Been on tramadol for 5 years +

I was on tramadol for 6 yrs, taking 20 or more a day. I quit cold turkey in February of this year and haven't touched them since. It was tough but I had really had enough. Your mindset has a lot to do with it. If you really want it bad enough when you feel like hell it'll make you want to fight harder, instead of give in. I had tried previous times to stop but would never last more than a few days because I didn't REALLY want to be clean from it. But once I was actually ready and willing, it was a lot easier to do it. Don't get me wrong it sucked, especially the first couple of weeks and I had to get on an antidepressant bc of tramadol messing with my brain chemistry, but life is so much better not having to worry about withdrawals and doing illegal things to get those stupid pills which was ultimately what it turned in to. I took A LOT of hot baths, took immodium, kept hydrated and tried to anything and everything to keep my mind occupied. I thought I wouldn't be able to move or function but that wasn't the case, if you think it's going to be bad then it WILL be bad.. if you think you can get through it and it's not as bad as you thought it was going to be, it's a lot easier to deal with. Sleeping sucked the first few weeks but everyday got easier. Please stay away from these awful things, they're not good and actually make your pain worse. Not too mention they mess with your serotonin so stopping them causes anxiety and depression along with the physical withdrawal. It IS possible to live a life without them.. and contrary to what some people may tell you, you WILL NOT die or have seizures from stopping cold turkey. Tramadol CAUSES seizures. Quit while you can, your life and family will thank you for it!!

Been here many failed attempts. Here is how I did it. The long road is easier, don't even bother with cold turkey. Tramadol is more than Opioid so it can't be done. 

Brother I feel your pain, same situation for me. Been off it 4 years now. You can DO IT!

BTW your pain might not be there when you come off it as Tramadol creates a feedback loop. Now this is weird but pay attention to pain levels. Often people find pain is 100% gone and Tramadol was keeping it going. Yes it is VERY paradoxical.

Whatever dose you are on start reducing by 1 capsule a day for an entire week at a time. Keep going until you get down to one. You will find the lower you go the harder it gets just like loosing weight. But you should be able to handle this taper. The hard bit is now getting off that final pill.

To do this start opening up the capsules and taping tiny amounts out and shutting it back up and taking it - each week tap out more. Be patient, be very patient (no pun intended). When you have just a little powder left cold turkey off it.

At this points you may want to start upping your sugar in take for a week or two. Dopamine will respond to that. Don't go diabetic or anything just have some treats about to get you through the day. Each day will improve over two weeks until you are no longer dependent.

That should be you done with dependency; now you need to live without it.

Tips:

If you get restless leg syndrome tonic water will help you out. Just sip a glass when that comes on. That does go away quickly enough after you stop - do no panic keep going.

You may need to sleep alone coming off Tramadol if you have a partner as you won't sleep well during this process at all. Again this resolves in time.

DO NOT use other Opioids as a replacement (you will fail!). However Diazepam if you get in a tough place will help. But ask your GP to only give a couple pills at a time. Now before you begin put this on record with your GP. Any more at hand and you may end up addicted to Diazepam (it is as bad as Tramadol to deal with but short term you won't get addicted). You ONLY reach for it if you are struggling. This should only be the case when you are very low on Tramadol.

After about 6 months the world off Tramadol will stop being grey and boring (each day you will feel stronger off it). Be prepared for this - join a class, get a hobby - do something to boost your interest in life (dopamine will be poor for this time frame so you need to retrain your brain to life off Tramadol). After 1 year you will wonder what the fuss was about and NEVER look back.

Horrible drug given out to quickly in the past and for way to long unmonitored. I actually think it is law suit waiting to happen. As it was advertised as non-addictive, which is excuse my French BS. They hoodwinked the NHS; but these days they do not give it out as easily and they monitor it strictly. So don't beat yourself up about this...that is important...and if you fail get back up and try again...keep trying and never stop trying - you will beat it.

GOOD LUCK YOU CAN DO IT! YOUR FIRST STEP HAS BEGUN NOW AS YOU KNOW THIS IS A PROBLEM....

