Docs advice

I have been taking ultram for about 9 years.  I started taking it for a herniated disk and initially was taking 100mg four times a day.  Even after my back healed and the pain was tolerable, I continued to take it because of how it made me feel.  About 3 years ago I forced myself to cut down to 100mg three times a day without any problems or withdrawal.  Six months ago, I became determined to get off this stuff and have been weaning myself down from 100mg three times a day to a quarter of a 50mg tablet (12.5mg).  I didn't experience much withdrawal until I went down from 100mg twice a day to 100mg once a day which was about three weeks ago.  Like I said I am down to 12.5mg per day (once in the morning) but cannot shake the constant spells of cold sweats and chills that run down my spine and arms causing "goose flesh."  These symptoms aren't as bad or frequent as they intitially were but will not go away and have been continuing for 2-3 of weeks now.  Do you have any advice or know how long these symptoms can last?  Should I continue to take the 12.5mg in the morning or just stop now?  I'm not sure if I should continue to take it until withdrawal goes away (if it ever will) or am I as good as I'm going to get while being on it? I honestly don't crave the drug anymore and want off of it as soon as I can, it's just the continuing withdrawal that is very difficult to deal with and carry on with a normal life. Any advice you have would be helpful.  Thanks again.

[J T Junig, MD PhD]

Congratulations on getting this far with your taper.  With any taper, there will come a time when the person has several episodes of 'mini-withdrawal' during the day as each dose wears off-- that is the time when it is best to just stop taking the medication altogether.  As Nick said, you SHOULD feel better after a couple weeks, although there are some people who have effects lasting for months.

The 'sweats' can be very uncomfortable;  you describe them as 'cold' sweats, but some people find relief by running cold water from the faucet over their hands as soon as the sweats start-- this sometimes 'breaks' the sweating episode.  I have had some success treating the sweats from opiate withdrawal using neurontin (the generic name is gabapentin);  this medication is pretty safe and is not a controlled substance.

[nick30]

the sooner you stop taking it, the sooner these symptoms will cease. at most they should last 7-10 days. if you need more advice, please post this in the addiction:substance abuse forum. there are tonnes of ppl there with lots of experience.
best of luck to you.

nick