Is Tramadol withdrawal hard?

How is your husband now?

Thank you for sharing your day to day blog! Out of everything I have read hear sounds more like what I am going through. I took tramodol for three years, one 50m morning and one at night and stuck to it! I am in day five, have experienced all the side effects!! You have to stay very strong and never give in! Still not able to sleep much, restless legs still bad! I had restless leg syndrome before taking tramodol, hoping it doesn't make it worse when all this is through! I went to pain management and told the doctor that I just wanted to have the injections in my neck but he persuaded me to take tramodol, telling me it was a very mild painkiller!! The dostors have to be honest with the patients about what can happen to you!! I am going back to see the doctor to tell him and hope he will think twice before giving it to other patients!!!

I wanted to give a warning about the horrible withdrawals tramadol can produce. I took tramadol for about 2 years and no more than 150mg per day. Typically it was 100mg per day. I was then forced to go cold turkey.

So many horrible things happened over the course of about 6 months that I'm now unable to care for myself.

I'm not joking.

I'm now disabled. I went from being a whole man with dreams and confidence and a wonderful wife to being divorced, alone, and soon will be homeless.

I had never needed to see a psychiatrist in 45 years of life. Now I've been sectioned 8 times. Nothing they give me helps. I feel my brain is damaged.

The problem I encountered was like that of others: doctors just don't understand what the ssri and snri aspects of tramadol do to the brain. Withdrawing from ssris and snris is hell, and tramadol is no different.

I started by going to my doctor for the terrible insomnia. Twice he refused to give me anything to help with sleep, After about a month and a half, in desperation, I sectioned myself, hoping to quickly see a psychiatrist for help. I was given trazadone for sleep which did nothing. I let them know but they refused to give me anything else.

Months went by and still the insomnia remained. I really believed that eventually my body would just give up and I'd pass out. It didn't happen.

I had horrible insomnia. Then panics. Then anxiety to such an extent that I couldn't eat and lost about 30lbs over the course of three months. The stress of the withdrawal was so severe that I developed derealization and depersonalisation disorder. These are horrible conditions that for me didn't go away.

The horror caused my blood pressure to remain elevated and I wound up having a small stroke.

I'm a broken man now. I was smart and good looking. Now I'm essentially a bum and a mental case.

Now I admit that this is the worst case scenario, but it happened to me.

If you're going to stop tramadol taper slowly. It can take months for your brain to adjust. You'll need time and sleep to recover. Don't let the doctors and nurses tell you that tramadol is like strong Advil. That's what I was told.

It was a lie.

From experience Tramadol withdrawal symptoms are torturous, grand mal seizures, so many things I can't explain unless you feel it. It's not over in a couple days it takes along time, meaning days or a couple weeks. To make matter worse it also kind of rewires your brain permantly, so unless you take it daily, it's similar to depression, but your not sad or anxious, and don't know why your feeling this hopeless. I'm not telling you this to scare you even more, but I wish when I was prescribed it for my knee many years ago (because I refused to take a narcotic), I wish someone would have warned me. I did after so much fear and putting it off gradually was able to get down to 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at dinner time. I felt better being off of something so difficult to stop because my physical body was addicted, not my mental. Unfortunately the hopeless was too much to bare and I've gradually started taking it like I did before ( but trying to becareful) my emotions were changed because of it and don't have a choice, and it is the only medication that has help me, but I have a terminal illness and it doesn't matter anyway. Just remember everyone you encounter is addicted to something that a doctor prescribed and their stuck too. It's just a bandage instead of a cure. If and when you decide to stop taking it, please make sure you have enough for at least two months. When you wake up is usually the most difficult so take what your body needs is so take what you need without going overboard. When that normal feeling of reaching for ir comes throughout the day, get in habit of putting in a place that you have to get up and get it, giving you time to think and only take what you need. Except of corse have your dose beside you bed for mornings. I hope things helps even though it was probably terrifying. I wish you well and hope you can ease through this. God Bless

I wish I had understood the need for a very long taper with tramadol. The withdrawal ruined me. Insomnia for months and months. I also think the tramadol changed my personality. After stopping tramadol, the feeling of hopelessness was profound.

