Hydrocodone/Tramadol Withdrawal

[ROPAN]

Hello everyone!  I'm a newcomer to this forum but I regret not coming on sooner, as I probably would have been feeling a lot better by now. My problem is as follows:  I have moderate arthritis in both my knees due to 15 years of running on hard and irregular surfaces, which wore cartilege away, allowing arthritis to settle in. For the past 5 years, I've been on Hydrocodone and Tramadol(2 a day) to help with the knee pain. For the first few years, it really helped alleviate the pain, but for the past year and one half or so, I've noticed a decrease in the help the meds used to offer, so I've decided to slowly wean myself off them. However, for the past several weeks, I've been feeling terrible. By that I mean, depressed, extremely tired,(and I mean "wiped out), irritable,anxious with a fear that something terrible is going to happen, itching and yawning. But thanks to this Med Forum and Website, I 've learned that these are all symptoms of Hydrocodone/Tramadol withdrawal. So,in order to get thru my days feeling well, I resumed taking at least 1 and 1/2 pills a day, otherwise I can't deal with daily problems, chores, a part-time job, etc. Does anyone have any idea as to how I can get off these things completely and feel normal again? I would rather deal with the knee pain than to feel so totally out of sync and so miserable,so much so that all I find myself doing is sleepng. How do people feel when they have been taking 8 to 10 pills a day or more. God, I can't even begin to imagine. I'll be anxiously looking for your comments.

Appreciatively, ROPAN

[gipsee]

What happens is.... in the beginning to taking these narcotics ... is...they do make you feel better.  They truly don't do anything to relieve the pain, they...it..the drugs just lets your brain react differently to the pain.  Essentially you still have the pain, your just feeling it the was you used to feel it.

The original dosage Rx'd by the Dr. is fine... and it helps...HOORAY... BUT after a while the drugs lose their effectiveness not because of any other reason than you need more of the drug to do the same thing.   At that point you start to get "hooked" on them not only physically but menally also.   People who are on high doses (unless they are using them to party and buying them on the street) don't feel that they are high...or anything else but taking pain meds.   Eventually your attitude changes, irritability sets in, lack of concentration comes along, and abuse starts because you automatically think if you take more, you'll be better.   Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

I was on two-pills a day ... 1/2 at a time for 2 years...never abused ran out on the exact date the next perscription was due...then I had a really serious surgery got an infection and was put on a pain pump....so when all that was over my two pills a day were worthless and my story digresses from that point.    YOU WILL go through withdrawal symptoms if you are not taking enough of the drug, and unless you say something to the Dr. he'll not know what you tolerance is.

I personally tried to talk to my PCP about this last visit and her remedy was to give me more pills each month.   I have Fibromyraliga as well.   I have already refused the Fetnyol patch, and I don't want anymore of this kind of pain killer I just can't do that any more.

There are quite a few people in the forum who take more than my 8 pills a day...but they probably got there because they didn't know where else to go.   The pills make you feel like you can accomplish anything.   If I learned anything the past two weeks on these forums is that you can compare, condone, or disapprove of what anyone else is doing... we're all different.   If your 1.5 pills are working and you have a perscription and they are not affecting your life then yer good bud.... if they are putting even a small dent in your performance or the way you feel... just take it on the shoulder and stop them.   Eventually you will go from horrible, to bad to much better.   For myself, I just can't see replacing one drug with another...I was taking Xanax it was doing the same thing to me ..because I took such a small dose for such a long time I had all the symptoms of withdrawl.   I just stopped taking them.

I have use them 2x's in the last couple of days to sleep and stop the Restless Leg Syndrome I had because I stopped cold turkey with my hydrocodone.     Tramadol is something I know very little about... for some reason I thought it was a synthtic narcotic i didn't realize it was an addicting drug... but after reading about it here I guess I was wrong.

Good Luck... and since your dose is so small ... if you are truly worried or ill at ease with the affects, just stop now before you realize the upping the dose will make the syptoms (symptoms) go away... then is the true merry-go-round.

Good Luck, Happy Holiday
and Talk to your Dr.
Gip