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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Opioids Tramadol tapering HELP

N

newchange

Greenlighter
Joined
Feb 6, 2023
Messages
5
Hello! I have a question about tramadol tapering.

What you need to know about me:
I have been using tramadol intermittently for several years. last time i was completely clean for more than 1 month. I have been using tramadol again since December 28, of which I increased my dose to around 1000 mg per day in the last 2 weeks. now I have decided that I want to stop for good.

I have 200 mg extended release tablets, 14 of them. and I don't have it with me, but I have access to 40 50 mg instant release tablets if necessary.
my question is how can i taper off the tramadol with the least amount of pain? so far I've done it cold turkey every time, but I really want to avoid it now.
if anyone has experience with it, please describe how you would do the taper with the remaining amount. for example, how many times a day and how much should be taken? thank you very much if anyone can help.
 
newchange said:
Hello! I have a question about tramadol tapering.

What you need to know about me:
I have been using tramadol intermittently for several years. last time i was completely clean for more than 1 month. I have been using tramadol again since December 28, of which I increased my dose to around 1000 mg per day in the last 2 weeks. now I have decided that I want to stop for good.

I have 200 mg extended release tablets, 14 of them. and I don't have it with me, but I have access to 40 50 mg instant release tablets if necessary.
my question is how can i taper off the tramadol with the least amount of pain? so far I've done it cold turkey every time, but I really want to avoid it now.
if anyone has experience with it, please describe how you would do the taper with the remaining amount. for example, how many times a day and how much should be taken? thank you very much if anyone can help.
Click to expand...
First off 1g of tramadol a day is so dangerous. The seizure threshold is 400mg and you are well over that. Every time you take more than that amount you are literally risking your life.

I would take 400mg but spread it out over the day, not all at once. See how the withdrawals are but they shouldn’t be too bad if you’re spreading the dose.

I’d then drop 100mg every 4/5 days until you’re down to 100mg (of course if you’re feeling it then drop every week). Split that dose, one in morning then one at night and after you’ve stabilised then drop a 50mg, the morning one would be best I’d imagine. Stabilise on that then drop the 50mg. You will feel it but it shouldn’t be soo bad.
 
MsDiz said:
First off 1g of tramadol a day is so dangerous. The seizure threshold is 400mg and you are well over that. Every time you take more than that amount you are literally risking your life.

I would take 400mg but spread it out over the day, not all at once. See how the withdrawals are but they shouldn’t be too bad if you’re spreading the dose.

I’d then drop 100mg every 4/5 days until you’re down to 100mg (of course if you’re feeling it then drop every week). Split that dose, one in morning then one at night and after you’ve stabilised then drop a 50mg, the morning one would be best I’d imagine. Stabilise on that then drop the 50mg. You will feel it but it shouldn’t be soo bad.
Click to expand...


yes, unfortunately I had my first GM seizure, not long ago, that's why I want to stop. I ended up in a hospital.

Thanks for the advice, I'll start tomorrow. But do you think this remaining dose of mine will be enough for tapering?
 
Yeah man I had a seizure after around 5 years daily use. I'll be honest here it sucks and its not even a true opoid. First few days feels like flu coming on, then you want new skin like everything is fucked, can't sit, can't concentrate, can't do shit, meth helped like crazy good. Totally fixed all the withdrawl, but idk that should be temporary for some folks out there. Anyway I really started craving it again so I went to a Suboxone Doc, kind of expensive at the time, but for 300 bucks I had 30 days of withdrawl relief, that was a great feeling, put that strip under my tongue and in about 5 minutes that withdrawl feeling just floated away, fuckin awesome, it was almost like getting high on oxy but the come up would abruptly stop at a ceiling and you just felt better. Now here's the catch they don't tell you, its a fucking bitch to taper and get of that shit, it was worse than the goofers by far and lasted 3 months. So I feel for you dude just wanted to be real about it, it fuckin sucks, but after a couple months with none, I would taper if you can for 1 month, then just fuck it and turkey that shit, when your done and dont even think about them damn trams anymore its like a big weight is gone fron your life, that thorn that you could buy online have it in 2 days with USPS PRIORITY MAIL, fuck I would pace around waiting for the mailman if I was out. You'll live, its just very uncomfortable for awile.
 
