IS THIS NORMAL!

[dani170]

I just need to know that all these tramadol withdrawals are normal even if I was only taking them for 2 months!!! Insomnia, sweats, the flu symptoms but 10times worse...and everything else!!!!!!!!!!! Please let me know!!!!

[dani170]

You're welcome!! I'm proud of 3 days, I could only imagine what it's like to accomplish 6 months of being free of Tramadol! As long as we know we're on the right path and clean, no one can tell us otherwise! I'm all about "pats on the back"
Good for you!!!!!!

[ImDONENoMore]

Thank you SO much dani170 for the congratulations.  I don't hear that much so it means a lot to me.  I wish the same for you - to be happy without drugs.  It's possible and you are slowly learning that.  Thank you.  I know you're going to do great.  I believe it.  :)

[dani170]

Thanks for the motivation and support!
You're 6 months drug free? That's amazing!! Good for you and that it such a great motivator for me!! Recovery is never easy and hopefully we've learnt our lessons through all this crap!! Thanks for your talks and I really do appreciate this. I was the same as you, just reading the stories but not writing. Then I thought, screw this, I needed tools to help me go through withdrawal and this site was the perfect place!
I check in often as well so if you need anything...I a story away!
Conrats on the 6 MONTHS!!!!! WOW you should be sooo proud of yourself!!

[ImDONENoMore]

Hi dani,

Good for you!  ANY sleep is a big deal now, I know.  It was SO hard in the beginning - I literally could not even shut my eyes (a weird twitchy thing) long enough to fall asleep.  I'm so happy that you got that sleep - it is a VERY big deal!!

And I'm glad you continue to post - it took me a while to get up the nerve to come on here as I would just read and read, for hours, before I finally thought I might have something to say, or offer to others.  To know that maybe your experience might have some meaning to someone else is huge during recovery.  It helps to boost your confidence about your choice, and it helps you to stay motivated.  For what it's worth, I am very very proud of you!  :)

I'll keep checking in - and feel free to message me - I'm happy to share my experiences further and offer any help that I can.  I'll be hitting the 6 month mark soon (whew!) so although I'm still relatively just a "newbie" maybe what I did during the really tough times during different phases of withdrawal will help you too.  I feel so happy for you right now!  :)

[dani170]

Hi there,. Just writing on here and excited to say I slept 2 hours!!! It was 72hours without sleep or Tramadol and I finally got a bit of rest!!! Wow I can't believe how exciting it is...weird but not!!!!!

[dani170]

Wow, you're inspiration really helps and I really want to thank you for taking the time to express all that to me. I'm so happy that you finally were able to get off Tramadol and stay off!! Congrats! Yes, it's the worst feeling I've ever experienced and the advice you gave me is excellent! It's 1230am and I'm going to try the bath with epsin salt right now...
I heard about the Emily post and I'll look at it when I have more patience to sit at the computer...lol I thinking you know what I'm talking about...I'm starting to sweat and shiver so "hello bath"
Thank you and I will head out (or husband) to the drugstore and purshase your recommendations...anything helps and I'll try anything at this point!!!
Keep in touch!
much love

[ImDONENoMore]

Hi dani170,

I was addicted to tramadol for over 6 years.  I quit cold turkey almost 6 months ago and the withdrawal was the worst thing I ever felt in my life.  I also quit xanax at the same time and together, the experience was something I never ever want to relive again.  Ever.

I know what you're going through.  Tramadol is a sneaky little poisonous drug.  Besides being a synthetic opiate, there is also an anti-depressant in this medication, which seriously messes with your serotonin levels (explains the "happy" feeling you get from this med).  I was taking sometimes up to 20 pills (50 mg) and I was spiraling out of control.  I remembered nothing, I lied to everyone in my life all the time, and the only one who really knew how bad my addiction was was my husband.  If it wasn't for him, I don't think I'd be here right now.

Now, as far as what helped me get through.  In the beginning, I took ALOT of hot showers and used epsom salts as a "scrub" as the magnesium in the salts help draw out toxins thru the skin.  Sometimes up to 3 a night.  It was the only thing those days that brought me any relief from the horrible anxiety that this withdrawal brings on.  After about 3 weeks, I googled "tramadol withdrawal" and found emily posts thread titled "day 45 again tramadol withdrawal cold turkey".  The information I found there, well, I don't know how to emphasize enough how much it helped me.  It gave me a lot of great advice and I read all of it - and the reading was a great distraction for me - helped me stay motivated and also gave me something to do when I wasn't sleeping.

