• BASIC DRUG
    DISCUSSION
    Welcome to Bluelight!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Benzo Chart Opioids Chart
    Drug Terms Need Help??
    Drugs 101 Brain & Addiction
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Tramadol Broke my Brain

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

hadini

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 28, 2013
Messages
34
So a month ago I tried to take tram over the course of a weekend. 200mg or so a day, and all was fine until sunday, where an hour after the dose I started shaking, heart racing, scary sick to the point i thought i was gonna die, etc. went to hospital.

I felt fine for a few days after, but then all of the sudden after smoking weed I had an intense 'attack': dilated pupils, hallucinations, heart felt like it would explode, sweats. Weed gradually got less anxious, but i still cant drink alcohol as a couple drinks will have me severely intoxicated, the room spins, my stomach feels like its eating itself, and its all i can do to fight off a panic attack. One beer (before i had two and felt awful) had me feeling drunk. like too drunk. i still get dilated pupils for no reason when sober and this 'on something' feeling thatll crash into me needing a nap for a few hours.

Its a month after taking tram for only a few days and i feel maybe only 30% recovered. Cigs and weed are the only thing i dont react strongly to (2.5mg ambien caused panic attacks and crazy peaks and valleys for 3 days).

Any ideas as to what is going on? I often feel 'on something' when im sober (light sensitivty, racing thought, racing heart) and i have insane drig sensitivity in most cases. Cant even do a sip of caffeine without getting dissociated.

What pisses me off is that i was way below the suggested daily max of 400mg. I wish i never touched tram.
 
Well what happened that day looks like you were near seizure. For what happened after that, I dont know, you should ask a doctor because its pretty worrying. I would highly suggest you to not take drugs until you see a doctor.
 
I went to see a Gen Doc and he took blood tests for thyroid and b12. I'm not sure he'll find anything, although the rapid weight loss and hair thinning could point to that. I've gone to the ER twice, the first time right when trams made me sick (different sorta sick than now) and second time when heart palpitations and light headedness. Both did EKG and scans and found no damage... Wrote it off as a reaction to medication. Then again, though, everyone has seemed to know little about trams.

Would a neurologist be the next step? Suggestions for what type of doc, as this seems to have to do with the chemical levels or 'wiring' in my brain, would be welcome... Anyone ever come across anything like this? A lot of the symptoms seem to be in line with 'panic' but I can't tell if the panic is causing symptoms or symptoms are causing panic.
 
I think the lack of answer here is because nobody really know what is happening to you. I remember on another forum of someone who suffered persistant dissociation and weird symtoms after using a standard dose of DXM, I dont know how he is now. What is similar with both experience is that both substances have SSRI, NMDA antagonist and anticholinergic effects.

Have you ever try any drug that have one of those effect without the others ? Meaby you are intolerent to one of those effect.

Seeing a Neurologist is a good idea, a psychiatrist might help aswell.
 
thats strange man....i took tons of tram for years, and know people that take it full time and have never heard of such a thing. You def not on any other meds right? tram has interactions with certain drugs bc of its norepinephrine action, its not just an opioid.
 
/\..yes, though different than most peoples reaction to tramadol, it is not xcompletely uncommon for some people to have, well, uncommon side effects from drugs. I'm not sure if it is a coincidence or if it is actually the tramadol. It would be unusual to have prolonged effects from it but could happen...it should be fairly self limiting though. In other words it should not be a permanent effect if that happens to be the cause of your symptoms. Have you told your doc your theory that these continuing effects are from the tramadcol? Asked for a referral to a specialist? Had you ever taken tramadol before that weekend? Have you taken it since that weekend?
 
I have had similar longer lasting than normal after- effects from a three-day speed-binge once, I didn't feel right for weeks. Other drugs started to feel different than before. I couldn't smoke weed/hash for some time, because I got all spacey. I became so desperate I started smoking heroin, and that masked the rest of it since I kept doing that for a year. I think I have no lasting effects now, its a couple of years ago. I'm not saying heroin is a good medicine for this, because that led to much pain, wd, IV's and addiction. Tramadol never did anything to me but it potentiated my bupe. But its known to be a dangerous shitty drug. Some love it though.

T
 
I couldn't smoke weed/hash for some time, because I got all spacey.
Click to expand...

What, exactly, were you expecting from marijuana?

I don't have an answer for your varied problems, but based solely on what you have posted here, I would take a good, hard, sober look at why you are using drugs when they seem to be causing these problems for you.
 
I had a similar experience with 5-HTP + kratom (likely containing 0-desmethyltramadol) several years ago. I now consider it to have been a mild/moderate case of serotonin syndrome, even though that term is highly overused.

Your brain will recover, but it will take time. I didn't feel right for a solid month after using less than a teaspoon of said kratom along with 50 mg of 5-HTP. I can only describe the sensation as similar to the worst heroin withdrawals ever and then some. Total mind/mood/body fuck.

Tramadol by itself can induce serotonin syndrome, especially in high doses. It doesn't sound like you abused it majorly but your body might just be sensitive to the drug. It's a strange substance that affects people VERY differently. Some of its effects are similar to MDMA while in other ways it acts like an opiate or antidepressant.

I say give your brain and body time to heal by abstaining from other drugs for a few weeks at least. Pay special attention to diet/exercise/sleep habits during this time, and manage your stress levels in a drug-free way.
 
