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Tampentadol opiod withdrawal advice

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caroline2071
caroline2071

hi, Iv been on tampentadol for nearly 2 years now, 350 mg per day but really want to come off it now as the dose no longer works and I don't want to keep upping my meds, I had a 4/5 lumbar fussion 13 years ago which lead to a thoracic arachnoid cyst with compression of the spinal cord at level t567 and been living with chronic pain ever since, I told my doc I wanted to go cold turkey and he said he would give me Valium for 3/4 days to help with withdrawal pain, however my pain doc has strongly advised that I I taper 10ml twice a week as I tried tapering one of my doses down from 75 to 50 but had a bad withdrawal that lasted nearly 2 weeks, sort of working its way through my body on a 24 hour clock, I have done cold turkey once before off fentalyn patches but was only on 35 mg per day for 3 months, it was pretty bad but apparently this time it is extremely dangerous as I could have a stroke, heart attack or start having fits, my pain doc also said if it got to bad that he would hospitalise me and change me from 1 opiod to another which can take about 4 days can anyone advise me on this and also any good supplements to take or any advice at al would be greatly appreciated, if I go the pain doc way it's going to take me 2 years to be free of this drug and I'm not sure I have the strength to do it that way, thank you

0 likes, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • Bravesfan
    Bravesfan caroline2071

    Posted

    Caroline2071,

       I have been on lots of different narcotics over the last 22 years due to chronic pain.  I think I was on Tampentadol for around 6 months and ended up switching back to morphine because it covered my pain better.   

    I have done several drug holidays over the years to try and get my toleran(ce down.  I would NEVER suggest that anyone go cold turkey off any drug.  It can be dangerous and is just unnecessary.  My Doctor always switched me from whatever drug I was on (which was usually a long acting med) to Percocet and then slowly wean off over 2-3 months time.  I never had any withdrawals doing it that way.  It would be much safer and comfortable to do it that way.

    If I remember correctly Tampentadol is a long acting med.  Switching to a short acting med will  be much easier to get off of than trying to wean off the long acting one.  I mean 2-3 months isn't too bad.  And if you got to a point where a certain drop in med was uncomfortabe for you, you can always go back up and try coming down even a little slower til you get past that hump.  It is a process but that is what worked best for me.

    Please don't try to do the cold turkey way.  It just isn't safe for you. 

    Is there some reason that you don't want to try something else since you still have pain?  I would guess that you are having tolerance issues but that is usually easily fixed by just changing to a different med for awhile.

    Anyway, will keep you in my prayers.

    Cindy

    • caroline2071
      caroline2071 Bravesfan

      Posted

      Thank you Cindy for replying it means a lot, no I'm not going to do cold turkey after talking with my pain doc and searching the web I would really be taking a gamble with my life and that is scarey, I thought it would have been a quick fix but the reality is that there isn't one. I'm taking 4 X 75mg tapentadol per day so have been advised to taper 10mg twice per week, it's going to take a long time but it's the safest iption. Also the scariest part is that once Iv done this how am I going to deal with the pain, I have suffered chronic pain for 13 years now from the cyst and compressed nerve in my thoracic spine, I have 8 cortisone injections every 6 months in my lumbar and sacroiliac joints and have had 9 lots so far and they work really well for me so it is the thoracic pain that I need help with as its in such a difficult area that Iv been told I will be paralysed if operated on, I was wondering what dose do I start tapering from, morning, noon or night?? I hope you get sorted with your pain soon xx
    • Enna1
      Enna1 Bravesfan

      Posted

      Cindy, i hope you don't mind me asking, but there is a "Cindy" on the forum board at ADRSupportUK, are you the same person?   I remember some people who were on the board but its a long time since I put a question up there.
    • caroline2071
      caroline2071 Bravesfan

      Posted

      Can I ask When changing from one med to another has this not caused disruption for you, like having to start getting your body used to another drug, I'm relatively new to all this and it scares me to switch as I just think I'm on a road I can't get off and don't feel like I have control anymore, I'm in pain wether I take meds or not. after trying to taper one dose by 25mg I have been experiencing withdrawals an hour before my next normal dose, its really making me feel unwell and anctiouse and it's starting to scare me, it's lasts until an hour after my dose so 2 hours 4 times a day, there getting more intense as the weeks pass, also do you have any information regarding being taken into hospital for 4 days while they change me from tampentadol to methadone, what is the process? and why does it need to be done there and not at home, I'm a bit confused and not sure what route to take, you seem to have gone through quite a lot regarding pain meds, thank you for your help and I hope you are keeping well 😊😊
    • Bravesfan
      Bravesfan Enna1

      Posted

      Nope, not me.  I know there are a ton of Cindy's out there and that can be hard to keep track of who's who. 

