Im 4 months pregnant and been taking Tramadol the whole pregnancy

is it ok to take one a day while breast feeding, im so scared to, but i definitly don't want my baby to get sick or have problems,

Kera,
Did you take tramadol throughout your pregnancy?

I too have been addicted to Ultram for years. I am now 9 weeks pregnant, and about to go cold turkey due to running out and not getting another prescription in time. I am going to try to just quit, I did it once a couple of years ago and it took a month before I really felt decent. I am having SEVERE lower back pain with my pregnancy, and that is going to make it even harder to stop. I think I am more afraid of the withdrawals causing a miscarriage then anything else, and I really haven't found much info on if this could happen. All I know is I am scared. I am scared of what will happen to my baby if I do or if I don't get off this med, and I am selfishly afraid of the pain I am going to endure. I am also scared to tell my doctor as I have been getting the Ultram online and not from my doctor.

Good luck to everyone. I will try to post again in the future to see how you all are doing, and to let you know of my own struggles. I think reading posts on here will give me the support I need to get over this. Fingers crossed!

I am replying to these posts in hopes my voice will be heard. I started taking ultram ( Tramadol) because i have chiari malformation.Chiari is basically where my brain had dropped into my neck and was causing me excruciating pain. I was due to have surgery when i became pregnant . my doctor thought it was safe for me to take tramadol over having the pain. I look back and wish i had someone with my experience to talk too . Knowing what i know now i would have never taken it while i was pregnant. It to me is the same as if i was a drug addict they don't know why one baby will be born an addict and another not. well as for tramadole my son was born with serious problems. chronic crying for four years he has global developmental delay, sensory integration disorder, and behavior problems all associated to drug addiction . my son has been in therapy since the age of one. he is now 9 yrs old and still has some social issues, speech delay,and some learning issues. If you think it's hard to get off of tramadol you have no idea how much harder it is to be a parent to a child with these issues although life got much better for me and my son it wrecked my marriage because my husband couldn't handle the crying and all the appointments for my son . financially it hurt us and i became a recluse for about four years with no friends to turn to nobody could handle being around a child with these issues.coming off tramadole only takes about 10 days unlike other drugs as opposed to years and the damage you could do to your unborn child. BTW i only took two tramadole a day during my pregnancy .
I hope people will take my advice and be strong and start off being the best parent you can for your child.
God Bless

I just wanted to respond to your post about the oxycontin thing, i myself am very allergic to those and all pain killers which sux cuz i am 6 month preg and its gonna hurt LOL cuz i cant take anything i tried an oxycontin 1 time for pain a friend gave it to me and i was very sick every 20 mins for 3 days and fnever touched one again. also a family member of mine got hooked on those sooooooo bad he lost everything he owned house, $60,000 truck, big screens and alot of other expensive stuff he had worked so hard for. But if i were u i would tell ur DR. that u might be allergic to codiene like me unless stuff like percocets and lortab doesnt hurt u any. hope your doin well!

I have been taking darvacet and ultram becuase i didnt want to take the lortab that i am addicted to. I switched to ultram hoping it wont hurt the child because im afraid withdrawal might be worse. This is my first child. I am scared to death yall. Drs say everything looks fine. I am three months> I know how you all feel. we are all doing the best thing we think we can ..... Hang in there... Any input would be great

I have been on tramadol for about 2 years. I am now almost 4 months pregnant. I've tried to stop, but the withdrawals were so bad for me and it lasted for weeks. It got so bad to the point I was hurting myself just to relieve some of the withdrawal symptoms. It did not help. I am back on it. I've gone from 4 to 2 pills a day. I listen to my babys heartbeat everyday, and the doctor visits have been great....My regular dr did tell me not take them anymore, but when I explained how bad my withdrawals were, they didn't care. So I don't know what to do when I run out...And yes, I do feel guilty everytime I take it, but I just take it to not have the withdrawals..Hopefiully GOD will be on my side and give me a healthy child..

