Coming off Tramadol

Stay strong

I had similar side effects.  The first time I stopped last week I had a full blown cold, was freezing and feeling sick, all my toilet functions were in overdrive.  At bed time I couldn't stop moving in bed so I came downstairs to read for a while, after a couple of hours I decided to take a couple of Tramadol and within 1/2 hour I was OK.  The next day I felt great and the cold had gone.  So I just started taking them at night time until I ran out.  That was 3 days ago.  I have now been sicky for 2 days, have really vivid dreams that are quite troubling (FFS I was being held captive by the Sons of Anarchy), and usually have to get up in the night for a couple of hours.

Just wondering if anyone out there knows how long will it last or should I get more pills?

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  [biggrin] ) 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 manage 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 read posts from people talking about weeks to taper off! It took me months... i came off about 3 years ago now but I remember dropping 50mg every couple of months... when i finally dropped from 50mg to nothing i made sure i was on holiday and took no meds with me (temptation os too great).... if did have minor withdrawl symptoms dropping from 50mg to none but kept myself occupied, swimming, skorkling, climbing, watersports etc... by the time i got home after a week i was fine...