      Cindy

    • Bravesfan
      Bravesfan caroline2071

      Posted

      When switching from a long acting med to a short acting med in order to taper, my Doctor would make a small decrease in long acting and add a small dose of short acting, going down in dosage of long acting and increasing dosage of short acting til I was only taking the short acting med.  Then give it a couple of weeks so my body gets used to only the short acting med and then very slowly start tapering off.  We went really slow and if I had more withdrawals than I wanted, we would take the dose back up and do a smaller drop if possible.  You may notice a litte bit of withdrawal with some decreases in your med but if you go slow enough it won't be anything major.  And when I got to the end, I was perfectly fine.  Are there some other long acting meds you haven't tried that you could at least try?  I have tried all of them and only a couple really work for me.  I don't want to see you go without ANY pain control.  That isn't healthy for your body either.
    • caroline2071
      caroline2071 Bravesfan

      Posted

      Thank you so much you make a lot of sense and I'm thinking of it differently now, I think I may need to make another app with my pain doc not my GP, the scariest part of all this was how to deal with pain after I come off the meds. I have tried so many and been ill until the tapentadol came along so I'm not sure what to replace it with but I think I'll let my P/D help more, I'm always worrying about meds and the effects it has on me and my family when really I should be concentrating more on controlling them and making them work better for me, my pain is not going away so I think I'm just fooling myself thank you😊
  • Enna1
    Enna1 caroline2071

    Posted

    Crickey Caroline, I don't know what to say to you but I imagine someone will reply with some sense.  I am on Tramadol and Paracetamol and Lyrica - and they are not working so well now but the Pain Clinic cometh so I will have to wait until the appointment comes through.    No operation, surgeon said it was too dangerous because of scar tissue, not sure why that makes such a difference, haven't had time to look on the internet yet.   All the best, and keep in touch
    • caroline2071
      caroline2071 Enna1

      Posted

      I'm sorry if I came across clueless but I really wouldn't do anything without research and talking to my P/D and GP. I done cold turkey about 4 years ago from fentalyn but that was by accident as I started to hallucinate and became really unwell after the doc up my dose, I was put back on the lower dose but began to hallucinate again through the night so I removed the patch not realising what was about to happen, I had no clue I was actually withdrawing until I was a few days in as I had never been on any meds before and had 9 years of suffering before I got my first lot of pain meds so this was all new to me, also my doc didn't really explain the severity of the meds I was taking, hard lesson learnt however looking back I thought it's 7-10 days of hell them I'll be back to myself but I tried tapering down by 25mg with the advice from my gp and had a really bad time for nearly 2 weeks, that's when I realised this wasn't going to be like the last time. The reason I want off the meds is I'm scared of the damage its causing to my organs knowing that this is going to be long term use and eventually you become tolerant anyway and have to up the dose which I have done already and I am 5.7 and weigh 7 stone at the moment, each time I have gone up a dose I loose my appetite and the weight drops off and can't afford to loose anymore. I'm just starting to get my appetite back. Thank you for replying and I hope you get sorted really soon x
    • Bravesfan
      Bravesfan caroline2071

      Posted

      True, taking meds isn't great for our bodies but look up how uncontrolled pain actually effects us.  It will shorten your life for sure.  I have been on some sort of narcotic for 20 years and when tolerance occurs, we just change to a different drug using the same method I mentioned (reducing old med while increasing new med) and that has always worked great for me.  So I go back and forth between the two long acting meds that work for me and use either vicodin or Percocet for breakthru.   I get anxiety about damage to my liver and my Doctor always explains to me just how devastating uncontolled pain is to our bodies over time.  He even sent me an article online.  I think cuz he was probably tired of me worrying about it  all the time!  I tend to obsess over things.  Changing med up every couple of years works so well for me that I have never had a med increase.  See what your Doctor says though because he is the authority.

      Cindy

  • Enna1
    Enna1 caroline2071

    Posted

    I agree with you about what drugs do to your body, I've just been looking to see the side affects of Pazital which I take and I have 2/3 side affects that they mention and obviously you are having problems too. I would recommend talking to your doctor - there are new drugs coming out all the time, did you try Gabapentin which I think is similar to Pazital (Pazital is under a different name in England.  Do you know this site?  There is a lot of help and sense and they have a forum.   http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/pain-management/neuropathic-pain-management-and-medications

    Yep, your surgeon did say that he couldn't operate but at the back of my mind, I would have a second opinion which I know you can get in England. Someone told me in Middlesborough that there was nothing wrong with my back and it was the Registrar telling the surgeon. The surgeon should have looked himself. There are so many mistakes made....

    I am just wondering if I should go back to cortisone injections. I hate PAZital, my mouth is always dry, the last time I had 4 in one thigh and 3 in the other - and like you it lasted and worked well.   Can you not go to the pain clinic?   It takes months though because I have been to England for cortisone and Spain and Spain is so much better for being on the waiting list.

    You still didn't say where you live and the surgeons name.

    We all here know what pain is so I hope you get it sorted soon.

    I agree with Cindy, there must be something that will help with the pain, I am not sure whether doctors are the right people to get advice, Pain Clinics know a little more than plain doctors.  

    • caroline2071
      caroline2071 Enna1

      Posted

      It's a difficult one because I'm thinking if I take meds I'll be knackered and if I don't I'll be knackered and I have to say looking back I suffered for 9 years before the thoracic cyst was diagnosed or had any lumbar injections, I was so depressed and frustrated with life, going back to that level of pain after pain relief is going to send me over the edge, definitely have to re-evaluate the situation. I'm going to see my pain doc and see what he suggests rather than my GP, once again thank you 😊
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