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MedHelp Member's Question

ULTRAM/ULTRACET/TRAMADOL: The Truth about this 'non narcotic' please

by percsnomas, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
Hey Goldie, this new thread is for you!!!



There is a great deal of confusion with respect to this drug.



Why is it, that if this a non narcotic and non addicting med., i continue to read(or hear) about, horror story after horror story getting off of it???????



Seems many would say the withdrawal from tramadol is far worse than many opiates.



A wise friend of mine even mentioned a front page article in their local newspaper(recently), siting what a great "alternative" Ultam is, in that it is "non-addicting".



Any help would be appreciated.



percs
Member Comments (66)

by Chezz2, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
Good call Percs. Hopefully this will bring them back over here to help out all the lurkers that are stuck on this drug and need to find some "buddies" to help them out.

This forum is very easy to find via a search. Although I am not sure how easy it is to find the forum they are at currently.

Of course it can also help the plethora of people that are considering using either one of these drugs to help taper down off of the "true" opiates they are currently on.

I hope all is well in Canuck country. Congrats againnnnnnnnnnn on your continued abstinence, but most of all for your NON-STOP support for eeveryone giong through what you have already conguered.

You da' man...



Chezz

by mystere, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
To: Percs/Everyone
Unfortunately I have extensive experience with the dreaded Ultram-After detoxing from opiates in 1997 I remained clean and sober for approx 6 months--After a medical problem developed a doc Rx the Oh so Non-addicting Ultram--BULL@#t--I was up to taking 20 of those suckers a day and it was hell getting off of them! Not only that it lead me back to my ultimate DOC Hydrocodone--The drug reps used to leave bucket loads of samples of the stuff in my husbands office, touting the wonders of this new drug that had been available in Europe and was just introduced here I believe in the early 90's.  They started having so much trouble with it there is now a warning in the PDR about prescribing Ultram to patients with a previous addiction to opiates--My advice RUN do not Walk away from this drug. Also it is VERY EXPENSIVE compared to other painkillers. In my opinion and I'm not a physician but I think very soon they will make Ultram a schedule IV controlled substance, and I think it is addicting. Good Luck I hope this helped--Mystere/AKA N.O. Lady

by gracie97, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
To: percsnomas(sp)
I have been tapering from 8 tabs a day for six weeks to where I was when I wrote today. It is now 34 hours and 4 minutes since my last one- 1/2 half no. 10 tab. We tapered by breaking them into pieces. But my bowels and energy just are not where I wanted them to be. I go back to work Monday, and I am scared someone will notice I am different, not in a good way but irritable and weak, which was not the "high tab me", maybe I said some stupid things but I am in a very high profile position and a screw up can cause alert. I did get to Wal Mart today, and then this evening a walk (yeah right, well only 1 and a half blocks) I kicked meth 18 years ago, high school addiction, which I have NEVER, EVER touched again. I can do this! I can! Thanks to you guys, it is so nice talk  to you, I thought I was so alone....I have Rick who is kicking this with me, but I get mad at him because he introduced me to the tabs, but yet I love him for kicking them out of our life. He has a back injury that requires pain meds and he has given the tabs up for the both of us! Everyone, thank you soooooooooo much I really need someone to talk to, this is driving me crazy at times, one minute everything is OK the next I am crying...then sleeping 2 hours at a time...lost girl you know the details, thank you so much for your support!

by oxic, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
To: Gracie
What a great taper!!!



I felt exactly like  you, and worried about being as confident, as funny, as energetic....after the pills.  BUT you know what, as my good buddy MethMan so astutely pointed out, that person is still in there; and i'm certain you will rediscover her quickly.



I am very optimistic about your recovery.



Vent on whenever you need to.



percs





.....oh by the way, the crying and radical mood swings are just more wonderful withdrawal effects.  I still remember walking down the hall at work, by our CEO's office, and hit by an uncontrollable need to cry(and i don't cry very much)........of course i ducked into my gas marketing gals office(the coworker that helped me taper; and was immediately "talked down")

by mystere, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
To: Percs/Everyone
Oh and yes I forgot to mention Tramadol has a high incident of causing seizures--You must be very careful especially if you are taking other meds--With the amount of those little puppies I took it's a pure D miracle I'm not dead or in a coma!  Peace and Prayers/ Mystere AKA N.O. Lady

by AmberHunter, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
i can relate, i worked for a rheumatologist for about four months doing clinical drug trials (numorphan was one of them, guess who got strung out on that the worst) and guess why i was let go??!! anyhow...



he had boxes of samples of ultram in the office and i was too picky to even mess with those, didn't think it did much...



about a year later i was on ultram for about two weeks, just a regularly prescribed dose... when i quit i had three days and nights of opiate withdrawls... you know them when you have them and that was what it was... RLS, everything... that was the last time i took ultram... i think i pretty much figured that if i was going to go through that kind of withdrawl in the end i was going to find a more pleasurable opiate to make it worth the trouble! typical junkie thinking!!



i remember something about the opioid site that it worked on, something about MU 1 and MU 2 or some kind of stuff that i no longer remember, lol!!! that is why i am sitting here, working as an "administrative assistant" for a wildlife management company and have all this time to be online! lol!!!



but this is good for me b/c there are no drugs for me to "divert" and you know the saying "i am right where i am supposed to be" amen to that!!!



