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tramadol overdose recovery

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wellsmegan

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Sep 20, 2013
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7
My husband and I have been taking high doses of tramadol for about 6 months. Up until the day before yesterday, neither of us had ever had any negative experiences with the tramadol. But on Saturday night, at about 10:30 pm while we were laying in bed, my husband had tonic-clonic(grand mal) seizure right next to me. It was the most terrifying thing I've ever witnessed. the actually seizure only lasted about 60-90 seconds, followed by about 5 minutes of confusion, but after that, he was 100% back to normal (except for biting a gash into his tongue) he almost didn't believe what I told him because, though he didn't remember anything, he felt completely healthy and normal. no headache, no muscle aches, no cloudy or fuzzy feeling, nothing. and that continued on into yesterday as well. we had a completely normal Sunday like nothing ever happened and he felt fine. let me add also that I did not call 911 during the seizure because I am a medical professional and know that as long aa the patient didnt hurt themselves during the seizure, there's really nothing anyone can do for a seizure except try to figure out what caused it, and I already knew what caused it. the tramadol. we both took more than normal that night. Anyway, my husband is fine. he's completely gotten over it and it's not affecting him at all. both of us wanted to quit the tramadol right then and there but we know that writing cold turkey would possibly only envoke more seizures, so we started the tapering process yesterday, and I also have him taking gabapentin for its antI convulsion properties. what my question is is, how do I get over this? my husband is completely fine like nothing ever happened, but I feel traumatized. I can't go 5 minutes without replaying the terrifying scenario in my head and almost having a panic attack. I'm following him around like a puppy dog because I'm afraid of another seizure and I want to be there to catch him. Ialmost wouldn't even let him take a shower yesterday. I'm miserable. I can't eat. I can't sleep. I can't think about anything else. Will things ever go back to normal? Will I ever be able to look at my husband again withouts imagining his eyes rolling in the back of his head and his body violently convulsing? I feel like I'm never going to get over it. can anyone offer me any kind of hope? please? I just want to be normal again
 
I'd tell your husband to get off the gabapentin if he is only using it for tramadol withdrawal as it has a horrible withdrawal on it's own (much more horrible than tramadol in my oppinion) and it will do basically nothing to prevent tonic clonic seizures. It's not a good anticonvulsant at all on it's own and mostly used as an adjunct medication combined with other anticonvulsants to prevent seizures. If you just taper the tramadol correctly you will not need to add any "comfort meds" which in my oppinion, after having suffered through several withdrawals, is a bad idea to use at all.

I have had a seizure from tramadol despite taking 3600mg gabapentin daily. If you are going to use something to prevent seizures benzodiazepines would be the drug of choice. Still this is completely unneccessary if you just taper correctly.

You should never rush to get off drugs, take it slow and don't add additional drugs, it just causes more misery in the end. At least in my experience.
 
The situation screams of a loss of personal control over each of your usage patterns, though. I can understand a certain impetus behind using Tramadol recreationally, but the fact that your usage levels are now putting you into the seizure/overdose arena does not warrant introducing benzodiazepines into your life.

Especially if they weren't there, before.

A program of reduction/cessation would be your best bet, if you want my honest opinion.

Please take care of yourselves...

~ Vaya
 
I gave him the gabapentin for its anti convulsant properties that I read about. not to combat the withdrawal. and I only gave him 300mg at night. I also took 300mg at night because since his seizure, I've become incredibly paranoid about having a seizure myse lf. he has a prescription for klonopin and I gave him 1mg after he had his seizure and I've been giving him 0.5mg before he's taken anymore doses of the tramadol. I gave him the last one we had this morning before he went to work and he can't get his prescription refilled until next week. what scares me is that through everything I've been reading about people who have gotten seizures from tramadol, it seems as though after their first seizure, it becomes increasingly easier to have another seizure, even with a much smaller dose of the tramadol. so even though his dose now is 2/3 what it was when he had his seizure, I'm constantly terrified of him having another one anyway. is that a justifiable concern? I feel like even after we're off the tramadol and the threat of seizures is not there anymore, I'm still going to have issues with remember this episode. not being able to get it out of my head, I mean. constantly hearing the noises he made no matter where I am. having flashbacks. Will that ever get better?
 
