Anyone else tapering tramadol?

[Jbean77]

Hi all! I've read a bunch of tramadol posts, many
About people who have gone c/t. I am tapering. I'm wondering if there are more like me? A back story:  I've been on tramadol a little over a year. Rx for migraines. 200mg/day (4x50mg tabs). My husband also is on tram for a military related injury so I will occasionally take a little more when his pills come in. He doesn't actually know I have an Rx.  So, a couple weeks ago I called my md about coming off (at least drastically lowering) my fioricet dose (also for migraines) because I felt the Tylenol was causing rebound headaches. I had been on tram pre-preg and had more pain control where I could take less fioricet with a little higher of a dose. Well, my appt was made with a NP-- and suddenly she turns the table & treats me as a drug seeker/addict, ect. Aka:rude, uncaring! I was told to make a follow up appt with my MD (who I wanted to see to begin with!) because he wants me to taper tram & fioricet.

All in all- a blessing in disguise. While I wasn't planning on that I am open! I most recently had taken around 6-7/day because my husbands Rx had come in. So I started my taper like this: I made my 6 tabs into 4 equal doses, 1&1/2 tabs every 6 hours for 2 days to get the med level in my system. After 2 days I cut to 1&1/4 (approximately a quarter bc those are hard to cut evenly). Today is day 2 of that dose. I think I am going to continue for 1 more day as my anxiousness/irritability are minimal, they are definitely up. Sunday I will go to 1 tab 4x a day. This is the Rx I have (4x a day) and then my doc will give me his taper plan. I hope he gives me meds to help with the w/d issues if I need them. Also, in looking up my doc online to see if he has experience with w/d, dependence, addiction I found he is affiliated with the American board of addiction which makes me feel like at least he will know that tram is hard to kick, as some docs don't. I also see that he does suboxone (sp??) so I hope he wouldn't consider that for me! I think I could taper w/o that.

I have done this before. I took tram pre-pregnancy & had to quit when I found out I was pregnant. I had gradually got my dose down to 100 mg a day at that time, but had been on tram over 2 year at around 200-400mg. When I stopped, I was rough! Tiredness, sleeplessness, rls, ect. I never notice depression but I was pregnant at the time so maybe all the hormones played games with me?!  

If anyone else has tapered, I'd love some advice. Oh, and currently I'm down from my 6/day (as rx'd) fioricet to 2-3 a day and am taking my Xanax Rx for sleep but only about 1/2 of what my Rx is for. I've never used that med much....my Rx lasts me about 2x the amt of time it's written for.

[Jbean77]

Thanks @vicki595. I appreciate it. I don't really "crave" either drug. Tramadol definitely needs to be taken because I have become used to that being my "normal". Fioricet doesn't seem horrible. I've even had days earlier this week at 1 dose a day (bc my md office was not calling in a refill) and felt ok. I feel like the worst part with Fioricet so far is the caffeine withdrawal headaches. If I keep enough caffeine in my system I seem decently ok. Fioricet has always worked so well on my headaches (like 95% of the time) that its hard not to just kick a headache by taking a dose... not because I've "craving a high" or anything, but it just gets my headache so well. I was diagnosed with occipital neuralga- so i get alot of tension headaches starting with tightness in my neck.

I have been experiencing some w/d symptoms and I wasn't really sure what is different with w/d in tapering versus c/t, if there is a difference in the types of w/d I may experience, if that makes sense.

[vicki595]

Hi there- I've never had a problem with Tramadol but I've read the wd's can be rough so tapering is a very good idea.  I DO have experience with Fioricet and that drug MUST be tapered.  It's admirable that you took on a taper of both drugs...I might have done one and then the other.

As far as advice or comments on your taper plan...we really can't say anything due to forum guidelines. We CAN tell you that a good taper plan involves dropping a small amount of the drug over time and the slower the better!

Keep posting with questions or for support. You're doing great right now!