I have been taking 100 mg a day for the past 5 years. No more, no less. I would like to stop taking tramadol all together. I wonder if i stop taking it abruptly, how severe withdrawal will be. Any thoughts?

Kratom!! Tramadol is evil, coming from a habit of NINETY pills a day...I almost killed myself over dosing for weeks, it's a miracle I'm alive. Kratom can help!!

You're wrong, allgood111397. If anything tramadol withdrawal is worse than any other opioid.

The problem is tramadol's affect on serotonin and norepinephrine. Tramadol is an SSRI and an SNRI. Drugs that affect serotonin and norepinephrine are notoriously difficult to get off of.

that's not true tramadol in my experience is the worst of all of them....and I've heard many say the same thing..

I have just been put on tramadol 50 twice a day after reading all these comments about withdrawal symptoms i dont think i will continue just been on it for 4 days

Tramadol is probably the worst withdrawals I've ever had in my life not by choice of running out early to take one or two extra sometimes to help the severe knee pain from a bad surgery. I've taken almost all the opiate pain meds there is except a couple I guess and tramadol is on a whole other level lol I've never done heroin and never will because I can't do needles not even a flu shot.. but they give you all the classic symptoms with the most intense anxiety a human can have .. and the symptoms seem to be stronger than others as well especially the watery eyes and runny nose and RLS and nerve pain. I've found that gabapentin helps a lot and marijuana if that's all you have that's not opiate. But the symptoms will still be there you'll just fells relaxed and can sleep good. Norco is probably 2nd for me than Percocet is 3rd because my body flushes out the Percocet fast for some weird reason idk ? And morphine ER pills have no withdrawal in my opinion except maybe upset stomach and drowsiness. But I'm starting to think tramadol is the worst out of all of them I've been taking meds for 4 years almost every day and up to a week sometimes if I run out of meds early to sacrifice for severe knee flare ups. I would say 10mg or Percocet a day would be okay for most people without severe withdrawal of up to 60mg or morphing ER once a day and taper off. Anymore than that you're screwed. Be safe and god less this unwanted addiction is no joke ...

Hi, my advice to you is to use your last refill to taper yourself off. This takes some will power but you can do it. Cut your dose in half every week. This is what I did and it has help a lot. When the day came to get completely off I took I still felt the withdrawal symptoms but to a less extent. Have some nightquil on hand this will help

Hi,

I want to add my review. I've been taken 2 x 100mg for about 7 years against pain in the back. The doctors said Tramadol was a "very good" and harmless medicine. 4 months ago I tapered off to 0 (every day less). Now I'm 5 weeks completely off. But it has been extremely difficult. Sometimes I take 1 mg (the lowest dose possible) Valium (Diazepam) it calms me down extremely good and stops the RLS. Now I'm even off the valium... hopefully I can stay like this and the withdrawal symptoms will disappear in a few weeks or months... Tramadol should be a forbidden drug. It's effective but VERY bad to come off... Most of the users don't feel the danger because they go on taking it. Good luck to everyone !
M. Europe. Belgium

This is bad advice you don't mention the dose and duration is only 6 months which isn't long

I'm not sure if I'm just weird or if you guys are drama queens. I've been an opiate user for a long time. Withdrawal from harder opiates like heroin, morphine and fentanyl can be unbelievably bad. I've been through some withdrawals that must be the closest thing to hell a person can experience. Tramadol withdrawal is a walk in the park in comparison. I've been on 300-400mg per day for months now, and stopping produced barely a hint of what I would call withdrawal. I felt a little strange/disconnected/uncomfortable for a day, but it honestly can't even be compared to real opiate withdrawal.

I don't mean to seem dismissive, but I'm wondering how many of you have experience with the pure terror that is true opiate withdrawal. Maybe Tramadol withdrawal is hard if you've never experienced anything else. To me, it's barely noticeable compared to the real thing.