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weaninTramadol for opiate withdrawals
I am on day 4 of a hellish detox and yesterday I was lucky enoug to talk my doctor on the phone after office hours (I know this is rare but he know's my situation) He said in tougher cases like mine putting me on a weaning dose of Tramadol would alleviate alot of the symptoms until this is over. He said he would put me on a 5 day weaning dosage to get me to about day 10. He has had me on Tramadol for pain and I never came close to getting addicted to it...just not my thing I guess so here is my question has anyone had experiences with this...it is not one addiction for another as I will get between 10 and 15 pills and he has been my Dr. for 20 some years...I trust this man with my life...HELP PLEASE
Best Answer
The tramadol will definately help the wd but just remember that it is addictive also so just be careful with it. I took 2 a day for 5 days once to help me get thru the worst of the wd but if you have 4 days in your almost over the worst of it. Wishing you the best of luck!
I am getting a 5 day dosage that will be tapered down on the promise that I wll submit to a drug test every month for the next 6 months for him...I will not know when the tests will be, I will have 24 hour notice
From what I have read about some other doctors it sounds like yours is a blessing. Sounds like he attended some seminars on how to detox patients.
Good info up there. I was on the other opiates when I broke a toe and had to have surgey. The Tramadol was the last mediction he put me on. So it was like a taper. And way back then I did not know about the w/d and I took my last pill and went on my merry-way..I took them as prescibed and as long as he had me on them...The future held more issues and that is when my so called chem dependent or addiction took over it takes many yrs of over using to become an addict that my experience and I am sticking to it...Jordan made alot of good points about this...
vickie
vickie
Thank you so much. I think I culd have looked for hours on the web and not found a better answer.
Sorry, haven't been on the forum in awhile..been really busy but I thought I needed to weigh in here with my experience and clear up some misconceptions about Tramadol. Like FourJays, I have a long and painful history with a total and complete addiction to Tramadol that started after a legit script for pain following surgery. I had had a love affair with hydrocodone about 15 years ago after a car wreck, but started the Tramadol about 5 years ago and quickly went from the prescribed dosage to take 20-30 50mgs/day. Nothing prepared me for how horrible and toxic this drug is, how addictive it is, how many physicians are unaware of the implications of abuse and how absolutely horrible it is to WD from it...hydrocodone was a cakewalk compared to Tramadol WD. Tramadol is a synthetic opiate and binds to every receptor in your brain, in addition to being carried in almost every cell in your body, including fat cells which are the longest to turn over, hence a longer WD timeframe to clear. Also, it contains an SSRI component, so there are severe implications for depression and WD from it ....it creates a severe shortage of natural dopamine/serotonin in your brain which takes months for your body to start manufacturing on its own. FourJays and I (along with great help from folks like Clean_in_ks) have done a ton of research on this and are are doing a holistic supplement/diet approach to replacement and restoring normal brain function. I am 46 days into my ct wd and FourJays is over 100, yet we both still have issues with PAWS and energy levels. To anyone who says you can't get high off of Tramadol, please go through the 58 pages of journals on the Tramadol and Ultram site here and read these people's experiences with this "non addicting" synthetic opiate going back to EmilyPosts journals from 2008. I, for one, spent the last year in a total Trama-fog (as us Tramadol Warriors call it), lying on my couch doing nothing but waiting until i could take more and losing friends, family and a brilliant career in the process. I just loved the buzz it gave me and energy, but that too soon turned into a full blown addiction requiring more and more just like any other opiate does.
If I were anyone on this forum, I'd do some research on Tramadol before deciding to take it if it is prescribed....I'd run from it if I were you. It can be a horrible, evil drug. First step is to read the hundreds of people before me who have posted on the MedHelp Tramadol and Ultram Recovery Room pages. Link follows:
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/652914/Tramadol--ultram-recovery-room-57?personal_page_id=142
If I were anyone on this forum, I'd do some research on Tramadol before deciding to take it if it is prescribed....I'd run from it if I were you. It can be a horrible, evil drug. First step is to read the hundreds of people before me who have posted on the MedHelp Tramadol and Ultram Recovery Room pages. Link follows:
http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/652914/Tramadol--ultram-recovery-room-57?personal_page_id=142
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I would not question your doctor's treatment and competency based on what a stranger on the Net says about his or her personal and nightmare with the drug.
Your doctor sounds great and what I would do is ASK the doctor about your concerns related to his prescribing Tramadol. Your doctor knows his patient best. Moreover, you know your limitations, weaknesses, and attitude about certain drugs. It sounds like your doctor is working with you, taking into account what he knows about you.
Very generally, from what I have read, opioid taper plans fail because people can't deal with the withdrawal process. So if a doctor can prescribe things to lessen discomfort and help assure overall success, that sounds reasonable to me. Additionally, from the limited prescription it sounds like he is making sure you don't go from addiction to abuse or dependence of another drug.
(Note: As I understand Tramadol, you don't get addicted to it, you develop a dependence to it.) This distinction is similar to the Ambien I take. One does get addicted to Ambien, meaning if I don't take an Ambien my body is screaming for more. But I do have a dependence to it, where I need to take an Ambien at some point to get to sleep.
Regardless of medical terms, my understanding is that when going off Tramadol one suffers withdrawals too. But AFAIK suffering withdrawals does not medically escalate a dependence into an addiction. So this is why you may have never felt addicted to it, because it is non-addicting. And it may be what the doctor meant by it being non-addicting, if he said that.
Again, this is just my understanding, but when you say Tramadol does not do anything for you and it has never been your thing, IMO that's because Tramadol is not a drug that gets one high or gives a buzz. It is a pain killer that works differently than the strong opiates (Oxy, Vicodin, etc.)
Note: I have seen people, and myself, use "addiction" and "dependence" interchangeably. Although I tell people I am "addicted" to sleeping pills, I know that my Ambien use is a dependence. (The luxury aspect of a dependence is that if I don't take an Ambien I will not suffer WD symptoms, unless laying bug-eyed in bed unable to get to sleep is a WD symptom ;)
That Tramadol is not medically considered an addicting substance is indicated that the federal government does not treat it as a federally controlled drug. However, some States have passed laws or regulations listing and handling Tramadol as a Schedule IV controlled substance.
Hope that helps.
(Note: Getting rid of a dependence on Tramadol can be physically uncomfortable too. So I would NOT want to go from one set of WD symptoms to another. So you are right to be concerned. Then again, if your doctor prescribes Tramadol to help you handle the opiate WD process, that looks like a good plan.)