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Dingbat7 - Sounds like you're doing the right thing. Good luck!
 
Hmmm.....wondering if my difficulty sleeping may be linked to the tramadol then? I haven't taken it in about 2 weeks, so hopefully that means it should be about done with then! I can't sleep at night, but sleep great from 5am to about 9:30am and then want a nap in the afternoon!
 
Suz - Sounds like my sleep schedule all the time...lol!
 
My surgeon mentioned that tramadol could interfere with sleeping. I had only taken a few after i got home,
usually at nite, thought it would help me sleep.
last week at my follow up he offered to give me ambien but i forgot to pick up the script, so i just picked up
some tylenol PM and that is all i'm taking before bed.

Deb, give it some time, and you will get to where you can sleep better. you have a lot going on now,
and surgery will be over soon! then you start your road to recovery, and every day will be better than
the day before! before you know it, you will be feeling great, gaining mobility, and not living with that
pain any more!
 
I just googled "Tramadol withdrawal." Whoa!! Take your pick of numerous links.
 
I know, Sissy! I also read that for some people that take anti-depressants it can affect them to. Of course, most meds have some crazy side effects...tapering slowly is the key.
 
My primary care doc gave me Tramadol months before surgery because she didn't want me taking ibuprofen. Thank goodness, the Tramadol didn't do anything for my pain and I had sort of a hypnogogic hallucination that my tabby cat Percy was singing O Solo Mio to me. He was sitting up straight with his tail wrapped around his feet and his head thrown back and he had a beautiful tenor voice. It was very real, and very bizarre.
I'm really glad I didn't get started on that stuff.
 
I am laughing so hard but I know it had to have been frightening too. No hallucinations for me but it was as if the dream I was having when I woke up just wouldn't go away and kept playing in my head like I couldn't get out of it. I told my doc I didn't like it so he went ahead and put me back on the vicodin without the codiene. Helps me sleep good and much more effective on the pain. Actually, the Tylenol arthritis strength was doing better for me than the Tramadol.
:happydance:
 
Hi Dingbat. Sorry to hear all this....I'm counting myself very grateful that I got all the good effects from tramadol and none of the bad ones. If it is the tramadol causing all this, it will stop soon.

I simply can't resist pointing out that women of a certain age are very familiar with these symptoms, and it has nothing to do with tramadol. :)

Hope to hear that it has abated quickly.

Sharon
 
Can't comment Sharon, the only time I have woken up in bed next to a soggy gal is when she decided to have a gulp of sparkling white at 2am and emptied the bottle all over the bed.
Currently 1.45am and wide awake may take a swig of red myself and watch some TV
 
Hi Dingbat2,

My Dr. Had me on Tramadol at 400 mg a day for over 4 years before my hip replacement. It was the most wicked withdrawal of my life. Give me Vicodin or a stronger narcotic any day instead. I can withdraw more easily from them.

Tramadol is very closely related to the anti-depressant Effexor, also known for a very bad withdrawal: primarily brain zaps, severe body twitches and generally feeling like crawling out of your skin. One drug can be used to come off the other. I used low doses of Effexor to come off Tramadol and it helped. You could do the same by cutting back 50 mg of Tramadol every other week. Effexor lacks the narcotic component of Tramadol and may be better for that reason. Tramadol is both a narcotic and an anti-depressant. But as noted above, there's lots of info out there about the nasty Tramadol withdrawal. If you use it for a short time, or only occasionally, you'll avoid problems.

My highest dose of Effexor was 37.5 mg, and I held it there and then dropped to 25 mg. then 12.5 and finally off. Took me almost 6 months to comfortably come off, but It took almost a year to stop the muscle twitches. I will never touch Tramadol again as long as I live.
 
Wow, for me Tramadol was a giant pill full of not much in the line of pain relief and although every single medical professional knew I took it, no one said a word about tapering off, etc. I noticed nothing at all, though my surgeon prescribes a pain cocktail to keep ahead. However (Twilight Zone music) I did have a Reiki treatment 5 weeks post-op, where I went through an extended phase of twitching, shuddering and so on. My practitioner said she had never seen anyone do that before, I almost wonder if it was that!
 
I have not had any for about a week , been taking Paracetamol for the headaches, I took 2 x 50mg capsules three times a day I reduced it down to 100mg before bed then stopped . This morning was interesting my side of bed dry but other side soaked must have had a night sweat then rolled over to my side of bed, have just got some more towels, could be rubber sheets next.
 
The way you are stopping is totally wrong IMO. You should cut down very slowly, not go completely cold turkey.

When I got moved from 2 x100mg a day to 4 x50mg I found it very easy to halve my intake when I felt strong enough.

I would hate to go through those sleepless nights I had earlier on in the year when I went cold turkey. It almost felt more daunting that the hip problem for a very short amount of time.
 
I was on Tramacet when I left the hospital. That's 37.5mg Tramadol, 325mg Tylenol. Max dosage was 8 pills in 24 hours, which is what I took. I looked it up and from all I could find there were no worries about dependence/withdrawal unless taken for more than a month. I had 100 pills and as it turned out they were not covered by my drug plan I tapered off and then discontinued them after 10 days because I didn't want to suddenly run out and then scramble to get more if I needed them As it turned out, I had no more pain and only had to take 2 more pills one time after I overdid things and a still have 2 or 3 left. Obviously, there's no fear of withdrawal symptoms if taken as directed for a short time.

Of course, there is always the fear of becoming addicted to narcotic pain killers, so it's very important to only take them as directed and not take more because it makes you feel even better.
 
As long as Tramadol is used for a short time, the withdrawals aren't too bad. My primary care Dr. prescribed it for chronic pain because it's an unscheduled drug in the U.S. I was struggling with keeping up with the rigor of my job while losing the ability to sit and stand. I didn't get great pain relief either, but I can't take NSAIDS, so it was better than nothing. Overall, my pain management has been lousy through this hip episode. A pain management clinic placed me on Vicodin and MS Contin while I'm waiting for surgery, and it's the first time I've been able to have halfway normal life and be able to sit through movies, etc...
 
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