Feedback on Ultram Side Effects and Usage page 31
About Ultram
If you have used Ultram, please help others by adding your feedback. What would you tell your best friend about using this pain medication?
Subj: Seizures?
Date: 4/14/2009
Hello, how dangerous is 350mg of Ultram in one day? It was prescribed for pain and the recommended does was 4, but because I have a high tolerance, I took 7. Could this induce seizures? Thank you.
Concerned
AskDocWeb: Although the chance of having a seizure from taking 7 over the course of one day is small, it is still a real possibility. Please stick with the recommended dosage printed on the bottle.
Subj: To each their own
Date: 4/24/2009
I have been on ultram for 3 years as needed and I have no problems sometimes I take for a few days when I really am sore or I don’t take any for weeks. I feel that when I take it I have energy like I’ve taken speed. I usually clean my whole house and it puts me in a real good mood. I can see it would get addicting. But I’m not into drugs so I take as needed and a bottle of 120 lasts me for months. I can take 1 to 2 tabs 4 times a day 50 mg. The most I have ever taken was 2 pills twice a day. And that’s when I’m really sore. So to each their own. If you feel you are getting addicted stay off them.
Jill
Subj: I want to stop taking Ultram
Date: 4/26/2009
I went off the Ultrams because of the weight gain and flu like symptons. I read where it is addicting. Now I might have bercitius in both my hips my Dr told me start taking Ultram again, I didn’t want to but did it. o4-1209 I started taking one 50mg tablet at bedtime. Now 14 days later I have Itching that’s driving me crazy and mood swings, and my Dr is never around and sometimes doesn’t call back for 2, 3, or 5 days. I want to stop taking it cold turkey, being I was only taking 1 at night would this be ok?
Sherry
AskDocWeb: Remember that we do not give medical advice here, our focus is on questions about side effects. Even when your doctor is not available you may still be able to ask their nurse questions. You can also call the pharmacist where you filled your prescription.
Subj: Beware of flaws
Date: 5/9/2009
My name is Caleb, and I am an alcoholic. Within the first day of taking this medication, I knew I had to stop. The mood swings have you cuddleing with loved ones, then storming out of the room in anger. 24 hours out of pain: Good. Loved one leaving you because she doesn’t even recognise you when you are on it: Bad. Don’t touch the stuff. Try regularly stretching, and get a good deep tissue massage. Any pill made by man will have flaws. This pills flaw is addiction. Beware.
Caleb
Subj: After a while I needed it
Date: 5/10/2009
I began taking Ultram because I have an addictive personality and I wanted to experiment with this drug because it is not a DEA controlled substance. I got an immediate energy boost and was able to complete my work and interact with my kids much more effectively. Over time the dosage went up and I had some emotional lability and tried to stop but could not. I kept going up until I was around 20 pills a day. After a while of this I needed it for the energy and to avoid indescribably terrible withdrawal symptoms. But my energy that had been so good now went way down and I was in bed right after work, I was depressed. It has been a long road of relapses with this drug because I craved the energy it gave. I finally took a month off work and took high doses of Xanax (alprozolam) to weather the withdrawal. I finally fell asleep at the top of our stairs and tumbled down like sack of potatos. I don’t remember the ambulance or even falling but I remember being stitched up in the ER. They got a CT scan of my head and I was OK. I was on the verge of tears and crying if I talked about something emotional for 3-4 weeks after I quit the drug about 10 months ago. At present I am still having the lethargy and depression that other have talked about on this board but it is improving. I haven’t gone to any N.A. meetings but I have considered it because I’m quite compulsive and I still miss this drug that has stolen years from me. Years that I spent in bed.
Mark
Subj: Acute abstinence syndrome
Date: 5/20/2009
Everyone above should read this about Ultram (Tramadol) “Acute abstinence syndrome following abrupt cessation of long-term use of tramadol: a case study” E. Freye and J. Levy Pain Center, Extension of the Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf Department of Physiology Pharmacology, University of the Pacific San Francisco
Dr. Douglas
Subj: I went into withdrawal
Date: 5/24/2009
I started taking Ultram several years ago for Arthritis pain and at first I thought it was a godsend, it made me feel pain free and like I could do anything. I felt pain free and I had no side effects. Through the years I eventually gradually wound up increasing the dosage to 2-50mg pills every 6 to 8 hrs, and I was doing great. Then my supply got low because of my doctor disagreeing with the dosage I was taking. They said it should be only 1 to two Fifty mg. pills a day. Anyway, I ran out a week before the next refill was due and I went into withdrawal symptoms, which indeed are horrible and hideous. A friend of mine at work told me he was on it and he quit cold turkey, but he warned me if you do that (quit cold turkey) you had better lock yourself in a room and hide all the guns in the house. Now I see why he said that. Physicians never tell you about the withdrawal risks, and they don’t want to create junkies so they give you a prescription and hope that you’ll do ok managing the dosage. It’s easy to slowly and gradually up the dose because the more you take the better you feel. My advice is to be careful and stay on a lower dose if you can, or avoid even starting to use this drug at all. Yes it works great for some people like me, but it can be a gut wrenching ordeal to stop taking it. If you are taking it wean yourself off slowly, by gradually lowering your dose and stay in contact with your doctor. Incidentally my wife tried to use a very low dose once for a headache, and she had a seizure. Needless to say she will never try that again.
