Tramadol withdrawal

[cjjg1234]

I was prescribed tramadol 9 months ago. My dr messed up my tubes being ties and i had a few surgeries,part of my stomach cut out and was hooked to a wound vac for a couple of months. All of this was very painful but i told my dr I did not want to take pain pills because I was terrified of becoming addicted because I knew I would have lots of pain over a long period.  he told me that tramadol was not addictive so I should take that.  It is I discovered very addictive.  I do not want to take this anymore. I quit cold turkey 2 days ago.  I can not stop throwing up.  I have the shakes,can not sleep and anxiety too. However, it is extremely hard to take care of my 9 monthold daughter while constantly throwing up. Does anyone have any advice? I do not know if this matters but I have not told my husband any of this. He thinks I have the flu and he works all the time so he is unable to help much

[cjjg1234]

This is going to sound silly but I made myself play with my daghter for a little bit and it helped in a huge way.  Still feel like complete and utter crap but her huge smile when I was playing with her helped my mood alot and reminded me why I am doing this.

Also...I called my dr and made an appt ....called my best friend and asked her to come over tommorow so I could tell her some things....last but certainly not least...I called my husband and asked him to get home at a decent hour today cause we needed to talk about some things.

I am absolutely terrified of teeling these people but I can not do this alone.  It is not good for my children to be ignored and I need help right now.

Wish me luck cause I am so scared he will look at me differently and as corny as it sounds he is truly the love of my life

[ImDONENoMore]

Okay - BOY do I know what you're going through.  Tramadol was my DOC for 6/7 (not sure because tramadol STOLE my memory) years and in my opinion, the WORST pain killer out there - it's not only a synthetic opiate, but also contains the chemical components of an anti-depressant which is why the withdrawal is SO horrible.  But I will tell you that if you haven't taken it for a couple of days I do NOT recommend going back on to do a taper.  There are reported cases of seizure but from what I understand, that was ONLY when you've taken high doses, or stopped and started again on a high dose.  I have not read any reported cases of seizure after you've stopped.

Okay as far as what you can do to help you through this - firstly, I started taking the vitamins/supplements and they helped SO much.  This included a daily multi-vitamin, fish oil tablets (three times a day) b12 (for energy) twice a day, morning and noon, and St. John's wort (300 mg tablets three times a day).  The St. John's I am convinced kept me from getting the depression that happens to so many of us.  It helps to regulate those serotonin levels in your brain as you're going through recovery as the tramadol REALLY MESSES with those levels.

Also, I began taking valerian root for anxiety - not a lot, only when that got really bad.  And for sleep - HOT HOT showers, and melatonin.  It helps to keep a lot of comfy clean clothes on hand as you may end up experiencing the night sweats (which were horrible for me) so it helped my mindset to have clean comfortable clothes to change into.  Also clean linens on the bed also helped my mood.  But I can NOT stress the help I received from those hot showers and I would also use epsom salts (as a kind of "scrub") in the shower as the magnesium from the epsom salts helps draw out toxins through your skin (your largest organ) thereby helping you to eliminate the awful tramadol toxins stored in your body.  And the added benefit to the hot showers is that it helps alleviate your anxiety - allows you to kind of "breathe" for a little bit.  There were times that I took THREE showers during the night to help with those awful feelings, and they helped SO much I can't stress that enough.

And the other things that helped were staying hydrated - although I had trouble, early on, drinking water (it made me nauseous) so I would drink orange or apple juice with a "b boost" drink added to it for the extra vitamins/nutrients.  And that helped to settle my stomach, along with small glasses of ginger ale or gatorade.  And my appetite was pretty bad after I quit, so I basically lived on saltines, soup and yogurt.  And bananas were good during this time too and also has the added benefit from the potassium it offers which will help with the rls (restless legs syndrome) - not sure if this has occured for you yet, but if it does, the bananas help a lot with that.  I would eat toast and tea at night, along with some peanut butter on the toast, and a banana.  The peanut butter helps promote sleep and the bananas kept the RLS at bay.  At least it did for me.

And lastly - keep posting!!!  Or reading - there's a journal on this web site about Emily's journey when getting off tramadol that was HUGE in my recovery.  I could relate to everything she wrote and all of the information I found on her journal was so so helpful to me.  I learned so much about this poison (tramadol) and what to expect along the way, and found that knowledge to be HUGE for me during recovery - maybe that might help you as well?  And the bonus there is it gave me something to read on those nights when I wasn't sleeping - let me know if you want to check it out and I'll lead you there.

Oh and finally - STAY POSITIVE - or at least, as positive as you can.  Getting off this drug was the BEST decision of my life - I am over 8 months clean now so it CAN be done - I am proof of that as are many other members here are as well.  I can not tell you how angry it makes me that Dr.'s are still touting this drug as non-addictive or non-narcotic.  That is SIMPLY NOT THE CASE.  I too had various surgical procedures over the years and NEVER had a problem getting off of the standard opiates (vicodin, percocet, whatever) like I did with the tramadol and I KNOW it was the anti-depressant in that drug that made withdrawal so horrible.  But keep the faith here cjjg1234 this CAN be done.  Feel free to pm me if you'd like and I'd be happy to share my experiences with you.

I'll be rooting for you all the way - YOU CAN DO THIS!!  :)

[cjjg1234]

i know i can not stay on drugs the rest of my life and i really do not want to

i keep looking at my daughter who is playing by herself on the floor and i feel so guilty for doing this to my family

not only that but this pain is so much worse than anything i have ever done brfore

[Baker3336]

You'll only feel better for a very short amount of time then your right back in it. Your too close to break down. It ***** but just stick it out. Look at what that stuff has done to you. Get angry at the meds. Don't let them ruin your life. Kick their ***. They are trying to wreck you, u know that. It's the biggest fight in your life and u and your family is on the line. You can win! Tough it out.

[vicki595]

Don't do it...You'll feel even worse!!

[cjjg1234]

I do not know if I can do his.  I am just sitting here crying and my whole body hurt.

I feel like  failure as aperson and a mother right now.  Thus is too hard.  

All I can think about is taking a pill to feel better.