Well I had been using the drugs up until this point because they had never caused any problems for me... I suppose. I had always been an introverted type and it wasn't until the drugs that I opened up. In times of stress I have taken it too far but I don't regret starting smoking and experimenting. With these issues, I am just praying that I will one day be able to go out and drink with friends... or at the very least live a sober life with no symptoms. And thanks for all the replies guys... An update:

It has been roughly 5 weeks since I took the trams and am still having some issues. Light sensitivity and pupil dilation seems to be down for the most part. BP is still notably higher than before and occasionally i have palpitations. Constant feeling of 'fear' and confusion is for the most part gone... but I go through phases of restlessness, fatigue, euphoria, dysphoria.

That all said and done I am still having INSANE drug sensitivity. I've mostly remained sober, only taking something after ive felt 'fine' for a while to test the waters and judge how recovered I am. All of these experiments went terribly (save for weed, which i noticed makes me more agitated than before). Tried having a few beers at a comedy club (5 weeks out) and tripped hard in a good way for the first hour, then felt like I was dying. I was way too 'intoxicated' even after one beer and the buzz carried a psychedelic quality (mostly in mindset). Night ended with fighting off constant panick attacks while confusion consumed me.

I tried to take amoxicillin recently for a sore throat. its a med i never had any sides from, and on the second 500mg pill i believe i suffered a very small seizure. Even trace amounts of caffeine or mild supplements like l-theanine seems to cause confusion and weird sensory changes.

I suppose if I needed to sober up this is doing a damn fine job of it. But I really hope I don't have to go through life having to avoid even helpful meds like antibiotics or claritin. I can never predict how I am going to feel and fear that I'm starting to lose myself with this.

*i advise anyone to stay away from this crap. It was fine until the third dose, and even if you dont get permanent symptoms the seizure or seratonin syndrome or whatever it was that the trams caused was a terrifying experience not worth repeating. Hell sometimes i cant tell if symptoms are better or if it just took several weeks to get over the anxiety and vulnerability brought on by that event alone.
 
Last edited:
Everyone is different, everyone has different body chemistry...this is why drugs need to be respected, along with your body. Although something like this would never of been for seen...Best of luck, take her easy...and in moderation.
 
I totally agree with above said statement.... It is different for everyone. I took about 300mg of tramadol every day for about a year, quit for about 6 months, started Zoloft then researched seratonin syndrome and quit everything. Even drinking. (the withdrawl from that and Zoloft were the worst thing I have ever experienced) I never had any negative effects from the tramadol besides occasional dizziness and is attributed that to the insane appetite suppressing effect it has on me and not remembering to eat. However after I started using it again regularly (I am taking about 200 mg a day currently) I experienced high blood pressure, severe dizziness and eye sight issues. (Which I contributed to having a baby) however I haven't had any negative effects since.... I make sure to keep my dose low tho as in still scared of seizures.... My advice would be if tramadol isn't for you, stay away from it. I know it can be a dangerous drug.
 
I figured it was implied that you didnt need to tell me to stay away from trams... But i guess not. Everyone is different, sure. But i am not out of bounds for warning the site against playing with a painkiller with known seizure side effects, and unpredictable ones at that. Especially when there are seizure free straight mu-agonists like codeine or vicodin.

Like honestly why take the time to write on here saying that tram hasnt caused you any problems? This very well may have ruinsd my life; i could care less that your abuse of the drug hasnt backfired.

To someone who asked: i had a faraway appt for a neurologist, but in light of the approx 5 small absence seizures over last two days i am going to try and expedite this process. Nothing like an emergency to make you realize how much your doc doesnt give a shit. i called like 4 times since 8am on business day and never heard back. Am I like... epilleptic now? Anyone here with enough experience to make an educated guess on whether this is permanent?
 
If you are still suffering THAT huge of a reaction, to be having seizures, it probobly isn't the tramadol ruining your life.... Something else is likely up. then such a small dose of tramadol, THAT long ago. Just sayin....
 
So you're saying that I was in perfect health up until an hour after I took trams and them miraculously developed epilepsy within a matter of minutes? Makes perfect, perfect sense. You are quite the biochemistry whiz.
 
Tramadol is great for a person like me who's been on them for years and actually likes what they do to me. For someone like you, you should really research the drug before taking it. Tramadol, which most think is strictly a pain pill, is also an SNRI. It acts as a serotonin agonist. These kinds of meds could definitely get you feeling like your on the threshold of a seizure. Tramadol, itself, is seizure bound after taking 400mg of it.
 
If you read my post you would see that i researched the drug and gathered that 200-250mg was a safe dose that would not have permanent or long lasting epileptic effects...

In other news I have an mri and eeg today... Well see what happens
 
poppyplanet said:
Tramadol is great for a person like me who's been on them for years and actually likes what they do to me. For someone like you, you should really research the drug before taking it. Tramadol, which most think is strictly a pain pill, is also an SNRI. It acts as a serotonin agonist. These kinds of meds could definitely get you feeling like your on the threshold of a seizure. Tramadol, itself, is seizure bound after taking 400mg of it.
Click to expand...

So no one has seizures on less than 400 mg of tramadol and everyone has a seizure when they take 400 mg or more?
 
bloodshed344 said:
So no one has seizures on less than 400 mg of tramadol and everyone has a seizure when they take 400 mg or more?
Click to expand...

No ! Some people are prone to seizure and Tramadol lower seizure threshold. Someone could get seizure from a dose as low as 50mg while someone could take 600mg and feel perfectly fine.

Like we always say, everybody react differently from drugs.
 
stop taking tramadol. (not you, everyone in the entire world, its a horrible, horrible drug, for this exact reason.)

stay away from tramadol and other drugs for a while, eat healthy and exercise, and your body will eventually heal itself
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top