Tramadol Addict Taper Schedule - Help & Critique

[MndrbinderEntrprse]

So I have been a daily tram user for about 2 1/2 years. I started out at a 100-200 mg daily (taken by 50mg pills every hour) and worked my way up like a stupid addict does, to 400 mg daily for the past 3 months. I need to get off these trams. I enjoy the feeling as my liver is an o-desa producing machine and the trams give me a great sense of wellbeing from the snri properties combined with the light opiate effects. However, the interactions with other drugs is insane and I am tired of being a slave to the tramadol. Also note, I have a full time job and work at a law firm so i cannot go cold turkey, or even a hardcore taper where I am bed ridden for a week. In fact, I need to be able to function at a pretty high level at my job while tapering down. I know, I know, I'm an idiot to be in this situation to start with but i really could use some help and support. My planned taper schedule will be as follows:

Day 1 350mg
Day 2 350mg
Day 3 350mg
Day 4 300mg
Day 5 300mg
Day 6 300mg
Day 7 300mg
Day 8 250mg
Day 9 250mg
Day 10 250mg
Day 11 200mg
Day 12 200mg
Day 13 200mg
Day 14 200mg
Day 15 150mg
Day 16 150mg
Day 17 150mg
Day 18 100mg
Day 19 100mg
Day 20 100mg
Day 21 100mg
Day 22 50mg
Day 23 50mg
Day 24 50mg
Day 25 25mg
Day 26 25mg
Day 27 25mg
Day 28 25mg
Day 29 jump off

I will have some Xanax to help with the anxiety during the taper plan and ambien to help with sleep. Does this look like a reasonable taper plan for a long-time heavy user? Any thoughts or changes to be made? Additional suggestions that would help?

Thanks very much guys and gals. This is a wonderful site!
~ MinderBinder

 

[theseeker]

your plan seems reasonable. I would definitely suggest you break your doses up into morning and evening doses, with half taken in the morning and the other half at night. You might feel a little shitty during the day. Also, once you get down to 200 mg/day- you might want to go down in 25mg increments. I know that might be hard, especially if you get the round AN pills, but you can just break them into approximate quarters. That might make the second part of your taper longer- but believe me- you'll know what I mean. You'll even feel the 25 mg drop. Good luck, man! I'm pulling for ya!

 

[MndrbinderEntrprse]

Thanks seeker. Not a bad thought on the 25mg increments. I would rather taper slow and be functional with light w/d then flat out miserable for 1+ weeks. Will splitting the dose between AM and PM help minimize the symptoms?

Thanks for your help.

 

[swmo]

i'm also using 400 mg tramadol/day. i take all 8 first thing in the morning. it relieves the constant, nagging pain in my hand all day. i feel pretty damn good once it kicks in. my whole body aches like a mf-er, though, before it works. it's not a wd aching, it's from years of abusing my body in fights, wrecks, drunks, etc. i know the diff between the opioid (which trams aren't, just posers) jones & just hurting like hell. if i wait til noon to dose, then i begin to feel the jones. i'm about out of trams & i have no refills & no $ for a dr or a refill. i really only see 1 solution for me. & damn, does it suck! i used to be on subs. i'd get 2 8mg tabs, then film/day. i'd only use about 4 mg/day in tiny doses. so, i've got about 1.5 years of surplus subs. i was on the patient assistance program with RB, so i got them free. lucky me, it only cost me the fingers of my left hand and Volkmann's contracture of my wrist. anyway, i'm not quitting trams. i need 'em, for real. i'm going to have to go back on subs, which i kicked in late May with the help of auricular acupuncture. i had absolutely no idea that the acupuncture was a detox tool. it was offered under a salvation army tent after my hometown was nearly leveled by a huge tornado. (joplin, mo 5/22/11) i mean it when i say, IT WORKS! i had no preconceptions. i was treated, some days twice, for about a week. roughly 30 minute sessions in a group setting. there was massive noise & messed up people all over the place, but once those acudetox needles were in place, all the noise & commotion didn't matter. you might check it out in your area for help. it's cheap & very effective. http://www.acudetox.com/
oh, & i agree about tapering with 25mg increments & splitting doses up to am & pm.

 

[theseeker]

Will splitting the dose between AM and PM help minimize the symptoms?

No, it will help you're body get used to not having tram in it for a period of time. You might start to feel a little shitty towards the end of the day but at least you know you'll have some tram back in your system soon and that will help you feel better. Keep in mind that tapering doesn't mean you'll feel NO wd symptoms, it just means they'll be minimized. In fact, your goal should be to feel a little discomfort. I found that I needed about three days to get used to a lower dose of tram. Once I did I never noticed I had dropped.

