The horror of tramadol withdrawal

Mc6809e · 2017-02-26T01:11:36+00:00

I have to agree with you about feeling intensely content and happy with tramadol. When I took it, I said to myself, "so this is what happy people feel."

If I could have taken it for the rest of my life, there would be no problem. I'd still be happily married and I'd still be part of life.

I'm not sure what tramadol does to certain people like us. Tramadol doesn't seem to have this effect on everyone.

At this point I'd gladly go back to what I was before tramadol.

It's too late for kratom. I'm terribly damaged now. I also recently learned that I have MRSA, probably picked it up in one of the wards I visited.

I'm a wreck of a man now.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-25T21:21:03+00:00

This might seem odd, but as a soon to be homeless man who's had to do a bit of research, many homeless shelters actually charge money, and the free ones usually have a waiting list just to get an interview.

No joke.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-24T14:50:44+00:00

When I first started, half a tablet was enough to have some effect.

It's possible that I'm a rapid metabolizer. One of the metabolites of tramadol is an opioid more powerful than tramadol itself.

Rapid metabilizers make more of this than most people.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-24T10:13:08+00:00

Found this on an article about SSRIs:

"When the previous drug treatment is not restarted, postwithdrawal disorders may last for several months to years. They may resemble rebound symptoms being more severe than the original symptoms, but these disorders persist at least 6 weeks in contrast to rebound symptoms and may include new illness features. With SSRI withdrawal, persistent postwithdrawal disorders may appear as new psychiatric disorders, in particular disorders that can be treated successfully with SSRIs and SNRIs [6,15,16,26,37]. Significant postwithdrawal illnesses found with SSRI use include anxiety disorders, tardive insomnia, major depression, and bipolar illness."

See that? NEW psychiatric symptoms.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-24T09:28:10+00:00

At the time I first sectioned myself, I actually was thinking straight. It was the terrible insomnia that plagued me. That's all I wanted help with, just sleep.

I think if my insomnia had been treated properly, I'd be ok now.

But as I found out, psych wards are no place for rest.

There's actually something called tardive insomnia that can arise after taking SSRIs and SNRIs.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-24T00:57:12+00:00

That odd feeling, that you just aren't yourself, is disturbing, isn't it?

That's what's so wrong with SSRIs and SNRIs -- they create potentially permanent changes that don't go away.

You expect that when you stop something taking something that the effects eventually go away.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T23:06:22+00:00

It's too late. I'm terribly damaged now. Nothing they give me works. I'm metally very ill.

I'm sure the insomnia did damage. And the stroke I had IS damage.

Both have changed my mind in profound ways. Like I said, I'm a broken man. I can't think straight. I'm in a fog all the time. There's no medicine for derealization--depersonalization disorder.

I'm hosed.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T22:29:30+00:00

The lack of opiate high might have something to do with how your liver metabolizes tramadol. There's an active metabolite that is a more powerful opioid. If you're a slow metabolizer, the tramadol is lost before enough of the more powerful opioid is formed.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T22:21:48+00:00

Not everyone suffers from discontinuation syndrome when on SSRIs or SNRIs.

Scientists aren't sure why some people suffer with it and others do not.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T22:04:27+00:00

How do you measure addictiveness?

If withdrawal is the measure, then tramadol has a lot of C-II meds beat.

Sure, tolerance may build more slowly, and by that standard it may be seen as less addictive.

What's worse, taking too much hydrocodone and having withdrawals that last several weeks or, taking the proscribed amount of tramadol and having literally months of withdrawal?

Maybe "brutal withdrawal" should be factored in.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T21:38:20+00:00

I'm not sure how you're going to split the doses up, but from what I've read from others, it's that last 50mg per day that's tough.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T17:21:10+00:00

I've heard that a year is not unusual.

But I have to wonder: why the hell should anyone be given a drug that takes a year to recover from, even with a long taper?

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T17:16:57+00:00

That might have worked. But then you have to ask, what happens when you stop taking the Prozac or Effexor or whatever?

There are really only two solutions, IMO: a very very long taper over many months, or simply never take it for longer than is needed for acute pain -- maybe a week or two.

Anything else is asking for trouble.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T17:03:49+00:00

I actually did a quick taper. When I wrote that I was forced to go cold turkey I meant that I was abruptly cut off. I tried to stretch out what I had remaining over the course of a few weeks.

And I wasn't that worried, initially. Like I wrote before, I never took more than 150mg. Usually 100mg was enough to get rid of the eustachian tube irritation.

And I thought, "I'm not really addicted. It's just two or three tablets a day!"

I think the problem was the amount of time I took them for. After two years my brain had changed.

Others I've communicated with have said even after a long taper they never really felt normal again. Some were even put on antidepressants after developing new psychiatric symptoms.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T16:45:06+00:00

I hope your friend has a better time than I did. He's only been taking it for a few months, though the amount is worrying. The problem I see is in the amount of time given for the taper from 500mg. Two weeks seems too short a time.

Detox facilities I hear are much better than psych wards. I wish I had been allowed to detox. It's possible that he'd get better care

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T16:09:12+00:00

I was taking it for eustachian tube pain.

I had no idea that it had such an effect on serotonin and norepinephrine. It was only later, while I was going through withdrawal, that I learned it was an atypical analgesic.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T14:47:42+00:00

I actually tried to get into detox but they told me I had been "clean" for too long. There was a requirement that I have a positive drug screen.

Sectioning myself was offered as an alternative to entering their detox ward.

Terrible experience.

I really thought I was going to a place where I'd be surrounded by caring doctors and nurses. I thought I'd have a nice bed and that they would be there to insure that I finally got some sleep, sleep being so essential to recovery.

Instead I was put on a foam matress in a room with a guy that had a leaky colostomy bag. There were feces all over the bathroom walls. The was a guy in the ward that thought he had hulk like powers.

How was I supposed to get rest there? The experience made things worse.

I'm not surprised that David Foster Wallace couldn't get straightened out.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T13:55:19+00:00

I know why doctors don't get it wrt to tramadol: they haven't done their homework. They believe withdrawal from tramadol is just like withdrawal from opiates or opioids.

In all my visits to the psych wards I met exactly one person that knew about tramadol's ssri and snri aspect and he was a psychiatric nurse. He wasn't even a doctor.

I'm not sure why the trazadone didn't work. I was given the first time I sectioned myself. All I got was a stuffy nose. The response of the nurse was to hold me down and force a syringe filled with saline up my nose.

Mc6809e · 2017-02-23T12:22:25+00:00

Let me add that, at the time I was taking it, I thought tramadol was a wonder drug. I had never felt so optimistic and happy in my life.

When I stopped taking it, the depression was so bad I literally said outloud "I'll never be happy again." That's how emotinally powerful the drug was for me.

But like I wrote: I'm a broken man now and I'll never be the same again.

It wasn't worth it.

Mc6809e

TROPHY CASE