Tramadol as a sleep aid?

Posted , 10 users are following.

I suffer from chronic insomnia and was just prescribed 100mg by the Nurse Practitioner at my doctor's office. As I work with law enforcement, I wanted to research possible side effects and to my surprise, I haven't found anyone in a similar situation. I have seen several accounts from people who say this actually it causes insomnia! At this point, I am totally confused and my doctor is still on vacation. Has anyone else been prescribed Tramadol to help you sleep? Thanks in advance.

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  • Posted

    It's crazy any type of nurse or doctor would prescribe/recommend Tramadol as a sleep aid. Firstly it's for pain & secondly it's most likely a poor sleep aid. It wasn't made for use as a sleep aid. In fact I wouldn't recommend any type of tablet for sleep. None are as good as natural sleep - how can they be? Problem is once you start taking pills (especially addictive ones like Z drugs or Benzos) to sleep you can end up on a slippery slope of addiction. Then if you try to stop you can have horrendous withdrawal - not good. The best thing I've done is not fearing insomnia... doing this my insomnia gradually got better. My sleep isn't perfect like it used to be but I'm in a better place than I was a couple of years ago.

    • Posted

      Hi Gareth,

      We've crossed paths several times on these boards, going back to the time a few years back when you were an absolute wreck with all kinds of irrational fears about insomnia. (Apologies if that was another Gareth, but I think it was you.)

      I'm delighted to see you've overcome your fears and are doing so well now. As you rightly state in your post: "The best thing I've done is not fearing insomnia..." That sums it up neatly. I had poor-to-middling sleep for 40 years, but it never harmed me as far as I'm aware. At age 75, my BP is still more or less normal, I have exemplary cholesterol levels and my GP always says my liver and kidney functions are better than his! I don't think I have any signs of dementia either, apart from the occasional lapse which is normal for someone of my age. In any case, I've always been the absent-minded type.

      People get hold of all kinds of ideas about how much sleep they're supposed to be getting - some of them even planted by Government bodies (e.g. recently by the Minister of Health for the UK!) In reality, we're all different, and most of us manage to work around our less-than-ideal sleep patterns.

      I hope you'll keep posting on these boards from time to time. It's always good to hear success stories.

    • Posted

      Hi Lily hope your well. Yes it was me a couple of years ago. I'm much better now thankfully. And yes I'll continue to post on here from time to time.

    • Posted

      Hi Tasha I'm sleeping 6-7 hours now. Feeling great because of it.

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