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Tramadol

Hi all. I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia. My doc put me on tramadol and predisone. I have heard that withdrawing from tramadol is torture, but my doc says that I will probley be on it for life. So should I even be worried? Please share what you know about tramadol andvwithdrawls. Thanks.
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Avatar universal
Be VERY careful of this drug. I started taking one a day for moderate back pain. I felt LOADS better - until it started loosing effectiveness. Then I too started the slippery slope, but realized it and started looking into my "miracle drug". I realized there were a slew of side effects that I was writing off as pollen, dogs waking me up at night, too much manual work, bad diet, etc. They were all side effects of this drug and withdrawing from it is worse than the side effects, but I am not going to be held hostage to a drug. I rue the day that I asked my GP to prescribe it - and he very willingly gave it to me.
Only two good things have come of it - I reverse diagnosed myself and realized all the aches and pains and cold sensitivity are probably due to fibromyalgia (I fit all the symptoms) and I've lost some 12 lbs I've been wanting to get rid of for years :-).
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1416133 tn?1351123217
Hi tp - welcome back!  I wondered what happened to you!

What happened with your tapering plan?  I know that can be near impossible to do on your own, I remember very well and there was no way I had the discpline to do a taper.  But I do admire those who can.  I think the key is to have a lot of support and help doing it.

Tell us more about what's going on now and I'm sure everyone here can help.  It's good to see you again! :)
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Avatar universal
Hi!  I did got off of it, and if you want to, you certainly can too.  It's not going to be easy.  I would suggest working with your doctor, since you still go to them and have pills to taper with.  I didn't, so I went cold turkey from 15 a day.  I so do NOT recommend that!  Taper down some and then you'll be ready to stop.  Your doc can also help you with meds as you taper if you need like something for blood pressure that eases the withdrawal called clonidine.

After I stopped and got through the worst of the physical WD, the sleep and energy were the last things to come back.  Depression is a real problem with stopping tramadol too. Talk to your doc about that too.

I would definitely get off of them!  They will only get ahold of your life and soul and not want to let go if you don't!
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Avatar universal
Hi TP and welcome. I also have fibro and was in pain mgmt for years to deal with the pain.  While I don't have specific experience with Tramadol you are correct in that it is every bit as bad as detoxing off opiates.  How old are you and when your doctor says you will have to be in pain mgmt do you really feel he/she will manage your meds responsibly?  I ask because I went into pain mgmt at 30 - that is pretty young and honestly with better medical care, counseling and someone who understood fibro I COULD have managed it without the meds.  I just didn't know any better.  Have you asked your doctor what steps will be taking when you get adjusted to your Tramadol dosage, will he/she just up the dose and honestly how long can you do that?  I'm just trying to give you some food for thought here - think long term and possible scenarios.

I do want to say to you that while everyone who is in pain mgmt won't become an addict EVERYONE in pain mgmt will become physically dependent on their meds.  One day the Tram dosage you will take will no longer work and you'll have to bump it up or switch to something else.  This is where it can get tricky.

You will have to make your own decisions on how to manage your Fibro but in hindsight I would have gotten much more educated (when I was diagnosed it still wasn't a "real" condition), I would also seek out a really knowledgable naturopathic/alternative doctor who specializes in fibro.  please, please don't just rely on pills as I did - it is a road to great pain.

Also I want to suggest going over to the Fibro forum and seeking out a member by the name of Nikodicreta - he is in the UK and he is very very knowledgeable about Fibro - if you can go through the postings for last couple of days he posted a whole "What to do" about it I think maybe Wednesday or Thursday.

My biggest hurdle was learning there are many other ways outside of pills - for me they no longer worked, my body was crying out for me to increase my intake and I saw where things were headed - so I stopped 54 days ago and I am really happy I did.

Fibro hurts, it hurts your body and over time will hurt your soul because you feel so helpless.  If I can give you any advice at all is get yourself a bag of tricks outside of pills to help you manage (even if you do choose pain mgmt ultimately).

I'm here and will answer any questions you have or give you support.  I hope this helps you in some small way.  I totally understand where you are coming from.

Hugs :)
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