Coming off Tramadol

You can still split the SR tablets. Its not the outer plasticy part of the tablet which slows their release. Inside an SR tablet there are tiny pellets which release the tramadol are varing rates. Its only if you then chew the pellets you loose the timed release benefit.

After you've reduced the mg.s to the smallest increment possible you can start weaning another way by spreading apart the time in between doses. I went from daily to a day and a half then to two days. I was successful. Yes it can be done. I recommend getting a different perscription that can be broken in half. The capsule will not allow you to reduce unless you really wanna work hard and put half the capsule in your food. and save the other half for next time. That sounds like a lot of work.

Wow, I did not realize I had been on this website and dealing with this problem for 7 months! Fora quick update:

I am now taking 1 time release tablet (can't split them because they are TR) in the evening, about 1-2 hours before bedtime, plus 2x50mg capsules, usually one right as I get in bed, and one either in the middle of the night or right when I wake up in the morning.

Very occasionally one more during the day, so total of 400mg-500mg per day.

What I want to know is: If I can stay at this level for a long time, is there anything dangerous in doing this long term? Is it inevitable that I will need more eventually? And are there negative effects from being "addicted" to it if you can manage to not increase the neeed?

I know it's a slippery slope to getting addicted... taking one more a day  gradually, and before you know it, you are addicted at that level... and then on to the next level...

I'm so thankful to this forum.

I'm really worried about the potential for addiction, though. I am easily addicted. Thank you all for all your replies-

That is still a high dosage. Management may be possible, but you need to first get down to 100 - 200 mg @ day. I'd shoot for 150mg, or less, and then try to get some "clean" time every day.

I managed my intake hydrocodone for two years, with no ill effects when I stopped. I did need about 3.5 mg more per dose at the end than when I started. I usually let them wear off completely between doses, and rarely took more than two doses back-to-back. And even then I waited at least 6 hours between them. (I timed every dose with my wrist watch's timer.) I also put off taking the first dose of the day as long as possible.

Thank you so much for responding!  I realize I calculated incorrectly in my comment. I am taking a total of 150-250 per day, usually 200, sometimes 150 and rarely 250. And I almost always have at least 12 hours without any dosing (what you would call "clean" time) every day. So everything is concentrated at night, including the 100mg time release, and then one to two (and occasionally three) extra regular 50mg capsules (this is in Scandinavia, where tramadol comes in capsules of 50mg, but the TR comes in tablets of 100mg (cannot split)).

I still have a lot of pain (am being treated for Nueoborreliosis, which includes extreme pain in the back, shoulders, legs, ankles, arms, wrists, joints in general -- all over and moving around.

It's an awful disease when diagnosed years later and developed into late-stage Lyme), and so I need the tramadol -- it doesn't get rid of the pain, just takes the extremem edge off it.

The pain is so intense that I can't sleep without the tramadol, and don't want to stop it ... yet. I'm just worried because my tolerance has been increasing (very slowly -- from 50-100mg/day 3 years ago to 150-250 per day now), and I know it has addictive tendencies/potential.

So I wonder how hard it will be to come off of it, and how to prepare for it. And also what it does to my body to be on it for so long (especially the liver!)?

Thanks again, I 

I guess my comment got too long. Anyway, I am very thankful/grateful for this forum to share and help each other.

Hi Nebula

I'm a former Tramadol addict so have some experience that may or may not be helpful to you.

I originally started taking Tramadol for Sciatica and was ( I believe mistakenly ) prescribed a high dosage of 300mg a day. When I first started taking them I realized that I really enjoyed them, they gave me a sense of euphoria and I immediately recognized the potential for addiction. I Ignored the warning signs. 

My Tramadol was prescribed fortnightly and it wasnt long before I was seriously abusing my prescription, taking 600-700mg per day until my prescription was running low and then eeking out my remaining capsules until it was time to get my repeat.