Yeah 400mg a day for a few days or week. Make a plan. Then reduce to 200mg a day for similar time. 50-100mg for a week or so after that.

Thing is, tapering doesn't make it easy. Just easier than cold turkey/more bareable. You'll still be withdrawing, just not as much and for a longer time. It'll be uncomfortable.
 
moonyham said:
Yeah 400mg a day for a few days or week. Make a plan. Then reduce to 200mg a day for similar time. 50-100mg for a week or so after that.

Thing is, tapering doesn't make it easy. Just easier than cold turkey/more bareable. You'll still be withdrawing, just not as much and for a longer time. It'll be uncomfortable.
Click to expand...


do you think cold turkey rather than tapering?
 
Not right away, taper down for a month, then just go for it, taper just drags it out, and you still have to end the taper. And even that can be touchy. Might ask the doc for Klonopin .5mg to help with sleep and general ability to just relax.
 
newchange said:
do you think cold turkey rather than tapering?
Click to expand...
Your remaining dose will be enough.

I also think that if you can manage cold turkey then you should go for it. It will be rough but you’ve done it before.

You’ll still feel shit if you taper but it won’t be as bad. It’s just up to you what you feel you can handle.

I’m sorry to hear about your seizure, hopefully that will keep you from abusing it again. It really can be very dangerous.
 
MsDiz said:
Your remaining dose will be enough.

I also think that if you can manage cold turkey then you should go for it. It will be rough but you’ve done it before.

You’ll still feel shit if you taper but it won’t be as bad. It’s just up to you what you feel you can handle.

I’m sorry to hear about your seizure, hopefully that will keep you from abusing it again. It really can be very dangerous.
Click to expand...
actually, if you have to, I'm going to go cold turkey one last time. I just thought it would be less painful with the tapering. and this is going to be real cold turkey because I don't have any comfort medicine and unfortunately I can't get it. but I fear the sleep and rls part the most 😔
 
newchange said:
Hello! I have a question about tramadol tapering.

What you need to know about me:
I have been using tramadol intermittently for several years. last time i was completely clean for more than 1 month. I have been using tramadol again since December 28, of which I increased my dose to around 1000 mg per day in the last 2 weeks. now I have decided that I want to stop for good.

I have 200 mg extended release tablets, 14 of them. and I don't have it with me, but I have access to 40 50 mg instant release tablets if necessary.
my question is how can i taper off the tramadol with the least amount of pain? so far I've done it cold turkey every time, but I really want to avoid it now.
if anyone has experience with it, please describe how you would do the taper with the remaining amount. for example, how many times a day and how much should be taken? thank you very much if anyone can help.
Click to expand...
Taper to the lowest possible ya can, then jump to 0.
Take 20mg loperamide for the first 3 days along with gabapentin or lyrica :
900-1200mg for gaba a day
450-600 mg a day for lyrica
Until u get to day 5 -7or so
Then start reducing the gabapentinoid dose to 0 by day 10, u shouldn't be taking anything by thst day. U most likely will still feel like trash, without much energy but at least ull be able to hold down some food and the diarrhea should be gone too.
By day 21 or so u might feel 80% back to normal and 100% by 45 day+.
GL and try to exercise(even tho u might feel like doing it, at least walking few miles daily and stretch urself) it will speed up the process.
Cheers xx
 
Thanks for the answers, but unfortunately I can't buy any comfort medicine. (gaba, lyrica, klonopin, alprazolam) that's why I'm very afraid. nothing bad has happened yet, but I'm already a little dead inside.
 
