible you should try to slowly taper off.

if it is WD's why wouldn't the symptoms go away as soon as I took the trams

Because you went from roughly 1250mg down to 250mg thats a hell of a jump. Taper if you can if you can't then look for Cold Turkey withdraw posts for some helpful tips to ease the withdraw symptoms. But if you have been taking Tramadol for awhile I would highly suggest you not stop cold turkey just from reading others experiences on stopping Tramadol. Even though it's not a powerful narcotic it can give you some nasty withdraw symptoms and some have experienced seizures, please be-careful.


Edit: Here are some links to posts about withdrawing from Tramadol, hope this helps.

http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=17390
http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=14247
http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=9155

Here is one about seizures

http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=14576

[brintiff]

I've been taking them for 13 months or so. I ASSumed I could just take the lowest amount possible without getting WD's then I could start a taper at that dosage. I was all good, didn't feel any WD's at that low dosage until I went to bed. Like I said, I assumed I could go that low and when I felt WD's I could take a few and once they metabolized I'd be good to go. Thanks for the links, I'll read them all and figure out what dosage I can start a taper from.

[kellyblue]

Welcome to our little corner of self induced hell... sorry to hear you're sick. I'm about to be, so I can relate! WCP was right, it's gonna take more than "a couple" to feel better. You have to taper it slowly... take one or two less each day... or whatever feels good. Let yourself get a LITTLE sick... but keep it bearable, ya' know?

Good luck- we've all been there!

[brintiff]

Thanks for all the help, I'm up to 550mg today so far, I feel good again. I take anywhere from 750 to 1000mg a day, I'll start my taper at 700mg.

[nick]

Coincidence........yeah and maybe it's ebola.


Excuse my sarcasm.It sounds very much like wd.The good news is that it will pass.


Oh and that's a LOT of tramadol to be taking,it's well over the ceiling dose.I'd be very careful with that,man.

[Chipper]

You didn't take enough. As a rule of thumb, don't cut your dose down more than %20 at a time or it will get most uncomfortable.

Damn, I should've mentioned that to you when you first asked.

[hovadagod]

20-25 to 5? Of course you'll feel shitty.Try taking 19.

[Suboxstitute]

Coincidence........yeah and maybe it's ebola.


Excuse my sarcasm.It sounds very much like wd.The good news is that it will pass.


Oh and that's a LOT of tramadol to be taking,it's well over the ceiling dose.I'd be very careful with that,man.


I gotta tell you - people think tramadol/ultram is no big deal since it is schedule IV but people do get addicted/dependent and I have to agree w/Nick that this drug is bad news, at the levels you were taking.

Worse on your vital organs than a lot of the harder stuff out there. Much worse than say, plain oxy.

It's just a nasty drug; esp. over the recommended dose.

I'm sure glad you ARE cutting down or getting off...now you know you have to start tapering at a HIGHER level; seems you found the place where you are comfortable. Now go down a little bit from there every few days (depending on your supply). There was some built up in your system; that's why you didn't get sick immediately.

Try hard not to get tempted to go up again... it really is nasty on the liver and other organs. If I had time, I'd look up some of the documentation in the medical literature, but you can google it and see what some of the side effects are:they are NOT all that uncommon.

GOOD LUCK - Yup, 13 months will do it.... it'll take a little while, and there will still be some pain at the end, but don't let it discourage you from getting off this stuff.

[rosebud]

Okay, so I went from 20-25 50mg trams a day to only 5 yesterday. My plan was to take a few if I felt any WD's, I guess I wrongfully assumed I could take a few when WD's set in and the WD's would go away. Well I was very wrong. Before I went to sleep I took two trams and an ambien, I was up all night thrashing around, could not sleep. I got up for work at 6:30 and could barely get out of bed, back hurt, short of breath, skin crawling and very angry, almost like a rage.

I took two at 6:45 and waited, nothing. Then the nausea set in and the runs. I called out sick and took a promethizine and went bad to bed. I still feel like shit, nausea gone and so is the rage, still very achey and pretty depressed. I don't know what WD's are, never had them but if this is them I now see why people do what they do to stop them.

Maybe this is a coincidense and I'm just getting the flue or something, if it is WD's why wouldn't the symptoms go away as soon as I took the trams and they metabolized?

Wow, that is a hell of a lot of Tram to be taking! I am betting you are feeling normal Tram WDs (which are different than regular Opi wd's in my opinion). I have had the worst fucking WDs of my life from going off Tram-several times. You dropped down a tremendous amount. Did you talk to a doctor at all about tapering off? Were you scribed them or just playen with them? Cause if you are under the care of a doc and they let you drop like that-their ass outta be fired!

Taper more slowly and seriously, be careful. You can have seizures going off of trams too fast-just like benzos. I know, it happened to me and scared the fuck out of me. I had never had anything even remotely like a seizure before.....Anyhow, trams and benzos both give a similar wd to me-super heightened anxiety and brain "shock waves" (think electric cattle prod to your nekkid brain). If it were me-I would cut in half, then half again, the half etc. I have had to taper all the way down to literally 1 tram a day then 1/2 a tram.....it is a fucked up drug.