Wow Patrick very similar stories we have. It is way too hard to come off cold turkey and no help. I recently told my dr I was addicted to them. I finished 120 pills in 6 days plus extra (100 mg) because I too was ordering off the Internet paying ridiculous Amounts of money with a cc. I am a mother and wife and can't afford to be sick going through withdrawals because I need to show up everyday for my life. My husband doesn't know I'm addicted but now knows I take the Vicodin for my pain. My dr gave me Vicodin flexeril and buspar for anxiety. I have to see her once a week and bring the bottles with me as well as a log of the times and amount of pills I take. The flexeril just puts me to sleep makes me very drowsy. I have a legitimate excuse for the pills because I broke my back fainting and fell down the stairs. I recently found out I have neuro cardiogenic syncope. Which means I faint because of my low blood pressure and not enough getting to my brain. I don't know where im going from here with these pills but that's what I'm on now. And I did take the Vicodin as prescribed 1 every 6 hours however sometimes I took 2. I like the feeling. But I know if I take more I won't have more and then I will be sick. It's a very vicious circle. My advice is to be honest with your dr. They have heard it a lot. Don't be scared because they can help you get off the stuff without hurting. I was scared to tell her but I just did it. And I'm not sick. I'm comfortable. And I can sleep. I've been doing this for 2 weeks now. I'm in no rush to get off I told her so we are taking it slow. Also because I am in legitimate pain. I understand your struggles. Good luck

Hello Patrick. Im in US. Its controlled here. No ordering off Internet or DEA could be at your doorstep. I was addicted to Tram. Started it in 2006 (?) But took it normally. Off an on. I realized I felt better on them (not knowing I had underlying anxiety an depression). Our daughter died in 2000 an Iv had anxiety since a child. Sooooo long story short it got out of hand. Iv had a siezure ON them because took to many. Got to where I ended up ordering off internet (b4 controlled). Very expensive. Finally in 2014 (May) I had to go ER with heart palpitations an skipped beat. Turned out it was fr me being severly dehydrated an extremely low potassium. But I had to say how many Trams I was taking (15-20 50mg pills) a day. Talk about humiliated. But it was also a God send. I had been wanting to get off but was so sick fr stopping or tapering. Didnt matter how still had withdrawal. You will have some sort of withdrawal even fr tapering. Tapering is just slow torcher. You do not get seizures fr cold turkey Tramadol. You get seizures fr taking to much! Serotonin Sydrome can happen. Look that up to. I quit cold turkey. No seizures. Two days after the ER I went to a detox facility here in my town. For 5 days. 1800$. It was rough but they gave me amitriptyline an Klonapine while in there. So on day 5 I felt ok. But let me warn you,an everyone different, watch out for depression and anxiety. It can creep up on you. After I got out detox I went to a N.P. at a clinic. She started me on Zoloft 2 wks later. I also was taking Klonapine for still having anxiety. Anti-depressants have their own start up side effects to. Well I ended up not being able to take Zoloft. It made me very sick physically. So stopped in Aug. Well by Oct severe depression set in. I didn't care about the holidays, crying all time. Then found out I had started menopause! I was 46! Iv been in Medical field since 18 yrs old. I know alot an like studying about things. Iv been on a total of 4 antidepressants. An its true about PAWS. Look it up as mentioned above. Thats what Iv got. Horrible for me. But not everyone is same. Iv been thrue many "running out of pills an praying for package to show up after 2 days!" Scenerios. Hot baths with epsom salts. Anti-diarheea (sp?) med. Drink fluids. Magnesium. B-12, Vit. D-5000units, if you tell your Dr you came off Tram an need help with withdrawals hopefully he will give you anti-anxiety med for sleep. I think that is the worst part. The restless legs an no sleep. The anti-anxiety will help. Believe it or not but Zofran can help recover fr opiates. Not only for nausea but opiate withdrawal. Look it up to. Start scanning internet for"help with Tramadol withdrawls". All kinds of ideas. Its really an evil little sucker. I wish I had never taken that first pill back when I broke my tibia. Im still looking for a med to help me mentally. Just had a ton of bloodwork done to see if any defencicy. Iv also had to have Gallbladder out in 2015 (june). So just look stuff it help occupy your mind but really try to see a dr who will maybe help. All they can say is "no"!