I think you are high dose enough on a daily basis that tapering is the *safer* thing to do, given tramadol and it's seizure inducing side effects. I was just saying that tapering isn't a silver bullet, it still isn't nice but it's far less worse than cold turkey.

For sure taper down. Even just a week on half or less of your current daily before going cold would be safer than not. Just so it isn't such a drastic shock to your system ya know.
 
Nothing actually bad happens, seizures are do to excessive dose not wothdrawel, so don't worry about that, at first it feels like you are getting the flu. Then its just very uncomfortable, I wouldn't say its scary, its more like I'm going to feel like shit and who really wants to? Do you have time off work, school, whatever you do, so you can be at home? I would suggest that you have time to be away from those responsibilities, for a month or so when you're taking zero. Taper is helpfull, but for me I always blew it, I would take more before I should and it just didn't work for me, but I've always been very sensitive to withdrawls, others its much easier. Keep us updated I'd like to know how it goes, I've done it and came back just fine, so if you can push back the fear, you'll realize its just your body and brain restoring normal neurotransmitter connections. It takes a little time that's all. 🫡
 
Taper fast as you also risk seizures when you quit. So you want to be on the lowest dose possible on the last day. And you want your body to be used to taking less for longer.

I know I am late but here is what I would aim for with 14 200g pills:
Day 1, take 2 (6-12 hours apart.)
Day 2 take one and a half
Day 3 take 1
Day 4 1
Day 5 1
Day 6 half
Day 7 half
Day 8 quarter
Day 9 quater
Day 10 stop.

That leaves some spare pills to break up and use as needed. If not needed try a eighth at the end per day.

It's a shame you cannot get kratom as that is a miracle for me for tramadol withdrawals. I jusg taoer a bit befire switching to kratom for a few qeeks.

For PAWS try and get a few 5-htp pills for days when you feel down. Exercise may help too.
 
Tramadol shares the serotonin-norepinephrinergic activity with the close chemical cousin venlafaxine, which is hard enough to quit without having relevant opioid activity. I would suggest to do a cross-taper* with fluoxetine, I failed to stop venlafaxine alone but by switching to fluox for some weeks it was MUCH easier. 5-htp can aid a bit but without a peripheral carboxylase inhibitor it is pretty weak and didn't work for my venla withdrawal.

For opioid withdrawal and PAWS really good is the dissociative and dopamine agonist memantine. I kicked a serious morphine habit with that and didn't get much withdrawal at all.

* To induce fluoxetine while on something like 1g tram might be dangerous and it's better to first titrate as much as possible.
 
Yes kratom should help as mentioned above but careful when you start and don't mix em..since it can raise heart rate..I've been using the green maeng da powder for euphoria and green horn kratom..also white maeng da for energy. It's a very light euphoria but I don't get any since I'm just off 10+ years of buprenorphine daily and all it does for me is help some with energy and withdrawal physically.
 
newchange said:
Hello! I have a question about tramadol tapering.

What you need to know about me:
I have been using tramadol intermittently for several years. last time i was completely clean for more than 1 month. I have been using tramadol again since December 28, of which I increased my dose to around 1000 mg per day in the last 2 weeks. now I have decided that I want to stop for good.

I have 200 mg extended release tablets, 14 of them. and I don't have it with me, but I have access to 40 50 mg instant release tablets if necessary.
my question is how can i taper off the tramadol with the least amount of pain? so far I've done it cold turkey every time, but I really want to avoid it now.
if anyone has experience with it, please describe how you would do the taper with the remaining amount. for example, how many times a day and how much should be taken? thank you very much if anyone can help.
Click to expand...
How is this going? I am trying to taper off a much smaller amount and have Percocet to replace it with. But I am wondering if I even need to taper because I have the Percocet. I'm just worried about the antidepressant effect Tramadol has and don't want to send myself into a depression. I won't be craving opioids because I'll still have the Percocet. Did you experience any mental health related withdrawals with stopping Tramadol?
 
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