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.

[to Vicodin Gurll]

The symptoms you are describing are likely simply the interaction of the Ultram and Vicodin, not life threatening, just uncomfortable.  It sounds like you shouldn't be combining the two.

[froggee]

I have a question and hope someone can answer it really soon!
I have been taking Ultram for almost 8 months now for a herniated disk.  When cutting back on the Ultram I noticed withdrawl symptoms.  There are a few times during the months that I was taking ultram, that I feared I took and overdosed (sweated, getting really dizzy, unable to sit still, aggitated).  Well, last week I stopped Ultram and turned to vicodin.  I went through serious withdrawls from the ultram and even took up to 10 vicodin a day (I did this for about 3-4 days)to make the withdrawls go away.  Well I have started to cut down on everything, in a slow manner.  Yesterday i took 2 ultram in the morning 1 1/2 vicodin 6 hours later and then 2 ultram about 5 hours after that (the pain of the disk is still present).  Well about 4 hours after taking the last 2 ultram (around 10 pm) I started getting a really flush feeling and extremly lightheaded.  I got really scared, thinking I have damaged my liver or something.  This morning I took 2 vicodin (about 14 hours after my last dose of ultram the night before) and within 15 minutes I was getting extremly dizzy and flushed feelings again.  I am terrified that something is seriously wrong.  But then again it can be nothing and I am over reacting.  It is just that my chest goes cold, my fingers and feet tingle and I get really dizzy.  I also feel pain in my kidney area (more of a discomfort)  I am also constipated which I understand is a side effect of the meds.  Has anyone else experianced this?  Is the cold, dizzy, flush feeling due to constipation, my slowly stopping the meds or something serious like organ damage?
I am just really scared, but also know that I can be paranoid too.  I have a wonderful husband and 3 great daughters.  I can't talk to my husband about this, I am afraid that he will not understand and look down on me as a failure.  For being a cute suburban family, I sure am holding a lot of secrets.  About 3 years back I almost died due to surgery complications.  During my months of recovery I became addicted to vicodin and percocet.
I then turned to alchohol after the pills were gone and at that point everything went downhill.  I neglected my resposibilities as a wife and mom.  My marriage almost failed (any other man would have took the kids and left).  I can not tell my husband about this current situation.  Mostly for the shame and his emotions that what happened in the past would come back.  which I know that it won't but I can not blame him for worrying.  I am just scared about the wierd feelings that I am having.

[Dane]

I took Ultram for 2 years and had bad withdrawals.I was taking the maximum dose of 400mg.per day.The Ultram withdrawals are similar to other opiate withdrawals (nausea,flu-like symptoms,etc).What DOCS don't tell you is that Ultram is also a ssri type drug that works chemically with the serotonin levels in your brain.The more common of these drugs on the market include the likes of Prozac,Wellbuttrin,Paxil etc.,etc.I'm no Doc but my views are such that the increased serotonin levels in the brain caused by the use of Ultram provide a sense of well being and upon cessation the brain returns to its' previous levels resulting in increased depression compounded with the mild withdrawal symptoms associated with the drug binding to your opiod receptors.So I guess what I'm saying is that you're not going through a heavy duty opiod withdrawal but rather suffering more from the decreased levels of serotonin that causes depression when the drug is stopped.There are many web sites that can provide a more elaborate breakdown as far as Ultram use and Its' effects on serotonin levels in the brain.Hope this helps someone out there,sincerely,Dane

[From angeF to tom]

I did enjoy the Ultram High until I got addicted and you are right about those terrible Headaches they rank right up there with a MIGraine!!!! and last forever! Oh I have to use a stool softener too when I used the Immodium to help with the Withdrawl, I dont take anything anymore and I feel great.  I believe you are right about Ultram, Im sure they will Control that drug soon most likely a Schedule lV. Because it is completely synthetic.

[tom to AngeF]

AngeF, glad you enjoy the Ultram. I had the same euphoric experience but it faded out over a period of about a month's steady usage. I've tried it a few more times and can't get that initial high from it anymore. It is still a good pain killer, though. Don't count on the Ultram high too much, because I've heard a lot of other people talk about how the Ultram high disappeared the way it does in the Cocaine experience. You can also get some terrible headaches from chronic Ultram usage -- emphasis on TERRIBLE.
I'm surprised you can play with Imodium and not get hopelessly constipated. I'd need a truck load of stool softeners to counteract that stuff. But it's opioid properties do make it good for Vic withdrawal and, I'm sure, Ultram withdrawal. Enjoy while you can, because I get the feeling Ultram will be thrown into Schedule III, at least Schedule IV (with Darvon), very soon.

[AngeF]

Ultram is definately addictive, After taking
Vicodin Es for 6 months my doctor finaly cut me
off, I was given a script for Ultram, Of course
I didnt fill it right away I did not know
nothing about it and when I looked on the RX
list it was a non controlled substance, so I
Asumed it was not going to help my cravings for
the Vicodin, A week later after terrible
withdrawls for many days I decided to fill it
to help the body aches , The dosage was 1
tablet every 8 hours as needed for pain, so I
doubled it (100mg) in about and hour I felt
like  was in heaven,  thoughtit was better than
Vicodin, So of course I got on the web and
looked into the info on Ultram and found that
it peaks in 1 to 2 hours after oral ingestion,
so It takes a while but the high comes, and
lasts about 6 hours, the half life is 6 to 8
hours, I also discovered that therapeutic doses
could range from 50mg to 200mg in a single dose
but no more than 400mg a day!This is a man
copied Codeine! its says so in the pharmacology
section of the package insert(in so many words)
the chemists studied the phamacology and
structure of codeine and copied it, And called
it tramadol(ultram) very sneaky, but they did
not market it as a ontrolled subtance even
though in their clinical studies, Man
identified ultram as a narcotic,Ask the
pharmacist for the package insert on
ultram(legally if you are prescribed the drug,
they must make it avalable to you) and
read,read,read. Needless to say I went through
awful withdrawl, the only good think about
ultram is that it doest cantain nythg else lk
acetametaphen, which can cause liver damage if
abused. Another big secret within the pharmaist
and manufacturers community, is Immodium Ad
(loperamide) this is sold over the counter and
contains nothing more thana Man made Opiod
(narcotic type affects) Well Vicodin and al
those pain killers cause constipation, so they
made one to use as an antidiarreal, pretty
smart, I also got the package insert to this
from a pharmacist and believe me It tells you
alot more than it does on the package you buy.
It speciffically says" this should not be used
for longer than 2 days because it can cause
physical and psycolohgical dependence, under
pharmacology it says this is a synthetic opiod
with narcotic type side effects. This was a
drug I used to help with the Ultram withdrawl,
it helped alot, just take a stool softener a
day to keep from becoming constipated, It made
coming off Ultram a breeze this time. I am sure
it will help with any opiod withrawl and you
can run to wal-mart and buy it 18 2mg tablets
$3... Dont use more han two at a time or exceed
6-8 in a 24hr period, But it does help, he its
an Opiod