Thank you for all your feedback and honesty about tramadol. I'm about to have IVF FET next week and have been on tramadol for years for chronic pain and endometriosis. Drs here are supportive and for the time being want me to be as comfortable and relaxed as possible and my decision is to keep taking the 150mg p/day withe the panadene for support. There is a slow release 50mg that I can then change to if I can manage that, but I am worried a little that my pain levels will increase as the baby grows. I don't feel that living with higher levels of pain and subsequent withdrawals from not taking the tramadol will be a better outcome, but I think we all have to decide what's best for us as well as the baby. I think that stress could be a worse factor for my situation and with daily pain, having it at a greater level and still trying to function, work, relax etc would be a lot harder and distressing on my physical and emotional wellbeing. Unfortunately there is a lot of stigma about taking painkillers, even when not pregnant and I have people in my world who dont understand what it's like living with pain every day. People's stigmatising and judgment of us can make us feel guilty and hopeless and so please try not to go down that path. Feeling guilty and condemned all the time will have a worsening effect on your emotions, potential pregnancy and your mental health (I've been there with that!). So there are some lower dose tramadol that you can get, but ask for the slow release doses, which will last longer and hopefully abate the withdrawals. Also be aware that pain might not be due to the withdrawing, but the fact that you are in pain. Most of you like me will have spent years trying to source better options for pain management than medication, and would have probably spent a lot of money and energy on things that may or may not have helped. There came a point where I had exhausted every possible avenue of holistic, naturopathic, surgery, meds etc treatments that there are..even hypnotherapy... but now I've settled within myself the management of my own personalised program which does include the tramadol at present. Hopefully if the pregnancy is successful I can enjoy my periods stopping which should reduce my pain levels and I can wean off of the tramadol and panadene within the first few weeks. But I am deciding to not spend any energy and worry on the tramadol because my body has been through enough trauma over the years with breast cancer, chemotherapy causing menopause in my 30s and subsequent depression. My anxiety turned into depression and that was the worse thing to recover from. I was trying to reduce the tramadol out of guilt and the Drs were experimenting with anti depressants to try to trick the brain's response to the pain receptors and I started to self harm which turned into suicide attempts..this is very dangerous treatment from Drs and there was a case recently where a young lady committed suicide during this experimentation with anti depressants. What eventuated since then was some counseling through an IVF clinic, where a very sensible psychologist with infertility problems herself took me on a simple journey of identifying the grief and loss I had been experiencing and learning to love myself again, rather than condemn myself in a pit of guilt. Sensible management of the pain and accepting what medication I do need to have a good enough quality of life to be able to fall pregnant and sustain a pregnancy is what i believe is the best foot forward for me today. I'll let you know how I go and I wish you amazing people all the very best for a great future - you sooo deserve the very best in life and are all worth receiving the best support you can get!

Hi there. I am 3 weeks away from delivering my 3rd baby. I had twins my first pregnancy and did not take any medication during the pregnancy. Only herbal supplements. This pregnancy has been harder, especially with raising two babies on the side. They will be 16 months when this little girl arrives. I wouldn't say that I am addicted to Tramadol. Back in the first trimester, I took it a handful of times (never exceeding 4 a day). I stopped completely after about 8 weeks into the pregnancy. When the second trimester started, I went back to taking Tramadol, but only 1-2 a day. There were weeks when I wouldn't take any and weeks when I took some everyday. I am down to 1-1.5 a day. I really need the extra energy that Tramadol gives me. Especially when my twins are pushing all the right buttons :-)

Anyways, I noticed there has only been a couple responses on what happened after the baby was born. I find it frustrating that so many people posted but never followed up. So I will. In three weeks, when I deliver, I will follow up and write what the outcome was.

My sister was prescribed Loratab throughout her entire pregnancy. She also took tramadol occasionally. Her little girl turned out fine. She's almost 1 now.

Sorry I have no better advice right now, but I will let you all know after the baby comes, what happened. I am planning on fully stopping tramadol within the next week to avoid withdrawals for me and the baby.

Hi ladies
I found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago and immediately panicked, because i knew i had to do something about the 2 Tramadol. I had been taking every day for the last 2 1/2 years. My GP prescribed me the tablet for a back injury which I have since recovered from but continued taking Tramadol because when I tried to stop, the side effects where so dreadful that i gave up after a few days. It made me feel calm, in control, energised and motivated and helped to alleviate some of the long standing insomnia and anxiety I have suffered from. After a year, I realised I was not able to function normally once the drug had worn off and came to rely on it to get through the day. Coming across this website 2 weeks ago really helped because I knew I wasnt alone and could see that it wasnt my fault because I was weak or otherwise...Tramadol is simply a nasty but legal drug. It also confirmed that because nobody seems to know the damage these tablets do to an unborn child, I wasnt willing to take a gamble. The mental effects of losing a baby knowing I may be responsible would be more damaging to me personally than the physical side effects of this horrible drug.

Im writing now because I wanted for those who are struggling with this situation to know there is hope that you can get off these tablets. Im not here to preach but hopefully offer some advice that may be helpful. I managed to stop taking this drug by tapering my tablets down over 2 weeks from 100mg to nothing, with mild/moderate side effects because I wasn’t going cold turkey. Every few days I would reduce the dose by 25mg by splitting open the capsule and throwing half the contents out. So for 2/3 days I took 100mg (2 tablets), the following 2/3 days I took 75mg (1 1/2 tablets) and so on. It is now 3 days that I am drug free - hooray! :-D I’ve also managed to function relatively normally at work and socially without having to take any time off work for side-effects.
This method might not work for everyone but I wanted to share it in case somebody would like to try it out. You do suffer mild/moderate side-effects (NOTHING LIKE WHAT YOU DO WITH COLD TURKEY THOUGH) but because your body is getting used to a reduced dose over a longer period it makes it much more bearable. I did suffer with sweats, a few headaches and was slightly irritable for the first 4/5 days and quite tired. The only side effects that I still have are not sleeping too well (but that could be because I am excited and a little anxious about being a first time mum :-D ) and occasional sneezing bouts, which seem to be common. Apart from that I feel really good mentally knowing i managed to do it and im getting stronger every day. Day 4/5 were probably the worst days but even then I was ok with working and it was nothing compared to when i gave up cold turkey and had to go home from work because i felt so terrible.