Good luck and watch out for thebrain zaps-they happen when you turn your head too fast or hear a really loud noise. They suck! :(

[brintiff]

Suboxstitute, can you elaborate on how it effects the liver ,ETC? I have never heard that before and did do some reading. I thought the only danger with trams was seizures and serotonin toxicity.

Rosebud, in the beginning they were prescribed for back pain, short term. I REALLY liked how they gave me energy and put me in a good mood, I have always been a pretty miserable person, the trams changed that. I started ordering online, taking more and here I am. So, no I am not under a doctors care. I need to get off them and see if I can find a comparable anti depressant, I really don't want to go back to my old self.

[chinaski]

I just wish we had GOR and her 'Olde Grannies Trammys' wisdom at this moment.

OK that'll only make sense to like 10% of you at this point, but whatever.

Back in the day when online pharms were still viable, they used to throw in 50 100mg trams with the norcos for free. The theory was there was less of a red flag to the DEA because it wasn't just hydro or something. Who knows.

All I know is when I ran out of the norcos, I'd eat 400-500mg of the tramadol and get a mild, weird buzz. When I ran out after a week or so, I had the craziest W/Ds. Total brain shock, body shock, crawling outta my skin, whole body spaz outs (not seizures but like massive whole body 'kicks'). Luckily that only lasted a night or so, but it was super freaky and I never wanted them again, the payoff just wasn't worth it.

For the OP, I guess just do the usual -- taper and find some comfort meds to get you through. There are probably better herbs and shit out there specifically for Trams you'll have to UTSE for that. Or maybe Jacky knows. Good luck.

[God_Albino]

my doc told me they were basically just a stronger version of tylenol but easier on the liver (she didn't believe in opiates), and i could take about as many as i wanted, getting a new script was as easy as getting an antacid or something.

it might not touch full-on opiate w/d's, but it really fucked with my head, i was forgetting where i was, getting real paranoid, doc just yanked me off em as soon as i complained and accused me of drug seeking behavior so i couldnt get any potentially addictive meds when i checked into a psych facility for a bit. man i forgot what a cunt she was, now i'm all riled up. good luck, and keep it slow.

at least it passes fast

[rosebud]

Suboxstitute, can you elaborate on how it effects the liver ,ETC? I have never heard that before and did do some reading. I thought the only danger with trams was seizures and serotonin toxicity.

Rosebud, in the beginning they were prescribed for back pain, short term. I REALLY liked how they gave me energy and put me in a good mood, I have always been a pretty miserable person, the trams changed that. I started ordering online, taking more and here I am. So, no I am not under a doctors care. I need to get off them and see if I can find a comparable anti depressant, I really don't want to go back to my old self.

Oh man, you just told my story! I started on them for back pain too and could not fucking believe the energy and buzz they gave me! They were better than any AD I had ever tried. But, I thought they really were non addictive so when I ran out I was just like, oh well, that was fun and the back pain is gone so....then, the middle of the next night I woke up with absolutely heart gripping anxiety and could not get a breath in, aching all over, sweating, chills. Could barely crawl out of bed. Went to my doc the next day (this was in my wayyyyy opio naive days) and told her I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something. I described what happened and she said OMG, you went into narcotic wd! I said, WHAT?! WTF!! You prescribed these and said they were not addictive at all. I would have been way more careful if I had known! She said, well, that is just starting to come out about them (this was like the second year they were prescribed). I was so pissed at her.:mad:

I was the first patient she had that this occured with I think. So, that started me on a LONG path with this fucking drug. I am down to 5-6 a day now and the last time I went off them, it was not as bad but I also transitioned while on Cymbalta and I think that helped tremendously. Have you tried it? I think I read some where that they affect some of the same receptors but I cannot be positive. All I know is Cymbalta was the first AD that made me feel anything like the trams did....

Good luck and do be careful about the seizures. They were no joke. I have NEVER felt so terrible in my entire life! :(

[brintiff]

Rose, I need to get on some sort of AD, have never been on them so I don't know anything about them. Stupid question, how do you go about asking a doc for AD's? Do you have to see a shrink?

I thought taking trams and AD's was bad news, is Cymbalta not an SSRI?

[rosebud]

Not at all. Any doc can prescribe them but it is nice to find one who knows a little about them. Most GPs do these days because they have to know a little about a lot of differents problems and insurance makes you start there. Do you have a GP?

I am actually on them for nerve pain for a long term injury but as a bonus, they help my mood too. Do you have pain? If you dont want it on your record that you are on an AD for depression, you can get it prescribed for nerve pain. That is a common off label use for Cymbalta that no other AD really has (according to my doc anyhow but do research it please). I have tried a few-effexor, celexa, buspar, paxil , st johns wart (a natural one I did well on for many years but didnt help pain)mmm cant think of the others off hand. Some are MAO inhibiters and some affect your serotonum. It all depends on what you need but a good GP should be able to get you started. And again, research it! You are your own best advocate/doctor and more informed about your situation/needs than anyone. Take charge! :D

Interestingly enough, Tramadol is a drug that can really fuck with your serotonin levels and cause you to have serotonin syndrome. Here is some interesting info on it. Good luck!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_syndrome)


RB

[brintiff]

Thank's for the information Rosebud and everyone else. I'm up to 10 today and will take a few more before bedtime, 15 would be a 25% decrease, I don't want a replay of yesterday. I'll keep posting the dosages and the time, it may help someone else in the future.