Coming off of Tramadol and Kratom

[Tramadol-addict]

Hi all, posting in homeless because I don't really know where this belongs. Long-time lurker but this is my first post.

I'm looking for some help coming off tramadol. I've been at 400mg/day for roughly six months, and it's my second time addicted. Last time I came off, it was a fairly slow taper, and manageable. This time is a little more complicated as I've been using kratom a lot (2-3 heaped tablespoons a day).

I really want off tramadol and kratom ASAP as I have some amazing opportunities to work abroad and I don't want addictions complicating things. I've read on various threads that pregabalin can ease withdrawals; luckily I have access to 300mg tabs.

Basically my question is: Is it safe to cold turkey tramadol and kratom at the same time and use the pregabs to ease the w/d's? I am ok with a bit of discomfort, I just want it over with quickly. But I know tram and kratom have some properties that make them different to classical opiates.

If I did taper, would 50mg/day be OK, or too fast? And how long can I take pregabs without developing a dependency to that too?

Thanks in advance guys, much love

 

[Slow_Mobius]

This is tricky. The biggest concern with dropping them both CT IMO is the potential for suicidal ideation. Opioid WD is going to put you in a pretty horrible place, but combining that with antidepressant WD (from the tramadol as it's an SNRI) might put you in an especially terrible place mentally. However, people have highly variable experiences with tramadol WD, so you could try CTing it and see how you do.

My advice would be to try CTing one with pregabalin and then taper the other without pregabalin if that's feasible for you. Otherwise, it shouldn't be physically dangerous for you to try to jump off both, so you could give it a try.

50 mg of pregabalin is a good starting dose, but you can definitely take more than that if you need to. I think there's an upper limit of diminishing returns with using pregabalin for opioid WD, so I wouldn't try to pushing more than 300ish mg/day. Sometimes you'll see people taking much more than that, but those individuals usually have some tolerance or are CTing crazy high doses of H or other more potent opioids. If your naive to gabapentinoids, I think a week is a pretty reasonable amount of time to say you can probably use it without developing a physical dependence. That said, it varies significantly from person to person.

Best of luck. I don't envy your situation

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

I would drop the kratom first since it has shorter withdrawals, then once you get through the worst of the kratom withdrawals drop the tram. Or you can do a rapid taper on both at the same time but I have a feeling that'll be really tough for you.

Good luck

 

[Tramadol-addict]

This is tricky. The biggest concern with dropping them both CT IMO is the potential for suicidal ideation. Opioid WD is going to put you in a pretty horrible place, but combining that with antidepressant WD (from the tramadol as it's an SNRI) might put you in an especially terrible place mentally. However, people have highly variable experiences with tramadol WD, so you could try CTing it and see how you do.

My advice would be to try CTing one with pregabalin and then taper the other without pregabalin if that's feasible for you. Otherwise, it shouldn't be physically dangerous for you to try to jump off both, so you could give it a try.

50 mg of pregabalin is a good starting dose, but you can definitely take more than that if you need to. I think there's an upper limit of diminishing returns with using pregabalin for opioid WD, so I wouldn't try to pushing more than 300ish mg/day. Sometimes you'll see people taking much more than that, but those individuals usually have some tolerance or are CTing crazy high doses of H or other more potent opioids. If your naive to gabapentinoids, I think a week is a pretty reasonable amount of time to say you can probably use it without developing a physical dependence. That said, it varies significantly from person to person.

Best of luck. I don't envy your situation

I really know what you mean about the depression, I tapered off before and I was really, really low a lot of the time. Like some of the worst I've ever been. I think part of that was starting naltrexone at the same time which made me feel like shit. Who knows what caused what, maybe a combination.

I think I'll probably try CTing the kratom then doing a rapid taper (50mg/day over 8 days) and try my best to keep the pregab at a minimum. I used to be prescribed 300mg/day for a year or so and coming off that was hell so I know I'm susceptible now that I'm not naive to it. I'm really wanting to be careful with that shit and not develop another dependence.

Thanks for the advice man, really appreciate it

I would drop the kratom first since it has shorter withdrawals, then once you get through the worst of the kratom withdrawals drop the tram. Or you can do a rapid taper on both at the same time but I have a feeling that'll be really tough for you.

Good luck

Yeah I think you're right, I'll start with the kratom and then once that's out of the way start tapering the tram. Thanks

 

[Tramadol-addict]

Update: threw out the kratom this morning , and it takes about 2 weeks to buy more from indonesia, so there's no going back on that front Hoping for the best. I'm not sure I will get crazy kratom withdrawals. I've come on and off it without too much hassle before.