Tramadol withdrawal is very hard. I am speaking from my own experience. And the addiction is shitty because u can get epileptic attacks...even If u never had one,u cane get not just one...even more attacks and u had it your live never ever before!
That's the bad thing with tramadol. So when u take high dose ,be sure to take diazepam cuz diazepam can prevent epi attacks.
And also during the withdrawal you should take every day at least 20mg,it depends how high your addiction is.
It took me 2 months to get off,but i had always diazepam by my side and it is important to drink 3litres water per day to get that sh*t out of your body!
I had never taken anything like tramadol before. I have a back injury from work. My worker comp doctor put me on 150 mgs of tramadol a day. I started not feeling well. I would have hot flashes and bouts of diarrhea even before I stopped taking it. After 34 days, I had had enough. I had no appetite and felt worse than if I was in pain. I just stopped taking it. I got so sick after that, diarrhea,headache, anxiety. I was a mess.Today will be 1 week since i took my last one. I hope to never feel like this again. I t was horrible, this coming from a woman who has had 3 kids with no drugs. I will never take this drug again.
I have been taking Tramadol, prescribed by my GP, since July 2011. I have never experienced any problems or side effects when taking it or when I stop taking it. However, I limit myself to taking it only three times a week @ 100mg per dose. I have often not taken it for three days or more with no adverse effects, except the long term pain of my neuralgia.
I want to provide some hope to people coming to the site, I stumbled across it looking for some things to give to a friend who is going through a rough time.
I was taking about 500-600 mg a day of Tramadol for years. It was easy to get through the mail and I could easily get 360 pills a month, and it was cheap!!!. I've also taken mostly everything thing else there is, my motto was "I'll do anything to feel something". People who take pills have a superiority complex almost, we think that our habit is so clean and we are better than drunks, needles, etc. We could all function perfectly while looped up on pills, we looked down on the other people. I had no problems taking 10-15 pills a day and living and working fine. I always smashed them up and drank them with water as it would get into system quicker.
About 2 years ago, they stopped shipping them to my state and I decided to try to stop once and for all. I had about 100 pills left and knew those would be my last. 100 may seem like a lot, but when you have to wean off, that's nothing. I started going down hard, like 10 to 5 etc. My last week was taking a pill a day for a few days and then came the battle of my life.
Some of the first feelings were like my spine being ripped out of my body, the headaches, sh**ting, throwing up, sweating and no sleep. I'd just sit and spin all night in bed, I could also feel and hear (at least I thought), my eyes moving or blinking. I could actually hear my eyes moving?. I would have sold my soul for another pill. I tried all the Tylenol, Ibuprofen, tons of water, even alcohol and nothing helped. The first 4 days were as hard as anything I've ever been through. You are angry at everything and everybody, when it's really yourself that you angry with. You come to sites like this and say think that no one has it as bad as you and no one knows how you feel blah blah blah. Guess what? Whatever you feel, are going through, or took, there are many other who have the same experience.
There is a turning point at about day 3-4. Suddenly it's not as bad as it once was. Don't get me wrong, you still feel like sh*t, it's just not as bad. However, it gets slightly better with each day and you almost look forward to the next day. I don't have any magic solutions, like taking this or that or exercising or whatever. I just took each day and fought through it. It's a hard fight, it's very hard.
It took me 3 weeks to really feel normal and be done with it. I no longer needed to schedule my life around the pills (I think of how many times I left the house to go somewhere and would have to go back just to get some pills to function as I forgot them). I could sleep, get up and live a normal life. That was the end of the pills.
I drank like crazy in my 20's and did drugs like crazy in my 30's. I've been left for dead twice while drinking. I've given both up but have some drinks maybe a few times a year. I never did any support groups or anything like that. I'm not preachy and don't go around telling people what they should do etc. I almost find ex drunks and addicts to be hypocrites, it was great for them to have fun and go crazy, but you can't. I don't like the cliches of AA or NA either, but this is just my opinion and only my opinion. If you need a support group, by all means do it. Do not be afraid to ask for help, people are sympathetic. No interventions or threats or sh*t like that is going to make you quit, you will quit when it's your time. It has to come from within.
If you have found this, you are obviously in the fight of your life. Don't give up. I'm not much of a writer, but I wanted to share it with you and give you hope. It does get better, but not at the pace you'd like. The world works that way, not everything is on your time schedule.
Keep trying, it's get better.
How do you do now after a year since your comment? I hope you are doing OK. I have a chronic pain in my back and bared it for last 14 years with 150 mg of tramal per day. I feel depressed during the morning and takes a few hours after I wake up to gain my thought back in order. Also I don't want to do anything after work and when I get home I don't want to go out, also weekends and vacations are mostly stayed at home on my sofa. My back-pain is real in every seconds, I do not smoke, don't drink alcohol and I'm not taking painkillers for fun, I'm not fooling myself and you but I'am afraid the cost of trying to bare the pain is to even commit suicide!!
I am sure there is no treatment for my backpain since scar-tissues created during surgery are the cause of the pain. I have been examined by good doctors and the only treatment at the current moment are:
1- Another operation in hope of removing scares, which the chance of success is very low.
2- Placing a device (Stimulator) to help baring the pain, it also requires operation and not guaranteed to relive the pain totally, it may cause even more pain.
3- Continue taking painkillers
Do I have any other options? Is there any other pain-killers which doesn't have depression side effects? I have a family, two kids and mentally ready to end my life if I was not worry about my family! They are the only reason I am still here and typing, but I don't know how long I can last this? I Any suggestion, hints is appreciated.
What kind of pain you have? I am suffering from chronic pain in my back which came after surgery. The pain is 24/7. After 14 years of taking Tramal, I thing I should find another pain killers, it is ruining my life, no desire to do anything accept going to work, depression attack many times a day before I feel tramal in my veins! If taking painkillers are a MUST we should be careful what to take (if there are alternatives).
Do you still have pain (caused by back injury)? I have injured back, also operated (Sciatica), suffering 24/7 and forced to take Tramal for last 14 years. Two major reason I am complaining, depression and lack of will of doing anything physical.
Your post gave me some hope. Hopefully this gets better
all of you r certainly right. Ive been takin tramadol for about 4 yrs. i was having headaches and body aches and thats what my dr. gave me. never had been addicted to anything before. but I think i am now. not only did it help with pain but it gave me energy and almost was like an anti depressent. I havent had any for 3 days and im goin out of my mind. every muscle and joint in my legs hurt, i cannot sit still even tho i hurt so bad. I feel like crawling out of my skin. im freezing and cant get warm. it feels just like the body ache flu but add panic and anxiety to it. i had no idea my body was so dependent on this drug. i did not know of withdrawls either. it wasnt time for a refill is why i havent had any for 3 days but tomorrow i get one and im getting back on because i cant handle this feeling. im def. going to cut way back and am glad to be aware of the bad effects of this drug. im thinking about slowly weaning off. i dont ever want 2 experience this again. my dr told me when i started them that it was very safe and non addicting. wow was he wrong. anyone have suggestions how to slowly get off to where withdrawls arent bad?
The last post is correct after about day 5 or 6 the worst will be over. I would reccomend Kratom to ease withdrawal, it works great and it vertually wipes out all the symtomes if you get a good variety, just take a couple of spoons of the powder when you start feeling bad.