^You need to let this go. He will not have another seizure magically out of nowhere. I had my seizure from tramadol about 6 years ago and have taken tramadol several times since then in much higher doses than you (2500-3500mg) and I never experienced a seizure again from it after that. I think this was a bad random coincidence. Still you need to taper your tramadol doses as 800mg is not good. I'm pretty sure though that if you use tramadol everyday you build tolerance to it's seizure inducing effects too. I read about many people taking insane doses of tramadol for long periods of time and never experiencing seizures, so I think this was just a coincidence. Seizures from tramadol just seem completely random to me.

Can you not seek help as in opiate replacement therapy? I think a taper with subutex might be a good idea here to eliminate all the worries.
 
^ We already spoke to our doctor about our tramadol addiction about 2 weeks ago. He gave us Clonidine, Lomotil and wellbutrin. we had 3 refills of our tramadol left between the 2 of us so we decided to use those before using the meds prescribed by our doctor to detox.doctor almost laughed at us when we told him about our addiction, staying that he had never heard of someone being addicted to tramadol and that he uses it for people who are trying to get off of harder narcotics. we explained to him that the withdrawal from tramadol is just as bad, if not worse than the withdrawal from hydrocodone or oxycodone, etc. he was shocked, and then prescribed us these meds.

but like I said, I feel like it doesn't matter whether we're off the tramadol or not, I'm going to be haunted by this experience. I don't know if your married or not, but when I saw my husband have his seizure, even though intellectually I knew that seizures aren't fatal, emotionally, I felt like I was being faced with the possibility of him not being here anymore for the first time, and that was terrifying. it's never something I've ever considered as a possibility until then, and now I'm paranoid about it. I don't want to let him do anything that might potentially be dangerous. I know I'm wrong in feeling that way. I can't make him stop living his life because he had a seizure once, and I don't plan on trying. but I don't know how to put my own mind at ease. I don't know how to stop thinking about the seizure. I feel almost like I have PTSD. I literally have been having flashbacks non-stop, 24 hours per day. I don't know how to stop. I really just want someone who knows what I'm going thru, tell me that it will get better with time.
 
I don't think I ever actually stated how much we were taking so I don't know how you got 800mg. But we were taking 350mg 3 x per day. sometimes a little more. on Saturday, before the seizure, my husband can't exactly remember how much he took, but he's pretty sure he took 250-300mg first, and then 350mg maybe 1-1 1/2 hours later. but he had also been taking wellbutrin for 2 weeks which also lowers your seizure threshold, so I don't know if that played a part in it also, but we have since stopped the wellbutrin until we're off the tramadol.
 
I'm just curious, if you are a healthcare provider then why tramadol of all things in such high doses?

As far as how to get over it I'm not sure what anyone can tell you about it. I'm sure you felt the need to share and vent your feelings. The only thing I can say is give it a little time. Doesn't everyone feel this way a bit when a loved one has a scare of any type?
 
^Sorry, I was replying to some other tramadol thread on another forum and got things mixed up, my appologies. Still I think the best option is to seek opiate replacement therapy and taper from there. If it is impossible, try to switch to another opiate like subutex anyway and taper (I personally never got additional withdrawal effects tramadols SNRI effects but if it becomes a problem then I think an actual doctor could provide more useful info). Stopping the wellbutrin was a good choice :)
 
missmeyet? I am a certified medical assistant and my specialty is in pediatrics. for the last 4 years I've been a stay at home mom/ wife, but before that I worked in pediatrics for 5 years and internal medicine for 1. I have a general knowledge of medicine and healthcare because of my schooling and experience, but because of my specialty, I don't know much about pain medications and narcotics and the such. in retrospect, it would've been smart to research it, but unfortunately I didn't. however, through schooling, I did learn about seizures. Enough to know that as long as someone doesn't hurt themselves during a seizure, there's really nothing anyone can do for a seizure besides making sure they're on their side in case of vomiting, and try to remain calm. I got him on his side, but unfortunately I wasn't very efficient at the "keeping calm" part. I freaked out to say the least.

toz: thank you for your honest and quick responses. I think we're going to continue with the tramadol taper. we're down to 600mg per day total and haven't really felt much of a withdrawal effect so far, so I feel confident that we can do it.

I've felt a little better throughout the day just being able to vent on different forums and talk to people. I'm sure that after a little time, and especially after we get off the tramadol for good, I will recover also. sometimes I almost find myself wishing that I had had the seizure instead of him, because he's had such an easy time getting over it, considering he doesn't remember anything except a badly bitten tongue. I sure wish I could erase it from my memory as easily.
 
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