I just wanted to give my history of Tramadol and let you make your own judgement whether or not they are addictive.  I started by taking a couple every now and then for back pain as I was also told that they were non-addictive.  I thought, wow, this is great, I can take care of my pain and not have to worry about becomming addicted to the med itself.  Then I slipped and fell on the ice about a year ago and I was taking about 1000 mg's a day of tramadol for shoulder pain only to later find out that I had a fully torn rotator cuff and a bicep that was no longer connected to my shoulder area at all.  A pharmacist finally said that he was no longer comfortable giving me large quantities of the tramadol even though the doctor would write out the scripts for them.  So, my doctor basically cut me off cold turkey.  I was very angry with him as he should have at least allowed me to wean myself away from them.  But, instead, he sent me on my way with some adovan and basically said good luck.  What an ********.  I ended up in a treatment center for a week just to try to keep from having a heart attack or whatever else.  Luckily, the center gave me clonodine and valium to allow me to detox with some dignity.  It wasn't a month after that my new doctor put me on hydrocodone for my shoulder and since then I have had 4 surgeries on my shoulder and had intense pain.  Now, I'm working to try and get off of the hydro as it has taken over my life.  I was taking up to 20  325/10's a day.  If the opiate doesn't kill me, the tylenol damn sure will.  I have recently switched over to oxycodone extended release and it seems to be working ok.  Not perfect, but ok.  At least I'm not ingesting all of that tylenol anymore.  Please be careful with the tramadol.  It is a wonderful drug if used the right way.  But, it can get out of hand very, very quickly.  Good luck and take care.

Thank you so much for your posts, guys. I'm attempting the wean off of Tramadol now but am considering c/t over the long weekend. I find I can go 1-2 days without any severe or disruptive symptoms but after that, yeesh! And just like you both, I truly and honestly believed they were not addictive.I just want to get over this awful, awful pickle I got myself into and get on with life without pills!

i really appreciate you posting how ADDICTIVE tramadol can be. I for one, have been rx tramadol, ultram and ultracet many, many times in the past. Unfortunately i have endometriosis and chronic pain from all the scar tissue. NONE of the above mentioned medications do anything for me!!! I have been on hydrocodone for years and we all know what that means...addiction.... I will say with the help of all the ppl here i am finally able to take it as prescribed and when i have "real pain" but it is a daily struggle for me. I have never understood how tramadol could be addictive. but i have made MANY friends here who have gone thru horrendous w/d's from it. you know over the yrs the dr's prescribed these to me saying that "they were NOT addictive" and a better option than narcotics. but they always bothered my tummy along with Darvocet. I guess i should be grateful i never really took them. I cant even begin to imagine having another pill to be addicted to and have w/d's from.

I'm so glad that you and others with personal experience to this post the dangers of taking a prescription medication that many dr's tell their patients are perfectly "safe" and are non-narcotic so they dont have to worry about addiction. I learned a long time ago not to believe EVERYTHING the dr. tells me. i ALWAYS do my homework before i take ANYTHING anymore....

luv ya,
tink  :)