Misc Tramadol the cause of nocturnal seizures?

[GoShredAK]

Recently I experienced something strange and a little scary.

After taking a couple small doses of 100mgs of tramadol over a period of a few days I started having disturbing episodes as I was falling asleep or shortly after I fell asleep.

After the last dose of tramadol I became extremely anxious and started to feel very off. I started twitching and jerking uncontrollably. So I decided I hate tramadol and will never take it again.

Then it happened, that night shortly after I fell asleep I suddenly woke up, but I was completely paralyzed. I was aware of what was Happening, my body was seized up, my breathing was extremely heavy and labored, and I had what sounded like a laser gun going off inside my brain.

After a few seconds I would snap out of it and be able to move. Feeling kind of foggy and a bit confused I would eventually go back to sleep.

Thinking it was an isolated incident I was supposed when it happened again a couple nights later. I was laying on the couch, dozed off only to wake up frozen, breathing heavy with brain sensations once again.

After the first two times it actually got worse, I became afraid to go to sleep because I could feel myself slipping into this paralysis and it started happening multiple times a night, every time I fell asleep.

I eventually started smoking weed again, I had quit for about a month cause I lost my job on a random UA.

Knowing cannabis is an anticonvulsant and all around healthy for the brain I had a feeling it would help.

The cannabis seemed to be an instant cure. The sleep paralysis/nocturnal seizure episodes stopped and I have not had one since. Thank God because I was becoming convinced I was developing some sort of epilepsy.

So I am not sure but it really seems like the tramadol caused this to happen.

Other factors are I have a history of benzo dependancy where I quit taking benzos and got through the withdrawals. I never had a seizure then, but I may have been close.

Also I had quit smoking weed after basically a lifetime of use.

I believe those three things combined, with the tramadol being the catalyst somehow caused my brain to fall out of balance, causing nocturnal seizures.

Anybody ever hear of such a thing? Or have a similar experience?

Would you agree it was the tramadol?

Do you think I was having harmless sleep paralysis? Or more sinister nocturnal seizures?

 

[BrassEye]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I don't think there is anything "sinister" going on here, for what it's worth..
Tramadol is a very strange drug.. I'm extremely adept with it. I rarely touch it anymore.. but I've got the T shirt.

I think you've articulated your situation really well, you've clearly given it a lot of thought, boiled it down.
But the thing with sleep paralysis is.. the more you think about it, the more you research it or whatever.. focus your attention on it - the more likely you are to experience it again, and again.
Much like.. say for example, if someone is experiencing benzo withdrawal, they run an innocent google search and come across 'benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome'
Wow suddenly there's a monumental list of potential symptoms.. many that may never have crossed this person's mind otherwise, but now, Wikipedia says they have a 'syndrome', they start 'looking' for symptoms.. and they find them.


I think you've been experiencing some sleep paralysis, yes, "catalysed" by tramadol. And it will pass

"Sinister nocturnal seizures" ?? Nah, that sounds very dramatic 'n all.. but there's nothing that spooky going on.
This advice might seem like a bit of a cop out.. but just try not to think about it so much. Don't worry, be happy.

 

[GoShredAK]

I really appreciate the reply.

You are spot on about manifesting things just by dwelling on them.

I made my benzo withdrawal much harder and scarier for myself by spending hours upon hours reading all the horror stories. To this day I know I have to be careful about what I read because I know it'll cause me anxiety and put non helpful ideas in my head.

I accept your positive opinion on what I was going through. I also agree that I most likely thought my way into it.

I don't think they were seizures because I wasn't convulsing and I felt zero pain afterwards.

I think is interesting and wonderful that weed made them stop. What an amazing plant it is. It is beyond criminal that it has been demonized by the government. Thank God people are opening their minds as it becomes more widely accepted and legal in a few states.

I find sleep paralysis interesting and want to try and let go of my fear if it ever happens again, but with these recent episodes I was unable to do that because I thought something may be wrong with me.

I should mention that I have had sleep paralysis one time about five years ago, this was without the aid of any substances as I was clean and sober at the time. So that may be an indicator that I am prone to having sleep paralysis occasionally.

That one experience is the only reason I recognized what was happening to me. I imagine if I had never known what SP was like these recent episodes would have scared me waaay worse.

 

[mike.vick]

I read an article yesterday: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1572317
Expressing the pro-myoclonic effects of one of the enantomers of tramadol [I think the (-)- one]

 

[Bodeinn]

Tramadol fucks me up like that to
o . Not too long ago i took two 200 mg xr at 5 in the afternoon . I went most the day and all of the night without feeling them . When i woke up i noticed something was strange . I was high as a kite ! lol . I was falling asleep in the middle of conversations . nodding in and out all day long . But tramadol has some serious side effects in itself . Personally i love trams but many people dont . This would seem normal to me if they were XR.

 

[GoShredAK]

Yeah I gave tramadol a shot because I read a lot of good things about them and that they can help in opiate withdrawal.

They just don't work for me. My brain is wired in a way that does not like tramadol.

After that I found stories of people having seizures at low doses.

It is a trip how radically different different peoples brain chemistry can be and how it can drastically change how we react to drugs.