My husband has been taking around 10 50mg Tramadol tablets a day for five years. He's just tapered down to 3 35mg pills a day but he's about out. Will going cold turkey from this point be a dramatic difference? He already has a lot of symptoms... just trying to be prepared so I can help as best as I can. Thanks.
Yes you can take them separately at different doses, as long as it has been 6 hours since your last percocet dose. In rare cases, it could cause withdraw symptoms but this is uncommon.
I wouldn't mix both together though without talking to your pharmacist first.
Can you take tramadol while on percocet, instead of percocet, for one or two doses?
Dawn,
http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/aboutmethadone.pdf
According to the Methadone factbook, taking tramadol while already on methadone treatment will cause withdraw symptoms "in most cases". Withdraw is less likely to occur if you are on a low dose of methadone vs being on a high dose of methadone, but remember that everyone is different and that even low doses of methadone mixed with tramadol can still produce withdraw. Also, remember that methadone is a potent pain killer and that mixing other opoids might increase the effects of side effects such as respitory depression, which can be life threatening.
I would highly recommend consulting a pharmcist before taking tramadol with methadone. Above all the warnings I gave, IF you must use both together, make sure the tramadol is a very low dose (37-50 mgs) so that if you do get side effects or withdraw, they are minimized.
Can you tell me if i took tramadol with my methadone will taking the tramadol cause withdrawal from the methadone.The people at the clinic said that it would but they also say other things that I found werent true.I would only be taking it for a few days so getting addicted wouldnt be a problem.
Yes in my own experience, even though it doesn't give a good enuf high, the withdrawals from it can be just as bad as other opoids.... therefore, it's best to avoid Tramadol for fun and for pain relief as well....
I definately see your point tzt. I mean like I said, ultra-tramadol can be used for withdraw treatment and pain management, as long as its done on a very short term basis. Personally, I still have tramadol that I keep on hand. If my pain is on the mild spectrum of moderate, ill sometimes use tramadol instead of stronger pain medicine, but I keep my use of it very limited and only for a short period of time due to the risks of long term and high doses. So I keep my use infrequent.
Everyone is different and they react different ways to medication. Some use pain killers for a year and come off with zero withdraw. Some use it for 3 weeks and have issues. Some get no euphoria while others get quite high. Some get sedated. Some get naseua. ect ect ect.
I think the biggest thing doctors need to do is to educate themselves better about tramadol and opiates and inform their patients more throughly of the risks and benefits.
RLS supposedly responds to tramadol therapy. In cases where RLS can be controlled by low doses of tramadol (37 to 50mgs), the risks of long term use in that instance might warrant using the medication. THERE ARE JUST SO MANY FACTORS AT PLAY!
Because tramadol has an anti depressant effect, someone who is depressed and in pain might benefit more from short term use of tramadol then someone whose socially happy. Labeling of products are often to short and more research needs to be spent by the manufacturer so that they can get more conclusive facts published.
I used it to get off norcos. I took 300 mg on day one and two (2 pills, 3 times a day) and then the next two days took 250 mg, the next two 200, and went down 50 mgs every two days. At the end of it all I still had minor wds, sniffles a bit of the runs and restlessness.
I agree that if you do choose to use it, use it for only 10-12 days and then just go off everything. As always, it effects us all differently and some seem to get more addicted to ultram than vicodin.
I just know that in my case it helped because without I would have had to take time off work.
I definately feel hydrocodone is overall safer and more effective for pain relief then tramadol, yet not as sedating or addictive as percocet. Like I said, they still can be addictive, especially if taken in high doses so try to keep your dosing at 5 to 10 mgs if possible.
I've found that taking 800 mgs of ibuprofin is a good secondary pain reliever for treating moderate pain and moderate severe pain. For mild moderate pain, you might even be able to half your vicodin doses or not take it at all if you use ibuprofin 800. For me, I have moderate range chronic back pain so I try to take 1200 mgs of Ibu a day to try and minimize my need for vicodin. So my average day will consist of 800 mgs of ibu and 5 mgs of vicodin, and then for my late day dose 400 ibu and 5 mgs of vicodin again. anymore than 1200 ibu a day tends to tear up my stomach as I am very sensitive to ibu.
Wow that's some good info on the ultram. I had a hard time adjusting to not taking it and switching over to hydros. I have been off them i guess for about 3 months now and i am just now starting to come out of the funk. And the small amount of hydros I'm taking now are starting to work better for me.
ohh, and coconuts, another thing.
If you must use it, remember that it can still cause sedation so use caution while driving, ect. Tramadol (-) molucules prevent the reuptake of seretonin and using saint johns wart or other anti depressants has the potential to cause seratonin syndrome, which could be fatal.
How long does your doctor want you taking it and how much?
Coconuts,
IF you must use tramadol, use it for a period of 14 days or less and at the lowest possible dose. If you use it for 7 to 14 days, your risk for developing a tolerance should be relatively low.
Remember that depedancy for this drug can form in about 1 month, LESS if you use higher doses. I'm not your doctor coconuts but if hes expecting you to use the medication for more than 14 days, I would consult with him to explain your concerns.
