Im 4 months pregnant and been taking Tramadol the whole pregnancy

Then why say anything if you don't know anything about what we're going through :-(

Danalou..... why say anything if you don't even know what we are going through :-[
Leave it to someone who's going through or has gone through It.... OMG get real

I have been browsing through this post for a few weeks, and finally worked up the courage to post.  I found out 2 weeks ago that I am preg with my 2nd child. I started taking tramadol about a year ago for stomach pain and was told it was nothing to worry about b/c it's non narcotic. Well..here I am a year later and cannot function without it. 

I am about 5 or 6 weeks along. When I found out I was preg., I immediately cut back from about 15 to about 5 or 6 per day. I have had absolute insomnia since I found out about the pregnancy and cut my dosage.  I'm hoping that this will pass and eventually, I can sleep again.  I am trying to cut back 25mg every 2 days or so. I am terrified that I am doing damage to my child. Has anyone else taken this dosage (250-300mg) during the first trimester? I am scared to death, but the withdrawal going cold turkey is a nightmare.  And I fear seizures if I go cold turkey.

 

Please be kind with your responses. I am so fragile  right now! God bless you ladies. At least I know I'm not alone.

Hello ladies, I understand what your are going through. I also take tramadol, have taken it for over 8 years. I have 2 healthy children. When I was pregnant with my son in 2008 -2009, I had a horrible time finding anything out about taking and giving birth with tramadol. I was taking about 6 - 8 per day. I have fibromyalgia and lupus. He was born fine 7lbs 7oz, scored 10 on test, was a bit jaundiced. He did have what I considered withdrawl symptoms. Every now and then he would give a little jump or jerk. Nurses and doctors said it could be from nicotine, yes I smoked during pregnancy. He was a very very good baby. Never had crying issues, nor any other health or medical issues. He is a BIG 4yr old boy, who is all boy! I am again pregnant at 7 weeks and my high risk ob said she is all ok with tramadol during pregnancy, told my husband she feels like it is right there above tylenol and aleve. Dont stress or beat yourself up. Talk with your doctor. They do understand, and if not move on to one who does understand and will honestly help. And keep faith. I will gladly answer questions if I can. Figure it out...there is a actress named leah roush and the place she got mail was hot. Good luck!!

Thank you for your response. So you took 6-8 pills the  whole pregnancy (including the first trimester) and had 2 healthy children? This eases my anxiety a little, although I am still worried.   My current OB (who I have only seen once so far) told me to get off the tramadol now. It really scared me. I wish I would've never been prescribed this horribly addictive medication.

Wow finally someone else that is dealing with the same thing. I took 1 ultracet which is tramadol a day until my obgyn took me off cold turkey just before my 3rd trimester. My son is now 3 and has been doing the same speech, etc therapies and is about to start the school based speech, etc program for kids his age this fall. They only call it a speech delay but his therapists worried he may be autistic. I have always worried if it was the ultracet that did it cause otherwise he is healthy as can be! Sure tramadol works for the pain but learn from our experience....just don't use it ladies!

Can anyone give testimony about taking tramadol during the first trimester? I am in the process of cutting down my dosage daily, but  I am about 7 weeks along. I have heard that taking anything during the first 12 weeks is dangerous (as the baby's organs are developing), but I am scared of seizures if I quit all at once. If anyone took it during the 1st trimester, could you post your experience? Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ladies~

hi I t all depends on you and your baby I don't understand how they say it can cause this and that when I was pregnant with my son I took 4 pills at a time then id take more and I didn't do it every day but I did do it often and he came out completely fine no withdrawls or anything and I also towards the end took methadone so I would just try to cut down but if your addicted try to get on methadone or better yet suboxon its for addiction treatment and the doctors will prescribe it to you while pregnant hope this helps

please don't cut your delf down that much believe it or not doing that will cause your baby more harm and some will say no it wont get off cold turkey but then not just you but your unborn baby will go threw horrible withdrawls so u can take what you were maby cut it down a pill or two but ur baby will be fine me and a lot of woman were on tramadol while pregnant and our babies came out just fine doctors don't always know what their talking about id go on experience from some one that actually had an addiction problem and had a healthy baby

Thank you for your reply. I am going mainly off of what people say. My doctor is the type who doesn't believe in taking anything at all, so I am scared to tell them about the tramadol.

Can you tell me how many you took during your pregnancy? And did you take them the entire pregnancy? It seems like women have had different experiences with it. Some, it didn't effect their baby at at, and some had babies that went through withdrawal. I have not, however, read about anyone who's babies had birth defect (than Goodness). I am going to try to cut back (hopefully completely stop) by the time I deliver.