 

[villian]

i know the diff between the opioid (which trams aren't, just posers)

tramadol is an opiate agonist, albeit a weak one, and is by definition an opioid.

 

[swmo]

ok. my bad.

 

[Bojangles69]

For 2 1/2 years of use I do not feel like the taper is long enough. It just looks long cause its written vertically, although its really just 1 month.

You have to rationalize the profound influence opiates actually have on your brain. Its extreme, it doesn't generally go away quick. Your taper is set up for a 30 day taper. That is what they recommend for ssris which are already known to have a much less severe impact on the brain/body. Its more discomfort than anything. With opiates its generally more severe than just discomfort imo. Wds alone can cause many people to want to commit suicide.

I say for your own benefit put the work in. Match every year you were on opiates to 30 days tapering off that opiates. For 2 years I say you'd be far better tapering 2 months. And I've seen some people write horror stories about getting off tram. So even more reason to take your time and do it all slow as possible. Last your taper is written somewhat as a linear formula and should read more exponential. Faster drops at higher doses, slower drops at lower doses. You'll see when you get lower why (this is only for faster tapers for slower tapers like the 6 month one I'm doing off sub I do not really need to worry about that).

Either way keep this all in mind. You can start with what you have there, but you definitely may want to modify it to stretch 30days. If anything take 25mgs then standardize it in water, like 5ml dissolve it in. Then take 4ml of it, then 3ml, then 2ml, then 1ml, this will allow you to go under 25mgs if need be. Gauge your body as thats the only way you'll find the real answers to this anyway. Some people are just better off than others, while others have a real hard time. Health/sleep/diet/stress all play significant roles too. Better your diet, sleep hygeine, working out, state of mind, easier it will be imo to cope with coming off the tram.

Go balls to the wall, and g/luck.

 

[gohealthyoff]

I tried that method myself and it worked fairly well until you get to the lower does where things can get unpleasant. I am currently at 4 200mg working my way down and looking to share some coping strategies with other people by that I mean things one can do to reduce some of the side effects threw diet exercise otc or online prescriptions for counter acting medications. I don't want to waste time with talking much about how I feel just want to collaborate on things that work. I don't find I am too depressed at this stage and when I went cold turkey a long time ago I found I was not depressed but my main issues are leg cramps, crawlies, I have some balancing issues or feeling off balance but can work around those. and of course totally unable to sleep because of 1/2. The outdoors is a no as it's January. I am very busy I run a online store for ladies clothes so I do have a lot to occupy my time. I also think you should tapper for longer. I have been using it for 7or 8 years primarily for tmj then started using it for frequently I have never exceeded 9 pills. It works so well for me at the low does amounts 200 mg that I have not gotten off though that primarily because i find the wd terrible. Do you have any other side effects that are similar to my own yet? I would think you'd need something for the restless leg/the crawlies I have heard Imodium is good and something to help get threw any depression plus something for sleep. Hot baths are supposed to help with some of the leg issues which I only get at night. I have a few links to something called a come down kit on pharma review. Apparently there is a huge shortage and many OP are down so those of us ordering via them are in bad shape. There are other drugs you can get from a clinic to get off them but it seems to me that if one can taper down and still get some until off that might be a good wrought. Definitely don't jump off at 25mg I tired that a few times it did not work for me without other meds to deal with side effects once you get to that point just take a sliver off they say two months per every one year of use. Due to the shortage to do it that long would require finding sources for it IOP and possibly some counteracting drugs for side effects iop I am uninsured.

 

[Vaya]

I know, I know, I'm an idiot to be in this situation to start with but i really could use some help and support.

You're not an "idiot," MbE. Many of us have fallen into addiction at one point or another, and you're doing the most responsible thing that you can do, given the present circumstances; that is, reaching out and asking others for help and advice. I mean it when I say KUDOS for doing so!

This type of thread/question is actually more appropriate for one of the drug focus-forums, however, as it relates to a tapering schedule. My impression is that you will get more thorough and detailed responses from the folks over at Basic Drug Discussion, so I'm going to go ahead and move it over there.

(BDD mods if you feel this move was made in haste/error please send it back to TDS or move it to a more appropriate forum - thank you!)

TDS >>> BDD

Good luck, OP

~ Vaya

 

[Swimmingdancer]

This thread is actually over a year old, someone just bumped it.
gohealthyoff - try to check the dates that things were posted before replying please . If you wanted any advice about your own situation please feel free to start a new thread. I'm going to close this so more people don't mistakenly think it's a recent thread. Please PM me if you have any questions.