So anyway, I began taking vitamins and supplements, every day without fail.  That included fish oil tablets, a daily multi-vitamin, st. johns wort and b12 sublingual tablets.  It's not an immediate effect and they take some time to work.  But I swear by them today and still take them.  When I hit the 6 month mark (this Sunday) I'm going to stop the st. johns wort.  I took that to help ward off the depression and it helped SO much.

I also made sure I had plenty of comfort food in the house.  I didn't have an appetite in the beginning, so I lived on yogurt, chicken soup, saltines, ginger ale, orange and apple juice.  I also made sure I had plenty of clean "workout" clothes - anything comfy, so that when the night sweats came (and they did with a vengeance) I'd have something clean to put on.  I basically lived in my bed for the first couple of weeks, and then finally I was able to get up, get out and get moving.  Moving and any activity helped me so much, and it helped my sleep too.  And for sleep I found melatonin to be more helpful than the OTC sleep aids.  Bananas also helped me with the restless legs - something to do with the potassium.

The other thing I can tell you is to keep your expectations low for now.  Don't expect to feel better too quickly or you'll just end up frustrated and that just magnifies the withdrawal.  And keep posting - getting your feelings out now is key to finding a new way to cope.  My only coping skill, before coming here, was taking a pill.  I now find that reaching out and getting support from my loved ones, and all of the wonderful people here, to be a much better way to cope.  We have to change the way we deal with things there's just no way around that.  Taking pills is no way to cope, right?  So I decided that I no longer knew better and that I had to follow those who had succeeded because obviously they knew something I didn't.

I hope this helps - feel free to ask me anything.  And tramahater and madtram are great sources of advice too and they will probably reply to you as well.  I have faith that you can do this - with my high dosage and the years of usage, I never thought I would find a way out.  But I did.  And you will too!  I wish you much luck.  :)  p.s. sorry for such a long post - i just get so angry when i see another victim of tramadol.  there are so many of us out there now it's very very sad.  the dr.'s need to change their way of thinking when it comes to this drug.  non-narcotic, not habit forming?  yeah, right.  we know better don't we?

[dani170]

wow, thanks to all of you! I will try all your adive and take the baths, vitamins, walks and I'll look up the Thomas Recipe for sure!! I can't believe what all of you have gone through and it sounds like you know what I'm going through... wow thank you soooo very much and I really appreciate all your support even though you don't even know me...
Yes there are good people out there!! DAY 1 is almost over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vicki595]

Dani...It sounds normal. Tramadol is such a bear! Between the opiate and the antidepressant component,it takes a few weeks to feel half way normal. There are a few
Tram survivors on here and hopefully they'll see your post. Send a note to Tramahater if she doesn't post. Also,Madtram. They've been there.

Do everything you can to feel better! Take your vitamins with minerals. Drink a lot of water. Drink apple juice and eat some bananas. Eat as best you can. Walk outside!
Take a lot of hot baths. Motrin 800mg 3x per day will help the aches and pains. Try some Nyquil for sleep. It takes time but it gets better better...like everything else!

Good luck!

[nomorepills66]

It is normal. Tramadol is a hard one to detox from. Try to take a lot of hot baths.  As many as you can. Also try and get out of the house or have someone come over to talk to get your mind off how bad the wds are. It always helped to not be sitting at home no matter horrible I felt. Hang in there. I know how hard it is. My doc is hydrocodone but wd from tramadol after taking a bunch and they were the worst ones I have had. Good luck.

[tryingtoquitasap]

Unfortunately, it is normal. 2 months is more than enough time for your body to develop a physical dependence on any opiate. While I've never taken tramadol, I am currently detoxing from a relatively minor heroin/oxycodone addiction, and believe me, I can sympathize with you. This forum is what helped me get through--post away and we are here for you!! I couldn't have come to day 5 without help from people here, especially because I wasn't able to tell anyone who is close to me.

You should look up the Thomas Recipe. A lot of people swear that it helps them, and it certainly has helped me. My best advice is to take 400mgs of advil two or three times a day; I found that it helped with my restlessness and aches.

Your body is probably pleading you to put more tramadol into it so it can feel better. Let me tell you-- when you get over the "hump," so to speak, you will feel much, much better, not only physically, but mentally. DO NOT GIVE IN. Be strong and keep posting. We will help you through this if you are truly determined! I don't know if you were getting it illegally or legally, but if it is the former, then turn off your phone if you have the luxury of doing so, and don't respond to your dealer(s), and do not respond to your doctor if it is the latter.

**You do not know where to get it, you do not know how to find out where to get it, and you only have a bad case of the flu.** It DOES end! I promise! Take it second by second. If you are able to stay clean for one more second, then you are one more second to putting this behind you.

Sorry to ramble, but sobriety is better than any drug there is! And a whole hell of a lot cheaper! Hang in there and we can help!