Today im binning all of the tablets - this is where the mental addiction comes into play. Im excited and being free of this drug but at the back of my mind keep thinking, hang on to the tablets just in case you may need one in the future...im not falling for this trick again.

I wish you all good luck with you journey ladies...you have it in you to kick this drug. I know I only took 2 tabs every day but I thought I would be a slave to it for the rest of my life. The website helped me make a choice... that choice was a chance of life for my growing baby xxxxxxxx

I am 9 months preggo now and I just started taking trams because I am not very familiar with cramps and so these false labor pains have been killing me and the only way I can sleep is if I take these pills to ease my back pain. I've had back problems for as long as I can remember. I have only been taking them for about 2 weeks so I am not addicted... my fear is that when I tell my doc or when they do blood tests on my son when he is born that child protective services will try to get involved...although young I will not be a bad parent and once I give birth drugs will not be a part of mine or my sons life... I just fear what the docs and cps will think of me and what they will do... :'(

I know all about tramadol...I was prescribed it WAY back when they told everyone it was not only non-narcotic but non addictive too. It was the first in a long line of medications that led to a five year battle with heavy opioid addiction.

First off, I looked up tramadol addiction and pregnancy. Some studies have found that tramadol is embryo and fetal toxic. So getting off this drug asap is in everyone's best interest.

Now, saying and doing are two very difficult things. I know how hard it is to quit. Sometimes just admitting addiction is akin to standing naked in a room full of well dressed strangers. I only quit after finding suboxone. I'm not sure if suboxone is effective for tramadol...but since it is labeled (finally) as a narcotic/opioid I have heard it is sometimes used. The thing is...you are pregnant. So suboxone itself won't be safe either. It contains naloxone and that has been shown to have adverse effects on pregnancy. Luckily, they make a version without the naloxone called subutex. And thus far, besides methedone, it has been shown as not only an effective treatment but also non embryo and fetal toxic.

As I stated earlier though....I'm not exactly sure how effective it is for tramadol addiction. I've heard it used...but to what success..not sure. If you can get off by cutting down (under no circumstances go cold turkey...especially during early pregnancy, very dangerous) and quitting that way, by all means please go that way. But if you are having a hard time cutting down, talk to your doctor and see if these other methods could work.

The big message is...talk to your doctor and find something less harmful for the baby because tramadol is very, very questionable. And who needs the added pressure of guilt and wondering?


The best of luck to you.

I posted earlier and told my story. At that point, I was 3 weeks from delivering. Read my story and then my response will make more sense.

My baby is now 6 weeks old. My main concern, after delivering, was if the baby was going to have withdraws....she did not. To this day, she is a healthy, happy baby. I would definitely say she is a "good" baby, as some people would use that phrase. She only cries when she is hungry or wants to be held. I have been told multiple times that she seems very alert for her age.

That being said, if you can quit...I would do it. The stress of "not knowing" can be draining and stressful on the baby and mom. Plus, the unknown is scary. As I said in my story, I was not taking full doses of tramadol nor did I take it during my first trimester (which is where most of the major development takes place). So please take my response with a grain of salt.

Good luck ladies.

Hi everyone,

I am fourteen weeks pregnant and (before pregnancy) had been prescribed tramadol for shoulder pain due to my doing too many pull-ups in the gym.

I had taken maybe three or four tramadol during my pregnancy, because I have a rather upper-body-intensive job that requires a good bit of shoulder movement. But I generally avoided taking it, and I couldn't seem to ask my doctor if I could take it. (I'm a bit paranoid about that sort of thing, I'm terrified I'll sound like a drug addict!)

I finally asked her yesterday at my appointment, and she said it was perfectly fine to take, in moderation, if all else fails. Now I'm having wrist pain on top of the shoulder pain, so it's nice to know I no longer have to suffer needlessly. I asked her if it was OK to take one tablet two or three times a week, and she said that was fine.

I hope this helps! If anyone wants to talk about it some more, you can email me at ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** private e-mails not allowed **
Please read our Terms of Use

Hi, iv been on tramadol for 5 months i take 400mg slow release per day for cronic abdominal pain and now iv been told i have to get pregnant and soon, im so worried about how this will effect my being able to conceive and how it will effect my babys health?
I dont want to take it but the pain just gets to much to handle without it. If anyone has gone through anything similar please let me know ? Thanks