Carl
Subj: Withdrawal symptoms
Date: 5/27/2009
I prefer ultram to other pain-killers but if you take it long term there are withdrawal symptoms. I try to wein off every other month, slowly. I do have sleepless nights for about 3-4 days.
Tom
Subj: Addicted to ultram
Date: 6/1/2009
I started taking it a year ago to get off suboxone, and got addicted to ultram. Now I’m up to over 20 a day, I’ve had two seizures. I’m obsessed with them it seems. I’m out of control, and yes I cannot withstand those withdrawls. I’ve been to rehab over 10 times for hydrocodone, now its tramadol and I can’t stop, I can’t go to detox either, my homelife won’t allow it, nobody to watch my child. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Jennifer
AskDocWeb: Please read Carl’s post above.
Subj: There’s something wrong with the FDA
Date: 6/19/2009
I can’t believe what I’m reading! I am 53 yrs old & have osteoarthritis pretty much all over my body – shoulders, hips, knees, feet, hands, back. Had a total knee replacement last year. Doctors had me on 20 mg oxycodone every 3 hrs for the last year, but have been on various narcotics pretty much continually for 15 years now. My kind doctor worked with me to wean me off narcotics gradually as we lost our insurance (gotta love the recession!) over a 5 month period, & I was no longer going to be able to see him. He also prescribed me Clonodine & Trazadone to help with any withdrawal symptoms. Thankfully, by the time I got to 5 mg Vicodin every 6 hrs, withdrawal was pretty minimal & controlled with those meds. However, living in the reality of my joint pain was excruciating. I couldn’t do anything to help at home, just sit for the most part. My poor husband had to work all day & come home and do everything else on our farm, including cooking dinner! Bless him, but it was starting to wear very thin by the time I finally got to see another doctor!
I finally established with a “poor people” doctor (takes a long time to get in for your first appointment!) and was told their policy is not to prescribe narcotics. I requested injections of cortisone, which have helped somewhat in the past. They won’t do that until my records come, which may take months. The doctor did offer to prescribe me some Tramadol (ultram), saying the same thing I’ve read here, “it’s not addictive” and “your body won’t develop a tolerance to it.” I’ve been awake for 36 hours now, and couldn’t understand why until I read these posts. I think it might be the tramadol! I don’t want to take a chance of going thru withdrawals again, but I need to be able to participate in my life. Pain management in the United States is such a huge problem! The darn druggies have made it nearly impossible for those of us who have a justifiable, medical need for pain management to obtain proper care. I know they’re there to “protect us” but there’s something wrong with the FDA deciding what & how much my doctor can prescribe without losing their license! Shame, shame.
Pam
Subj: I got hooked, AGAIN!
Date: 6/22/2009
Thank God for this site, and thank God again for my WIFE finding it for me! I was started on Ultram by my ortho surgeon because of long-standing low back issues. I’ve been an EMT, paramedic, and fire fighter for over 30 years, and have long been plagued with disk issues: i.e. three microdiskectomies and numerous steroid injections, etc. After my first microdiskectomy, my post-surgical care included a recommendation from my neurosurgeon that I simply abandon all pain meds, as the cause of my pain had been removed… and she was right. However, the pain meds I’d been taking prior to surgery had hooked me, and hooked me good… and me, a 30 year-plus advanced medical provider, had not a CLUE until I had been home from the hospital for about 8 hours. That’s when the depression, hopelessness, and overwhelming anxiety began. Soon it was insomnia, weeping fits, and all the rest you’ve read about here. So, when my back became so unstable that fusion became the only viable option, I was VERY concerned and up front with my doctor about the need to keep myself completely clear of ALL narcotics, and exactly why.
I was prescribed Ultram, and told that I could take it without fear of addiction or withdrawal. Well, maybe some people can, but I am certainly NOT one of them. I have been virtually pain free for a couple of weeks now, since my anterior intrabody L4,L5,S1 fusion, and I knew the Ultram was causing problems with constipation, which was aggravating my situation a lot. So I stopped taking it, so my GI system could clear… and the withdrawal started within hours. But even I, a trained and experienced medical professional, failed to recognize what was happening to me. I wrote it off to being sad and depressed that my career was at an end, that the best days of my life were behind me, and that God had finally abandoned me for all of my foul behavior… all of that… none of which, I have found, is true. It’s this damn Ultram! I got hooked, AGAIN! So I’m off to my primary doctor this morning, to figure out a detox plan that will wean me off this stuff, and still allow my bowels to function in something resembling a normal way.
If any of this sounds like you, don’t worry. You are okay. Go to your doctor, and get off this Ultram in a systematic way. You don’t need it… your body has simply been fooled into THINKING that you need it. But all this crap about this drug being a “non-narcotic,” and a “non-opioid,” is just that… crap. This stuff is every bit as addictive as the Roxicett and Vicodin that screwed me up last time. Doctors should not prescribe it without telling patients that.
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