04-03-2017, 03:49 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-03-2017, 03:50 AM by Texas Chemist.
Edit Reason: grammar
)
I took this med for a total of 1 1/2 years on and off and was able to receive it initially through NROPs for the first year before it became scheduled. They did a fantastic job at relieving my pain and giving me a tremendous amount of mental and physical energy. I never felt lethargic while taking them or had any negative sides to report WHILE they were in my system.
But after being on them for about 3 months I decided to start lowering my dose as I was taking at least 500 mg per day which is 100 mg above the 'limit' given by the FDA. (I can say some days I got closer to 1 whole gram and could still function but after 4-5 hours, if I was relaxing at home, I would begin nodding off.) My tapering was no problem, until I got down to less than 100 mg per day. Then I started experiencing only what I assumed were minor tremors. I could be sitting at my laptop like I am now and then suddenly multiple muscle groups would contract simultaneously to a significant degree, and then relax. I'm talking about my quads, hamstrings, abs, chest, biceps, hands all contracting in-sync, and HARD.
As the tramadol began leaving my system the tremors became more intense, to the point that if I was in an office having a face-to-face with a worker these contractions were extremely obvious to whom I was talking with. I probably looked like I had multiple sclerosis or early-onset Parkinson's since no-one knew about the pain meds I took.
Hot/cold flashes every couple hours, (looks real funny/odd to see a man wearing a sweatshirt in the summer time in TX even though I was spending 12-hr days in a building/lab), constant runny nose (easy to blame that on my 'bad allergies'), lost my appetite (this one I couldn't pass off to my colleagues or family because they used to see me eat 5 meals during my working hours and went down to 1 or 2), and then the depression came. Oh man, I can tell you for me, at least, those physical symptoms were NOTHING compared to the way I felt upstairs. Working in a place where your livelihood depends on creativity, constant enthusiasm, and lots of hard work amplified the degree in which the depression affected me.
I could do simple tasks but could not think 'outside the box' (not trying to sound cliché) and my work suffered from it. So I said f' it and went back up to 300-500mg per day and then a wave would hit me, my brain telling me "thank you, asshole, now we can get back to work".
To be honest I wouldn't call these side-effects but more like withdrawals because they only came once my body was accustomed to the drug and I started taking it away.
I've mentioned in other threads that I immediately switched to Norco's after 1 1/2 years while cutting all tramadol down to zero as the doc recommended. I still experienced tremors to a certain extent and minor depression for a couple of months even while on 30 mg/day hydrocodone. But because hydrocodone has always initially helped with my depressive mood, the effects were subdued to an extent.
I had been through hydrocodone withdrawal probably 3 times in the past before I started taking tramadol. W/D from hydrocodone after a year is a cake-walk compared to tramadol. No exaggeration here. You can read many, many websites dedicated to those still suffering from depression from semi-long term tramadol use. I can't even really say long-term because some people begin to feel it with high doses after only 3 months.
(As an aside, I had to take my dog to the vet last week because when I woke up, she was not able to put her front paw down and could barely walk. Went to the vet that same day-they gave her hydromorphone and ketamine as well as two other pain/anaesthetics to sedate her, and cut her nails that the vet believed had somehow become infected. When I came back to pick her up hours later I spoke with the vet and she had prescribed her an antibiotic to hopefully end the swelling and get rid of whatever infection she had, an NSAID for the inflammation of course, and holy geezus...50 50mg tramadol tabs to be administered 2 at a time, up to 3 times daily. Maybe it's just me, but I still recall a year ago when my father's dog was facing his last few months with stomach cancer, constantly whimpering from the pain. My father had to pull teeth with his vet to give a f' ing tramadol script for more than 100 mg a day!
My dog was fine the next day and her swollen paw had reduced in size by 50%. She refused the tramadol after her first dose I gave her and when she would see me preparing her food, if she saw me reaching for the bottles, she would refuse to eat...even with it hidden in chunks of beef! Whether it was how she felt, or the taste that repelled her it was clear she did not like it. I was able to crush up the NSAID and mix it in and her antibiotic had a sweet-smelling coating on the outside so it wasn't a problem, but if she smelled the tramadol, no eating....now there's a bottle of amneal mfg. trams in my cupboard. Will keep them for an emergency if one is to arise because I know it works well for me with pain. But seeing them sitting in the bottle is a nice reminder for myself of just how quickly my tramadol habit turned into a year-long nightmare.)
Sorry for the long post. I can very much sympathize with people going through withdrawals from tramadol. In my mind it doesn't fall into the opioid withdrawal category. I certainly believe that it belongs in a category of it's own because of it's dual mechanism of action. I would bet my money that tapentadol (Nucynta) would fall in here with tramadol as well but because the FDA scheduled it before it was ever on the market as a Scheduled 2 narcotic, it didn't get the chance that tramadol had to get dispensed like pez at its infancy.