amber



by mystere, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
To: Amber/Everyone
Ortho-McNeil (drug co, that makes Ultram) was hitting the othopedists with the old Ultram hard-sell when it first came out. Trying to give them an alternative from prescribing Vicodin, Lortab, Ect. They brought in samples everywhere and like you I didn't think of it much in the begininng and then when i doubled my dose I got that semi-warm cozy hydro feeling! and as they say it was off to the races--Another reason they heavily promoted this drug was the fact it is VERY EXPENSIVE!--compared to other pain killers.  My advice to anyone on this forum with a hx of drug abuse please stay away from Ultram!--Just my humble opinion--Peace/Prayers Mystere/AKA N.O. Lady

by percsnomas, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
To: Dr. Bozian/Chezz/mystere/Amber
Thanks for all your comments.  They will definately help people make better informed decisions regarding this drug.



Chezz, i must point out, that you've been here almost the entire time with me.....so back at ya(thanks). I trust things are still progressing on all fronts for you.  Take Care Friend.



Goldie, i told you i wouldn't know what to say, in the event i "got through"...........but seems it doesn't matter, as people are filling in just fine.

by gracie97, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
Can anyone pleeeaaaaaassssseee tell me how much longer the ups and downs will be after tampering off tabs to my first tab free day? I am going crazy now, the first six hours today were fine, I was honestly happy but now I am down again. Wed. I took 3/4 no. 10 , then Thurs. took 1/2 no. 10 and now 26 hours and 8 minutes later I feel nuts!



I am sorry for changing the subject.....

by percsnomas, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
To: Gracie97
Hello Gracie!!



I'm not sure how long or how much hydro you were on; but as you've tapered off gradually(extrapolating from two day regime you reported??), it probably doesn't matter.



I'd say that the first 2-3 days, AFTER zero,are the roughest, and that things should stabilize and improve steadily after that.

You are getting VERY close to coming out the other side, SO JUST HANG IN THERE!!!! You are soooooo close.



Great job on the taper by the way.

by AmberHunter, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
yes, you are almost there! no matter how much we taper our meds there is going to be about a 48-72 hour feel like **** stage...



depending on how gradual i can come down the less severe the w/d's are...



but it sounds like you have tapered about as much as you can taper! so there might be some discomfort but it won't last forever!!!!



look into that thomas recipe that keeps getting posted! other than that hold onto your ass and just know it will be over soon!!



amber

by grappler, Apr 25, 2003 12:00AM
To: Everyone/"Ultram People"
I am a world class athlete (wresler/ultimate fighter. If anyone has seen the HBO special "The Smashing Machine" that is almost my exact story just that I was led to dependence by an accident. I was in a serious accident I ruptured some discs and had some fractures in my spine and had some nerve damage that extended into my stomach and made my stomach very sensitive to the touch and that almost took my life and was forced into retirement and my "olympic" and "fighting" career was put on hold or held off indefinetley. Well, anyway I was given many medicines including a large number of opiates for back and nerve damage and pain that was incurred from my accident. I must admit that I had withdrawl symptoms from Morphine when I was discharged from the hospital but overcame them in a few days. Later I went to see a doctor and he perscribed me some Ultram or as generic is known "Tramadol" it took some time to get used to,because at first its not a pain reliever it feels like a sedative or something, but once I did it did ease the pain and ease the symptoms especially the ones I have the most trouble with which are the damage to a nerve that extends to my stomach, in fact one of my stomach muscles was collapsed which looked kind of deformed for about a year. I started to run out of the perscription before it was time for a refill and this happend time and time again I felt extremely dependent I never felt like this even with the vicodine or whatever else I took. I have a tremendous amount of will and I told myself I am getting off of this **** no matter what. It was so tough but I did it and the withdrawls continued for two-weeks I have never encountered anything so mentally challenging and difficult to beat.  I'll tell you I have fasted for a couple of days no food no water while still training like a madman to get down to weight for competitions and I thought that was mentally challenging for the normal human. Over the course of my two-week withdrawl I developed sores in my mouth like blisters probably because of the fever and chills I got, but man, I thought,"this is heavy duty" I can't believe how rough this is. I would not advise the use of this medicine to anyone and the doctor said "don't worry about it it's not a narcotic medine" Well it might not be narcotic but it sure has some allout more than narcotic effects. I have since stopped taking it and am now taking some other medicine that does'nt totally take my pain away(ibuprophen) but I don't care I will probably have to live with it for the rest of my life it's nagging but tolerable. I can still workout and strengthen my muscle tissue and train hard but not to where I'll injure myself it seems that it helps with the pain. I still take some vicodin every once in a while but only when I can't stand it. Also, if there is someone with a similar problem with nerve damage that extends to their stomach and still bothers them please, please email me with any suggestions on treatment.  I invite anyone or any other person with a similar story to email me. But to recap please Say No To ULTRAM!

by sundara, Apr 26, 2003 12:00AM
This forum, has definitely been my "thread" back to life.  As of today i have not had any vicodin ES or percocet after an 18 month habit of anywhere from 4 to 12 a day . . . tried to taper . . . never worked for me . . went searching internet for help . . someone suggested Ultram . . wow! . . .man, i tried several on-line places to order and THANK GOD, no one would send them to me . . .this forum has been most educational and heartwarming . . . i did the medically assisted rapid detox . . which consisted of many other drugs