Ultram Addiction

[John P.]

I have been taking Ultram for the past 6 months and am up to 6 pills a day (300 mg a day) I have been taking Ultram for a herniated disc,after 2 mthsI started experiencing small side effects, sweating, nausea, headaches and I thought I had the flu. But these symtoms continued, I discovered these were side effects of Ultram. As the next few months continued, symtoms got worse, hallucinations started and I ended up in the emergency room one day.  They diagnosed me with Ultram addiction- up until that point no one believed Ultram was addicting. I was given Librium to relieve the withdrawal from ULtram.  My doctor prescribed Vicodin and I am going through "living hell". Should I have quit the Ultram cold turkey and gone right to Vicodin or should I first have phased out slowly the Ultram before going to the Vicodin.My body is so confused.It is my 4th day with no sleep, terrible cramps, stabbing pains in my stomach, feeling like a cat is clawing me inside and my body is being ripped to pieces, joints all hurting like the flu and I am taking the librium and valium. I realize I can get addicted to the Vicodin, so I have been trying to not take the full dosage.

[Brian to Imus]

You are quite right when you say that for someone used to strong opiates, Ultram feels like it has no effect (and certainly no high).  This does not make it non-addictive, and if you don't believe me, do a search on the internet and you will see postings from many people addicted to Ultram and having terrible withdrawal.

[cj]

Imus, are you an ass or just run your mouth like one? just kidding, ultram might not do anything for someone who does a bunch of drugs, it's all in the tolerance levels.

[Imus3 ;.to brian]

are you a doc????? or do you just like to run your mouth like one;.;.just jokin, how the hell does anyone get ''addicted to ultram?? I took 8 of them a day for maby a week befor i made the doc give me a real med, they dont do anything to you so what is there to get addicted to? I can understand geting addicted to oxycodone , morphine, benzo's and meds like that because they are relaxing and get you high and all, but I  think all this ultram addiction **** is way over done,

[Brian to N/A]

What you are experiencing is symptomatic of Ultram addiction.  Although Ultram is not a narcotic, it binds to the same receptors and actually has a more difficult withdrawal.  Beware.

[n/a]

I too have notied that ultram can be very hard to refuse espiecially when you are trying to deal with alot of pain.Ihave alot of problems with my neck and back and when the doctors prescribe ultram I find myself feelling very uneasy about running out.

[Geoff H. "Kava Kava"]

I just read a study that came out of Norway that demonstrated that taking T.I.D. doses of Kava Kava was better than Benzodiazepine over something like a 6-month period for treatment of anxiety symptoms. Of course, this was just one study I have come across, but also seems to be a lot of anecdotal information out there about Kava Kava effectiveness in treatment of anxiety symptoms.