my tramadol withdrawal story.....31 days clean now

[Formidable]

let me start off by saying this didn't become an intentional withdrawal until a few days into it, i initially ran out of tramadol on october 15. people keep telling me i should do it for myself, but this approach never worked in the past due to the simple fact that i no longer live my life for me, and i honestly don't respect myself enough anyway. on october 20, 2011 my daughter was born, and any good parent will tell you that as soon as your child is born it's no longer about you. that's right, the moment your child breaths life you are no longer breathing, held down by gravity, on this rock to see to it that YOU survive, it's all about them. the money you make, the food you eat, the bills you pay, the state of your mind, everything you do is for them. and i look at withdrawal no differently, as it is a state of healing. my addiction supersedes her birth by about three years so up until this point i was just maintaining that state of mind because i felt i had no choice, seeing as how any serious withdrawal tends to take you out of the game of life for a number of days, which as any new parent will tell you are days you just can't spare. but as your child grows older you tend to grow wiser, always changing the way you approach life in general, finally coming to the conclusion that a clouded mind of any kind is not what your child deserves. so five days after i ran out of tramadol i sort of came upon an epiphany, as at this point i was looking for any reason to cave. but instead, i found a reason to continue the healing process, thus discovering my running out of tramadol was the best thing that could have ever happened to me, ergo, my daughter.

anyone attempting a tramadol withdrawal can expect the usual in the first two weeks(don't be fooled into thinking it's going to be a walk in the park just because it's a weak as PHUCK opioid). extreme restless legs/arms and just restlessness in general, explosive diarrhea, fatigue, hot/cold sweats, elevated blood pressure, headaches, sneezing and leaky sinuses, yawning constantly, overall feeling of malaise, etc etc. but you also get the psychological withdrawal due to the SSRI/SNRI effects of the drug.......constant feeling of sadness, inability to focus, literally crying over spilt milk while appearing emotionlessness to things that require actual emotion, depression, agitation from EVERYTHING(this is what initially made me almost cave as it was starting to effect my relationship with my gf and it seemed everything my daughter did made me upset), etc etc. and i stand by this......if you can make it past the first two weeks, you can make it to the finish line(which we all know is death because life will now be a constant struggle with yourself). obviously the actual severity of your withdrawal will depend on length of usage and tolerance, for me it was a 120mg a day hydrocodone habit for the first five years followed by a two-year, gram a day tramadol habit, which at the time i thought was a "better" habit but i would trade a tramadol withdrawal with a hydrocodone withdrawal any day of the week.

 

[Wants2Nod]

Tramadol withdrawal is no walk in the park. I've withdrawn from opiods too many times to count, including horrible withdrawals from dope or large OC habits. Tramadol isn't nearly as crippling, but it's definitely not fun and the SNRI aspects of it are incredibly annoying (the brain zaps, jitters, mood swings, twitches, etc).

Another factor, for me, is that I can control 'traditional' opiod withdrawals with gabapentin and loperamide, but nothing seems to work for the SNRI aspect of tramadol. I'm currently tapering down off of it myself.

 

[Formidable]

going on 33 days now i'm dealing with some serious PAWS. and it seems the physical withdrawal symptoms come back one at a time every now and then. this withdrawal reminds me a lot of the benzo withdrawal i went through, fickle as fuck with no linear progress. one day i'm completely fine and the next it's like i'm back in the second week of the withdrawal. another thing i've noticed is a lot of nerve pain in my left leg, which is probably from an injury i sustained from a motorcycle accident in 2009. i can tell the nerves are damaged because there is no feeling on the surface of the skin around the impact area. this is the first time this injury has bothered me since the actual accident. the restlessness is still there, which obviously is worse at night. the good thing is that hot baths go MUCH further now, and i can tell that things are getting better, albeit slowly.