After about 8 months of this I was more or less housebound without even realising it. Tramadol took away my motivation to do anything other than vacantly stare at the TV or computer screen. As long as I had my Trammies, everything was hunky dory.... except it wasnt. I was neglecting my family, my financial responsibilities, my basic level of hygiene and my responsibilty as a human being to make the most out of life and find new experiences.

Eventually I suppose the Dr realised his mistake and cut my prescription in half. I didnt even notice until my prescrition ran out a week before it should have done. Thats when I experienced Tramadol at its worst for the first time. 

Having read of the experiences of a variety of people I think withdrawl differs from person to person but with some common themes. I experienced extreme dizziness, aches all over my body, very dark thoughts ( suicidal thoughts at times ), a disinterest in everything, insomnia, sneezing fits, restless leg syndrome (restless legs, insomnia and dark thoughts made for some terrible nights ), a sense of impending doom, exhaustion and other symptoms.

I suffered these symptoms for a week until I could get my next prescription, having decided that I would use my next prescription to taper of properly. Of course I abused my next prescrition too but manage to make sure I had enough to reduce my dosage gradually so that I'd be taking 50mg on the last couple of days before my next scrip was due. This of course meant that i'd be high as a kite of the first few days after recieving my prescription and then experiencing withdrawls at varying levels until I got my next one. 

I managed to maintain this ridiculous behavior for about two and a half years, forever promising myself that the next prescription would be my last.

I haven't taken any Tramadol for about 4 months.

I will never take Tramadol again.

I finally stopped when I simply couldn't take the withdrawls anymore, I was more or less constantly ill and a slave to my prescription. 

People will have different things that work for them but here's how I did it. I prepared myself mentally as best I could but simply accepting that I was going to be very Ill for a while, I spent about five days in bed eating only the most nutritious food, I made sure I would have plenty to occupy my mind ( Netflix was an invaluable tool ) and I got a supply of night nurse to help with the long nights ( this is something I'm definately not recommending ).

After about a week ( yup thats all, just a week) I was starting to come around, I was still emotianal at times and the dizziness remained with me but the exhaustion, restless legs and dark thoughts more or less disappeared. 

The next part of my recovery involved changing my lifestyle, I knew that if I didnt change my daily habbits then I was more likely to relapse. I got myself motivated and went out looking for work to make sure I'd be busy, it took me two months to find work but the important thing was that the act of focusing on it kept me away from the Dr's during the dangerous early days.

I would say  that after about three weeks of abstainance I felt fantastic. I dont mean that I felt healthy ( I did feel healthy for all but the occaisional dizziness ), I mean I felt ALIVE. I had tons of motivation and was fully enjoying the smallest details in my life. Engaging conversation, fascinated by reading, music came to life again. I didnt even realise I had been missing out on these things while I was stumbling around in a cloud. Tramadol had deadened my senses and now I was making up for it and soaking up everything around me.

I'm not a medical proffessional but would simply suggest that if there is any other way to mage the pain then you should be carefully weighing out those options.

Four months down the line I still experience dizziness from time to time but its fairly insignificant. I found Tramadol difficult to withdraw from but it is definately the most positive thing that i've done in my life in recent years. 

I hope my experience might be of some small help.

Good luck in your journey.

Denizen,

Your feedback was priceless to me. Also coming off tramadol after 4 years of constant use, with high doses as well. I've been trying to taper but I always fail yet I've been down to about 4-5 50mg tabs a day for about a month. Stopped cold today. I know what the opiate withdrawals are like but I've learned that tramadol withdrawals seem to come with some antidepressant withdrawals as well.

I am prepared to suffer, not sleep, feel horrible, with sleepless nights combined with restless legs syndrome. I know what that insanity feels like. My biggest question was how long before I start feeling better. Your words are encouraging. I am so tired of being enslaved and dependent upon this drug. I think my biggest fear is suicide. You've encouraged me.

Thank You. I'll try to post on here as I go through this and get through it. I think youre right in that the battle to get back into a healthy lifestyle is important once I get thru the nightmare.

