I'm worried about my girlfriend.

[BenarGila]

My girlfriend has been taking tramadol for about two years for pain, 200mg a day. She does not abuse the medication and will never take more than prescribed, even if she's in bed crying from the pain and I say to take just one extra and get some sleep, she refuses because she doesn't want her count to be off. This month she had a surgical procedure and was in much more pain than normal, so she had no choice but to take more. Which has left her short. Tramadol being my DOC, I know what the withdrawals are like but I've never taken it every day for as long as she's been on it.

Today she woke up for work and has body aches, upset stomach, runny nose, etc. I know this might be withdrawals but I told her that it's probably a cold or the flu. She took some cough medicine (20mg DXM) a Tylenol and a couple zantac and went to work.

I don't want her to be going through withdrawals. Does it sound like maybe it's just a cold? I never got the runny nose and cold like symptoms with WD but I haven't stopped it after taking it for years.

 

[PotatoMan]

homeless ----> BDD

could be coincidence. i believe there are worst symptoms than flu symptoms with opioid W/D.

if she's experiencing RLS provided she hasn't taking an anticholinergic in RLS-ranged doses then it's more than likely W/D.

there are many threads on here about dealing with it.

 

[BenarGila]

She slept pretty well last night so I'm thinking it might be the flu. She hasn't said anything about RLS or any of the other symptoms of WD's.

I'm hoping for the flu, honestly. I don't want her to go through what I've been through multiple times with tramadol. We did taper her off of it, went down to 150, then 100, then 50mg before she stopped taking it a couple days ago.

At least her tolerance might go down a bit and she'll get more relief when she gets her medication again. Still I hate to see her hurting in the meantime.

 

[TheRapperGoneBad]

I'm gonna say withdrawals.
Like said before use the search engine : tramadol withdrawal for example

I have the flew and got asked if I was detoxing my methadone which I'm not but I was pukin my guts up

 

[###]

It is probably just starting... You also did a good thing to taper her of it, but it doesn't work as simple as that I am afraid. Her body probably prepared it self trough tapering, but I am almost sure she will have to go trough WD. 50 mg are 50 mg, the hardest step for some people.
I wonder she didn't experienced similar symptoms before, while tapering of...
What you said about tolerance is true, but I really do not think Tramadol is a good choice for a long treatments. I know some people here say WD from Tramadol cannot be compared to H, M, Oxy etc WDs, but lot of people who were addicted on Tramadol and harder Opiates/oids report quite diffrent story and claim nothing was so bad like Tram WD.
On other side, WD depends on many different things like quantity, specific physiology, etc. Not everyone reacts same on SNRIs, and not everyone reacts same on opioids too.
I, for example felt like I have been tased all the time (this was how it used to begin, and than it would get more worse with the time.) + rest of usual opiates WD symptoms. At least that is how I imagine it, I mean regarding tasing. The fact is I have never been tased in my life : ).
Anyway if WD gets worse, you can try to continue tapering of by cutting tablets in half or however needed. Maybe dosage reduction by 10 mg would work well, or since she is already in WD, one should get use out of it. By that I mean that she will be able to handle lower dosage than with normal tapering (without WD included), so maybe 25 mg would really be a good next step?

 

[zirbeldude2]

DXM and tramadol shouldnt be combined. May cause seizures and serotonin syndrome.
Unlikely with 20mg but better safe than sorry.