Tramadol wothdrawl

[tphelp]

Hi. I have been taking about 8 50 mg of tramadol per day for the last month. I want to stop taking them but am scared of withdrawals. I was prescribed them for lower back pain. I  also taking seroquel, lamictal, lexapro and l tyrosine for bipolar depression. Do u think the withdrawal from the tramadol will be bad? Should I taper? What should I expect? Please help me. I'm scared. Thanks.

[donnah92]

The withdrawl to tramadol is almost none existent. It's mainly in your head. Withdrawl to hydrocodone and etc. Is horrible and most of the time you need to go into treatment only is your taking more than 10 a day for a long time.

[Julia M Aharonov, DO]

Even though tramadol is not considered a true narcotic medication and is relatively easily prescribed for pain by some physicians, it is as you have found out quite addictive and difficult to quit.  I would only imagine that the physician, who has been prescribing you the tramadol so freely, should be willing to help you out with the side effects of the withdrawals that you are now experiencing.  The withdrawal from it is essentially the same as the one for the opioids and usually takes several weeks of the really nasty symptoms followed by several more of just insomnia and general weakness and depression. S/he may be able to prescribe you some Requip for the restless leg syndrome and possibly something like Seroquel low dose for the insomnia.  But it does get better and better every day, so please don’t give up.  I encourage you to look at my blog on detox options for more info on withdrawals by clicking on my name and you may be interested in taking a look at my clinic’s website, www.mdsdrugdetox.com since we often detox patients with tramadol addictions.
Once you get through the withdrawals, the only thing you should keep in mind is as people start to feel really good after a few months out; they forget how bad the withdrawal really was and think they can start using again.  Just once or twice....  and they get caught up yet again.  Please try to remember how bad it is right now and stay far away from all drugs in the future.  It is just not worth it.
Good luck to you and my best wishes.