Denizen,

What do you do? I am a teacher at the moment and I am functioning, for a while longer. .I love teaching on Tram. The students love it too, lots of fun. Getting through the wakeup misery everyday is really hard. I usually wake up at 5 or 6 am and pop some trams and go back to sleep. I wake up in a better mood and feeling. Actually I try not to sleep too much. My dreams are so deep.

Anyway Denizen you know my story. so I won't bore you again, but I am interested in your opinion. I know you're not a doc and there is no you can know for sure, but I want your thought on this.

I don't have much money so Betty Ford is out of the queston, so I am considering cold turkey because as I said before I just can't taper down...

Here's the details:

I'm 62

200 lbs, 6' tall.

Overall I am pretty healthy except for the  symtoms which I discuss with you already

Presently I am taking 50 - 60 (50 mil) tramadol capsules a day. 2,500 - 3,000 mil.  a day. When I see it in writing like this I can't believe i got here. Obviously it keeps increasing. Luckily it is legal and very

inexpensive. What do you think Denizen? Cold Turkey?

Sorry to put you on the spot....

Irac

I'm glad that sharing my experience has been of some help. It's heartwarming.

I don't know what to say except that I wish you the best. Stay strong, the outcome is definately worth the suffering. It sure sounds like you've had enough and you're going into recovery with your eyes wide open.

One suggestion I have is that when the depression hits hard, make sure to remind yourself that it's the withdrawls and it will pass presently. Try and stay out of your thoughts as much as possible. The physical effects are bad enough without adding the four horseman of the apocalypse into the mix.

Please continuse to post.

Good luck in your journey.

Doug

I really don't know whether or not it'd be dangerous to go cold turkey from that kind of dose, i'm hesitant to give an opinion. I'm sure the withdrawls will be pretty intense to say the least though. 

I've never taken anywhere near the amounts you describe but I have tried going cold turkey from 600mg a day and i've also tapered down to 100mg per day before stopping and there is a very noticable difference.

You mention that your habbit is increasing and then go on to say that it's lucky that it's cheap and legal. All thing's considered I'd say it's decidedly unlucky, depending.

You mentioned you live in Thailand but refer to Betty Ford. I could be wrong but i'm guessing you're an American expat. You have any family you could stay with in your home country while you get well?

You're in a tough spot mate. I used to hate that I had to manage my Tramadol prescription to make sure I never ran out but could still get high. I would have considered you lucky to have an unlimited supply.

However you choose to do it, please let us know.

Best of luck.

 

As long as you realize the risk, and are prepared for it, "cold turkey" is a risk that can be worth taking. I only recommend against it as a generalization. It should be done under medical supervision, but I assume that isn't possible. You should at least have someone who can help keep an eye on you, and summon help if necessary. I would recommend benzodiazepines to help prevent seizures. But, and this is vitally important, keep the dosage reasonable. It will be very tempting to take massive doses to just feel better. You could also try taking some kind of SSRI to substitute for the SSRI effects of the tramadol, to fight mood disturbances. That can work, but is a bit of a crapshoot. Personally, I would not. I would take opiates, and deal with any possible SSRI withdrawal first.

The withdrawls from the opiate in Tramadol is only slightly bothersome. The SSRI withdrawl on the other hand is an all together different animal. Speak with a physician about taking an SSRI while tapering down. I stopped cold turkey on Tramadol after months of taking the max amount oer day. 8x 50mg and I found it easily dismissed. That said, I take Cymbalta for my nerve damage so I had no SSRI withdrawls. I think you will be quite surprised at the ease and speed you will recover. All my hope, Sarge

If you ron 50's then you just need to take only 1 and do that for 4-7 days then switch to once a day. It really can be done. I experienced severe overwhelming neuropathic  symptoms but i breathed through it for an hour while my family and I were watching tv. sometimes i squeezed my husbands hand sometimes i got up and got a snack or stretched. It does go away. Its your brain trying to get you to take what it's used to. Courage!!