But after being on them for about 3 months I decided to start lowering my dose as I was taking at least 500 mg per day which is 100 mg above the 'limit' given by the FDA. (I can say some days I got closer to 1 whole gram and could still function but after 4-5 hours, if I was relaxing at home, I would begin nodding off.) My tapering was no problem, until I got down to less than 100 mg per day. Then I started experiencing only what I assumed were minor tremors. I could be sitting at my laptop like I am now and then suddenly multiple muscle groups would contract simultaneously to a significant degree, and then relax. I'm talking about my quads, hamstrings, abs, chest, biceps, hands all contracting in-sync, and HARD.
As the tramadol began leaving my system the tremors became more intense, to the point that if I was in an office having a face-to-face with a worker these contractions were extremely obvious to whom I was talking with. I probably looked like I had multiple sclerosis or early-onset Parkinson's since no-one knew about the pain meds I took.
Hot/cold flashes every couple hours, (looks real funny/odd to see a man wearing a sweatshirt in the summer time in TX even though I was spending 12-hr days in a building/lab), constant runny nose (easy to blame that on my 'bad allergies'), lost my appetite (this one I couldn't pass off to my colleagues or family because they used to see me eat 5 meals during my working hours and went down to 1 or 2), and then the depression came. Oh man, I can tell you for me, at least, those physical symptoms were NOTHING compared to the way I felt upstairs. Working in a place where your livelihood depends on creativity, constant enthusiasm, and lots of hard work amplified the degree in which the depression affected me.
I could do simple tasks but could not think 'outside the box' (not trying to sound cliché) and my work suffered from it. So I said f' it and went back up to 300-500mg per day and then a wave would hit me, my brain telling me "thank you, asshole, now we can get back to work".
To be honest I wouldn't call these side-effects but more like withdrawals because they only came once my body was accustomed to the drug and I started taking it away.
I've mentioned in other threads that I immediately switched to Norco's after 1 1/2 years while cutting all tramadol down to zero as the doc recommended. I still experienced tremors to a certain extent and minor depression for a couple of months even while on 30 mg/day hydrocodone. But because hydrocodone has always initially helped with my depressive mood, the effects were subdued to an extent.
I had been through hydrocodone withdrawal probably 3 times in the past before I started taking tramadol. W/D from hydrocodone after a year is a cake-walk compared to tramadol. No exaggeration here. You can read many, many websites dedicated to those still suffering from depression from semi-long term tramadol use. I can't even really say long-term because some people begin to feel it with high doses after only 3 months.
(As an aside, I had to take my dog to the vet last week because when I woke up, she was not able to put her front paw down and could barely walk. Went to the vet that same day-they gave her hydromorphone and ketamine as well as two other pain/anaesthetics to sedate her, and cut her nails that the vet believed had somehow become infected. When I came back to pick her up hours later I spoke with the vet and she had prescribed her an antibiotic to hopefully end the swelling and get rid of whatever infection she had, an NSAID for the inflammation of course, and holy geezus...50 50mg tramadol tabs to be administered 2 at a time, up to 3 times daily. Maybe it's just me, but I still recall a year ago when my father's dog was facing his last few months with stomach cancer, constantly whimpering from the pain. My father had to pull teeth with his vet to give a f' ing tramadol script for more than 100 mg a day!
My dog was fine the next day and her swollen paw had reduced in size by 50%. She refused the tramadol after her first dose I gave her and when she would see me preparing her food, if she saw me reaching for the bottles, she would refuse to eat...even with it hidden in chunks of beef! Whether it was how she felt, or the taste that repelled her it was clear she did not like it. I was able to crush up the NSAID and mix it in and her antibiotic had a sweet-smelling coating on the outside so it wasn't a problem, but if she smelled the tramadol, no eating....now there's a bottle of amneal mfg. trams in my cupboard. Will keep them for an emergency if one is to arise because I know it works well for me with pain. But seeing them sitting in the bottle is a nice reminder for myself of just how quickly my tramadol habit turned into a year-long nightmare.)
Sorry for the long post. I can very much sympathize with people going through withdrawals from tramadol. In my mind it doesn't fall into the opioid withdrawal category. I certainly believe that it belongs in a category of it's own because of it's dual mechanism of action. I would bet my money that tapentadol (Nucynta) would fall in here with tramadol as well but because the FDA scheduled it before it was ever on the market as a Scheduled 2 narcotic, it didn't get the chance that tramadol had to get dispensed like pez at its infancy.