I am 21 weeks along with my second child and was on tramadol off and on for about 3-4 years. With my first pregnancy I quit cold turkey the day I found out, and it was painful and difficult, but after a few days the extreme pain went away, and after a few weeks I was back to normal. I still had to deal with the normal daily pain that I had been taking it for, but I could cope pretty well. The tramadol seemed to have made my pain worse in some ways, after coming off, but it eventually got better. I got back on it when I stopped breastfeeding and again had to quit with this pregnancy, but I was taking a lot more this time, so I had to wean myself off over the course of a week. To prevent the issue with my leg jerking and my inability to sleep, I would take Tylenol PM and melatonin at night. During the day I was moody and sad, and definitely in pain. But I did it. Now my pain is increasing again (I also have IS joint dysfunction, which commonly gets much worse in the second trimester due to the release of relaxin) and I am also dealing with daily migraines that I take fioricet for occasionally. Sometimes I really feel like I need to take a tramadol because I know it will make the pain go away, but I feel so guilty! I don't want to harm my baby or give her the awful withdrawals that come with this drug, and I'm worried if I start to take one here or there I will become dependent again and just make things worse. Everyone has a different opinion, but it helps to know that I am not alone in this predicament. I wish none if us had to go through it though!

Is your baby still doing good? I am 8 weeks pregnant and take 4 pills per day (50mg). Many women here say their babies came out fine, but I wonder if anything suspicious developed as time went on. Two women on this site said their children developed speech problems around the age of 4. I wonder if this was from the tramadol or not? I really want to get off this medication, but I feel so horrible without them. And it seems like there are mixed storied about tramadol and pregnancy.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. My baby is due in Feb, and I will surely come back and follow up.

Hi Nicky,

How did everything turn out with your baby? Were you able to cut back or did you continue taking 4 to 6 per day? I am in the exact same boat and am very curious how things turned out for you. I am so scared and worried constantly.

I have been searching for a recent post to comment on. I am 29 weeks and have been taking tramadol through the entire pregnancy. I take about 200 mgs a day. It has weighed heavy on me the whole time and I finally got some relief. I had to see a genetic counselor (because of my age) and we had a very detailed conversation about this. She said that Tramadol DOES NOT cause birth defects and the only thing you MAY have to be concerned about is withdraws after the baby is born. She stressed after she stated that, that 98% of the time, there are no withdrawals at all. I also have a two year old that I took the medication with as well and he is perfectly healthy and showed zero signs of me taking it as well. I hope this brings some relief to you ladies.... it lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. And just a side note.... I saw her after my ultrasound that showed us a perfectly healthy baby who is already in the 71st percentile. Good luck!

I know this is a very old thread, but I just wanted to add my experience as people will still be coming across this thread and researcing the topic now like I am. I have been on Tramadol off and on for various medical reasons for about 9 years. I had no intention of becoming pregnant, however found I was 4 weeks pregnant in December of 2012. I never knew I was addicted to Tramadol, but I knew that as well as easing my pain it also gave me a euphoric high like no anti depressant ever has. As soon as I knew I was pregnant I stopped taking Tramadol cold turkey. I didnt know why I felt like death for the next couple of months, I just assumed it was because I was pregnant. Now I realise it was because I was going through some pretty nasty withdrawal sypmtoms and I just wanted to die.

At nearly 4 months pregnant I had a miscarriage. Still not knowing the reason why, it was just something that happened to many women apparently, and I was just another statistic. 7 Months since my miscarriage which took place on Valentines Day of all days, I found myself pregnant again. Once again I immediately stopped taking the Tramadol, as to be perfectly honest even putting the capsules to my mouth made me feel really ill.

Since the first miscarriage I had gone back to taking Tramadol full force as a way to combat my low mood, so I was on a pretty high dose, taking about 8 50mg tablets a day. I knew that I was using them for the wrong reasons at this point and so decided to look up what it was going to be like to come off them. This is when I realised all about withdrawals, this is when I reailsed that in 2012 I was so ill because of the withdrawals and not because I was pregnant. Unfortunately this is also when I realised that going cold turkey from any opiate including Tramadol during pregnancy can cause miscarriage.... and that is what had made me miscarry the first time, no doubt in my mind at all.

 

So Im pregnant now, and at 5 weeks I stopped taking Tramadol. I've been through the most horrendous 3 weeks of withdrawals, and its too late to change it now, I already feel like the damage has been done and I will probably miscarry again, all due to me not understanding beforehand that I was physically addicted to this stuff and if I stopped taking it at all I should have tapered under a doctors supervision. I just wanted to add my perspective as I have read lots of stories from women who have said everything was fine for them, or they took tramadol all through their pregnancy with no issues. But some people, like me do have a different story to tell. Some people will obviously manage to make it through cold turkey and see a baby at the end of nine months, but some people will not. Cold turkey Withdrawal is very hard on the body and baby, dont ever think its not, it can and will at times kill a fetus that is just not strong enough to cope with withdrawal symptoms.

I hope I havent waffled on too much, but I couldnt find the answers I was looking for online and so maybe my reply might help steer someone in the right direction....