How is it going, how are you coping. Hope you are ok xx

Hello, I know you posted this a good while ago & my feelings are that what I'm searching for information for might seem a wee bit futile to some on here, but reading your experience made me want to respond, you see.  I had been on Co-codamol for several years knew where I was with them until a a couple of weeks ago, doc., asked me if they were actually working to which I very mistakenly replied 'No', now kind of wishing I had kept my mouth shut......Anyway, upshot is that he decided to give me Tramadol, I had never heard of it until then, I got 30 and was taking 50mg with 2x 500mgs of Paracetamol 4 times a day.  I can't say I noticed much difference, then I got another doc., who said it's o.k., to take 2x50mgs 4 times a day, he then proceeded to give me a pack of 100.  I was told by first doc., that they were alright not really side effects other than they might make me sleepy.  Well the other day I spoke to a friend of mine and told her I had changed my medication,, the thing was she offered me a glass of wine and I said not just now as I was on this new painkiller, when I told her what it was she practically went balistic and told me to chuck them as far as I could and get off them as they are so addictive......The upshot is that I stopped them 2 days ago and haven't been able to relax since, my legs are constantly jumping, if I lie down to try and sleep I jump and jerk, it was then that I found this forum.  I wish I had never heard of Tramadol.  I know my experience is probably quite insignificant compared to many of you on here.  But I can fully understand the feeling of wanting to take some of them just to make this feeling stop, I just wanted to say thank you and I hope I don't feel like this for a whole week as I think I will totally freek out.  But how do you control the pain without painkillers?  Also is it wise to go back onto Co-codamol? 

Hope you don't think I'm an eejit for writing this.

The jumpy legs will settle. Don't take the tramadol. Give it back to the pharmasist and tell them why. They are often better with advice than doctors about side effects. If stopping the co-codomol did not have bad effects, than you should be safe going back on it. Tramadol has an anti deperssent effect that co-codomol does not have which makes is partly why it is more addictive. I don't know why you need pain killers, but, having lived with chronic pain for 15 years, I have found it better to do two things. One, to take fewer pain killers than docs give and show them the need for surgery - applied in my case for disks. surgery was very helpful. Two, to train the brain to live with pain - in my case this is how I manage living with fibromyalgia with no pain killers. I do use stinging netteles for nerve pain that I have in my feet from surgery. Nothing else but the occaisional paracetemol. It is not an easy thing to do, and takes months, but it is possible, depending entirely on the reason for the pain, to learn to live with less and less pain killers. Anyway, best not to take tramadol unless you are post surgery. 

Thank you happyjoy for your reply, The reason I was on pailkillers was that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, have had it for about 20 years now, basically from the neck down, at first I was on different medication and found the side-effects unbearable, I then went down the route of Homeopathy, which I then doctor kind of fround upon as he didn't really believe in it.  Anyway, for a time it worked & I was following it for several years then it started to become a bit expensive as I had to do a 4 hour train journey to get to see my Homeopath as she did this treatment that no one else beside me did & when I asked about it near me no one had heard of it.  So basically it was an hour on a bus to get to train, 4 hours on train, then half an hour to the clinic, phew!  then if I was really bad I would have to stay overnight which meant accomodation fees, including the clinic fees, it all became a bit much, then I think I became a tad complacent, as I felt good I thought oh, I'll give it a miss for a wee while.  Then I started getting really sore again, thought oh I'll just take a couple of Paracetamol and Codeine.  That's how i got onto the slippery slope of painkillers again.  It wasn't until about 5 years ago that I went to see the doctor again a different one, a lady this time and she said she could give me stronger Co-codamol, studily I said oh!  I don't like taking Co-codamol, to which she replied but your already taking them anyting that combines Paracetamol and Codeine is Co-codamol, ever felt like a numpty.......Hence I've been on them ever since, until the other week when the above scenario took place.  I think I really need to get back to managing my pain in my own way with no pills.  I really don't think they should be allowed to dish these things out if they are so addictive. 

Thanks for listening.

