Tramadol - Stopping cold turkey and replacing with Percocet

[angel8]

I take Tramadol (during the day) and Percocet (during the evening) for a nerve condition. My pain management and I decided to try to stop the Tramadol and increase the Percocet. They said it would be fine to stop the Tramadol cold turkey because I am replacing it with another, stronger opioid. My question is, what about the antidepressant effect Tramadol has? I don't think it's a good idea to just stop it without tapering due to the mood changes and depression that might ensue. Fortunately, I have some Tramadol left over from previous prescriptions and can safely taper myself off. But is it needed? Or is stopping cold turkey advised under the circumstances? Can't find info for this on a Google search, since everything I find only addresses taking Tramadol exclusively and not with Percocet. Any feedback welcome. Thank you.

 

[RxVeritas]

I think It depends on the dose of tramadol you're taking, since you are correct; tramadol exerts SNRI properties that oxycodone does not. Fortunately I belive it does that fairly weakly, at least compared to the effect it has on opiate receptors.
I'm honestly too lazy right now to google the affinity tramadol binds to those receptors with, but my guess is that (unless you're taking high doses of tramadol, like 400mg/day) you'll be fine, and probably won't even notice it.
If 24-36 hours after your last dose of tramadol and you start to feel withdrawals, since you still have tramadol left you should be able to do a taper without much any real pain, especially being that you're now on Percocet (which may help mask the withdrawals as well).

 

[angel8]

I think It depends on the dose of tramadol you're taking, since you are correct; tramadol exerts SNRI properties that oxycodone does not. Fortunately I belive it does that fairly weakly, at least compared to the effect it has on opiate receptors.
I'm honestly too lazy right now to google the affinity tramadol binds to those receptors with, but my guess is that (unless you're taking high doses of tramadol, like 400mg/day) you'll be fine, and probably won't even notice it.
If 24-36 hours after your last dose of tramadol and you start to feel withdrawals, since you still have tramadol left you should be able to do a taper without much any real pain, especially being that you're now on Percocet (which may help mask the withdrawals as well).

Thank you. I appreciate your reply!