Everone is different and yu have to choose what works for you...often addictive drugs like benzos are recommended for detox...and in the perfect case scenario it would be nice to wd withot anything at all to help...this is not a perfect world...darvacet is much eaker than hydrocodone and could help with a taper...perhaps with a tramadol taper...a few get high off of darvacet taken in multplr does but dot usually at the prescribed dose...lots of tylenol too in darvacet....there are those who get a high from tramdol usually if the dose is abused..or someone who never has taken narcotics my get high from a darvacet...neither make me high and would doubt i would abuse darvact unless i started chewing 10 of them at a time....tramadol i dont know...i have taken 2 without a high but they say they sneak up on you...i am not sure of the dose than tram abusers used that had a rough wd so i dont know...be safe and many taper with a weaker narc and get off clean and happy if they use common sense and dont take bottle of darvact just as prescribed then quit those as well
So this is what the doc gave me yesterday for pain while I was detoxing. Given the fact that I only take two norcos a day, do you think this was the right thing for him to do???
As stated, try tappering off first. Exchanging one opiate for another has its risks BUT it might be the only way someone can come off a substance with long drawn out and severve withdraws. Subunex and methadone are often used for harder drugs as an opoid replacement therapy.
make no mistake about it. Vicodin is addictive, but if you have tried everything else to get off of tramadol, it might be a last resort option.
I know some of you highly disagree with this information, but again I feel for a select few, it may be beneficial. Don't forget it is possible to experience withdraw when switching medications. Again, this is a last ditch effort, as the only other thing you can do beyond this is goto a detox center. Opoid replacement therapy is controversial. Before trying it, as I stated above, consult a health professional please. It has worked for me in the past!!!!!
IF you tapper, try the 20 percent per week rule, and when you get to 20 overall, taper down by 5. That 4 weeks to get to 1/5 dose.
Tramadol is the worst narcotic developed over the past 30 years. IF YOU CAN AVOID IT, DONT USE IT! And thats another thing. The rate of seizures is quite high for such a "mild narcotic". a 300 mg dose is can easily cause a siezure. This coupled with the fact that its 8 hours between dosing and the medications effects can wear off in far less time then that. So the risk is you take 150 MGs for pain and then 5 hours later you are in pain again so you take another 150. The problem is that much of the tramadol is still active in your system so youve just increased your risk of siezures.
Thank you for that information. I hope it will help someone, or deter anyone from using this drug.
I am one of the ones who became addicted. Now, almost 3 months clean and hoping there will be more of an awareness of the potential for addiction to this med.
Us armys post has it right on , STUDY there is some great info about tramadol in your post but using vic to get of tram is asking to change over from one addiction to another .
Tapering of tramdol is not easy but many here because of seizure possibility's have done it.
I do agree with tapering as being the best method overall, but i think its definately one of the hardest methods because it takes time and discipline. A lot of people attempt tappering but fail. It is the most doctor approved method though, and for that reason, I do believe people should try it as the first step before trying other metods like opoid replecement.
I can see your point in the risk of abuse with hydrocodone, but for someone struggling with years of tramadol risk, i think the method is worth a shot, especially if they have tried tappering down first and were unsucessful. If they become addicted to hydrocodone or codine, ect in the opiate replacement method, they really are only left with one option. commitment to a detox facility. With all the cases of tramadol depedency, I hope they finally make it a controlled nacotic!
I definately agree that switching to tramadol to come off of hydrocodone is a bad move. IF a person is on hydrocodone, sometimes a switch over to Darvocet is successful. Darvocet though specifically is known to cause withdraw in people switching from other narcotics to it.
Again, sadly there's just no easy answer.
if trying to get off any opiate or synthic like tramadal it is just best to do a slow taper which will minimze the W/D but switching from a dependecy of tram to hydro for any addict would be detramental to the cause since the ephoric high would be so called better I have used both and that would be my opinion it would cause the abuse of the hydro's almost emidatly. so for some one dependent or addicted i would recomend taper to get off the med. now switching between the two I went from percs to tram and then back after my last surgery and had no problem with any of it. using tram to get off hydro's not a good idea in my book becouse of the chance of abuse.
medic1
One more note. Thank you Dakota for bringing up that valid point. Although again not common, you do need to be aware that switching narcotics can produce withdraw. I appologized if I seemed to be belitling these point, but due to tramadol's EXTREME withdraw symptoms, it is definately worth a try. If you are especially prone to withdraw or have experienced withdraw in the past by switching narcotics, you could try staying completely abstinent from tramadol for 2 days (which will cause intense withdraw for about a day) and then trying ONLY the hydrocodone. This might help allieviate the switch over possibility of withdraw and the overall symptoms of withdraw would be roughly one day. There is no easy answer to withdraw, and even hydrocodone can cause withdraw if used over a period of time, though not nearly as long as percocet.
A shout out to US army medic. I'm wondering if you could add anything to this my fellow NCO with your experience in dealing with dependency and patients being able to free themselves from these curses?
whats going on SGT yes I can see the rank in the picture.. just wanted to say hi to a fellow NCO
It is possible that it COULD cause a reaction but this is rare. In a few cases, the possibility of immediate withdraw does exist and if the withdraw that occurs is the same as if you were to quit tramadol cold turkey after dependency has occured. It is not dangerous or life threatening but is quite unpleasant. This is the same rare reaction that can occur when switching from tramadol to any other narcotic. Therefore for some this method will work well and for a few, they will have to find another means.
I have personally used this method before with no complications as have others. It worth a try since the worst that can happen is withdraw.
if you do some more research you will see that you cannot take vicodin until tramadol is out of your system because it will cause a very bad reaction...i accidentally did this once and i was VERY sick.