Stinging nettle for RA can be effective. There are several ways. Using the fresh top part that stings most, pour boiling water on for tea - add to other teas, add to soups, stews. Use lots in lasagne like spinach. Also, you can sting yourself where the pain is and it can work like capsicum cream - stinging the surface and drawing the brain away from the deeper pain. I sting myself and let it sit for ten minutes, and then coat the sting in a balm - savlon would work. When the sting goes away, so has the deeper pain. I do find it works wonders for me with fibromyalgia, and with the nerve pain in my feet that they called Regional pain syndrome. It cured that in five days. Now I only drink it in tea as I am so very much better. I have gone from being on 400mg tramadol and still in pain to no pain killers - this is since August, and after 15 years of chronic pain. I also have Tarlov cysts, and I can say that they seem again to be helped by stinging nettles. I will use paracetemol for headaches and for flu and colds, but that is all. All the best. 

Hi Tricia just read your post if I were you I would go back to Dr there are

lots of new drugs available now codeine is also very addictive after awhile

also not good on the body. I myself was given dyhydrocodeine 30mg four

times a day by my GP to cut a long story short had to take them every day

and ended up dependant on them went cold turkey when down to one a day.

it was the worst week of my life it does however get better each day after.

i would be very careful of anything with codeine in. The dr's give them as they are so cheap, there are so many other non addictive meds out there

to try. Hope this helps, but I think Tramadol is a far worst drug to get off after

seeing all these posts I would never try it after my experience of opioid type

drugs. Ann 

Most definitely

Ive been taking. 50 mg. of tramadol 4 x a day for to many years to count. I take them to relieve pain and other symptoms of Fibromyalgia. It works better than anything else Ive ever tried along with Gabapentin. Ive gone off tramadol once many years ago just to let my body go back normal so I could see how bad my fibromyalgia symptoms really were and to see if I could do something else to relieve symptoms. All I can say is going cold turkey was really horrible. The rebound pain was double what it was before I ever went on the drug. I had many responsibilities in my life that I had to continue doing and I was miserable. After awhile the rebound pain lessened but the pain and fatigue of Fibromyalgia were back. I would say the withdrawal symptoms (pain fatigue, migraines, irritability, etc.) lasted a few months, but it was hard to tell because I was back to all the Fibromyalgia symptoms. After about a year of trying other ways to ease my symptoms I decided my quality of life was so bad I went back on Tramadol. So I felt like I was damned if I took tramadol and damned if I didn't so I chose the easier softer way. I still cringe when I think about the year I went without. But at the same time i dont want to stay on this drug for the rest of my life. Chronic pain is a bitch.

Hi,I've been on tramadol for 18 years and I too have tried to come off the see if it was doing its job,but after many years I have reduced from 400mg daily to 100mg daily,it took months to reduced and after 4 months now I still gets bad pains in my arms and my problem is nerve damage in both legs so the arms pain is a effect of reducing I think,i was one of those people on here saying "tramadol is the devil","don't take its bad" etc etc but I now realise and understand that some people (me) actually need tramadol to lead a semi normal life and without it life would be hell for me and all around me.

A couple of good things I have learnt over the years is this....try to take slow release tramadol,don't do as I did often and go cold turkey as you have probably been on it for years so what's the rush,reduce slowly and when withdrawals or pain becomes to much then take tramadol drops (I don't know why no dr tells you about this),each pump is 12.5mg and actually works very well and if not take another pump because that is still only half of a 50mg tablet,i and this is only my choice cut one 50mg slow release in half and have it at 10pm and I sleep better and because I have been on it so long if one half has less than the other thats fine and ofcourse there's Tramacet a mixture of tramadol and paracetamol,i spent years off my face especially in the afternoon on tramadol untill I moved to germany 3 years ago and they ask me why I was on so much medication (3600mg gabapentin aswell) that's when I thought there's more to life,i can't sit for long or walk or stand for long periods so I lay down most of the day but atleast now my head is clear and life is better.

Sorry about the long chat I got a bit carried away (I take tramadol you know) ??