Feedback on Ultram Side Effects and Usage page 33
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: Can’t sleep, sneeze, and shivers
Date: 8/18/2009
I have taken ultram for years for back and leg and back pain. I want to stop for some surgery but I am having terrible withdrawels, how do you go about it and get off without cold turkey. I cant sleep, sneeze all the time and shivers when I need it. I was taking 4 50mg a day and now down to 1 a day at night when the shivers start, how long does it take to get it out of your system? Please help.
Phyllis
AskDocWeb: According to the feedback the first five days after discontinuing are the worst. After that things calm down and start improving.
Subj: Miracle drug
Date: 8/19/2009
Ultram has been a miracle drug for me and I have been taking it as needed for the past 12 years. I have never had any symptoms listed above and I only would take this medication as my Dr., told me it was non-habit forming with minor side effects so I have never had a withdrawal issue and some days my pain is at a level whereby I need 4 pills but the next day I may not ever use it. I was so excited when last week I re-filled my prescription from February of 09 so my pain level has decreased and I never have any side effects.
Michele
Subj: Withdrawal effects
Date: 9/2/2009
Was prescribed tramadol/ultram 2.5 yrs ago for back pain following a c-section. It helped with the pain but I felt tired a lot of the time ( put that down to having a new born and a 14 month old to care for) However, 2 years later and the back (and now) constant joint pain + insomnia, tiredness, nausea, and lethargy were too much to cope with. My Dr was sure it was fibromyalgia but I wasn’t sure. Too many coincindences. So I researched tramadol/ultram on the web and decided right then to stop taking them. I’m only 4 days in but have reduced from 8- 10 50mg pills to 2 50mg pills. So far the withdrawal is the same as any opiod withdrawal; chills, sweats, abdominal cramps, nausea, etc. From what I’ve read withdrawal seems to be a subjective experience with some suffering awful symptoms – I have been fairly standard in my withdrawal (I feel) in fact it’s been easier than when I stopped taking Kapake. (it was prescribed for 10 days after a head surgery and the withdrawal was terrible)
I have found in the UK that many agencies that deal with other drug dependency/withdrawal now little or nothing about prescribed drug dependency/withdrawal, and given the view that many healthcare professionals dismiss the idea that withdrawal issues occur with these drugs I feel that there is a huge gap occuring where genuine cases deserving help may find themselves completely unsupported.
Amanda
Subj: Nothing but problems
Date: 9/5/2009
I was prescribed ultram recently with vicodin which I thought was crazy but luckily I read all my med packets before I ever take a med. I know not to take them together. I was told to take the ultram during the day and if the pain got too severe to take the vicodin. Well I took one ultram and had the worst headache of my life for 2 days I thought my head was going to pop. I was so sick throwing up and hurt all over. I then took the vicodin later that night on the second day when I just couldnt take the pain anymore and within an hour my headache was totally gone. My doctors said to try not to take the vicodin but I cant take the tramadol. I think I would rather deal with any pain that what I went through while on ultram. I have disck problems in my low back as well as a botched hysterectomy that I am having yet another surgery for because they left my ovaries and my cervix and now I have a cyst on my cervix(dont know how that happens) as well as left over endometrial tissue they just accidentally left in and cysts covering my whole left ovary. So I will have the left ovary removed as well as the cervix the pain is very bad but I would take it any day over taking ultram. This drug has caused me nothing but problems. I wish everyone else out there taking it the best of luck and you have my sympathy for all the people who have or will have a bad reaction to this med.
Amber
Subj: Quit cold turkey
Date: 9/8/2009
I read some of the testimonials above and I could have cried. Of course I was told that Ultram is not addictive and should have no extreme side affects when you stop taking it. I can’t afford it anymore and had to stop “cold tueky” and experienced ALL of the withdrawl symptoms above. I haven’t slept in days, I became suicidal, I am in constant pain (muscle spasms all over my back), I’m constantly yelling at my husband and child, I’m miserable. I thought I was losing my mind, that I suddenly became bi-polar or manic. I wish I had never taken these, I prefer the pain.
Kelly
Subj: Beware of the side effects
Date: 9/14/2009
I’m 45 and been on Ultram for chronic back pain due to arthritis and spasms. I take 2 pills 3 times a day. I have been doing this for the past 5 years now. I have ran in to two situations where I ran out of my Ultram’s and my doctor was
(A)on vacation and was not able to call them in until she returned and
(B)Dropped my last weeks worth in to my dish water at my kitchen sink.
The first time I was without? It was only a matter of 3 hours of missing my dose I started to experience horrible withdrawals. Hot and cold flashes, the pit of my stomach felt like someone had socked me, Shaky, moody to the point I was snapping at everyone around me, crying out of control, I felt every bone in my body aching like horrible flu symptoms. No appetite what so ever, I really wanted to just die because I wanted all the withdrawl symptoms to just STOP. I tosses and turned for 4 nights straight. All I could think of was how can I get my hands on some Ultrams. I told my husband I wanted to slit my wrists and just be done with it. I experienced this both times. I to this date still take Ultram because it’s the only drug that does not make me feel foggy in my thinking and I don’t feel drugged. It takes the pain away in a matter of minutes to where I can function comfortably. I will say if I’m 30 minutes late in taking this medication? My body sure lets me know it.
I do plan to wean myself off of this drug but I will do it my own way and not be set on a 2 week basis in having to do so. I will do it over a 3 month period to where my body wont notice it as I will cut a little bit away from each dose until I am totally off of it. This drug is wonderful for pain but beware of the side effects as they truly override the good that it can do for ones pain. This medication was prescribed to me when I told my doctor that I can not take any kind of a narcotic due to my addictive personality from using Vicodin and darvocet’s in my past. I will also tell you going through withdrawal from the Vicodin and Darvocet was a breeze compared to the Ultram and I’m not saying coming off of the Vicodin or darvocet’s was a picnic because it truly was not. I’m just trying to tell you how outstanding horrible the withdrawals are from the Ultram’s is all. I would definitely look in to another medication before committing to Ultram long term. This can be one of your worst nightmares.
Cathy
Subj: Ultram during pregnancy and breastfeeding
Date: 9/15/2009
Hello! I was in a car accident back in 2001 and fractured to disks in my spine. I had a spinal fusion, and was put on narcotics. Narcotics are heavily addicting and have terrible withdrawls. I have been taken Ultram for the past 2 1/2 years. At first I did get nauseaous with it, but I was given a nausea pill and I do not get sick anymore on it. I went through my entire pregnancy taken Ultram, I had cut back some, but still took it and my son was born completely healthy! I breastfed him the first month while taken ultram, and I consulted with my doctor who informed me that it could cause my son constipation. I noticed that he was having harder stools, so instead of coming off the meds that I need for my back, I stopped breastfeeding after couple of months. I hope this information helps!
Tara
Subj: Ultram experience
Date: 9/16/2009
I have been taking ultram/Tramadol for ten years for chronic back pain after several surgeries. It does the trick with the pain and has allowed me a life. Without it, I could not sit, stand for any length of time – forget sex. With it, no one knows I am a pain sufferer. Every morning, my husband has to wake me for my ultram. If he does not, I remain in a deep sleep, and have terrible dreams, and wake later with flu symptoms and restless legs as well as back pain.
In the evening, I take it at 7pm. By 5 PM, I am beginning to feel fatigue, start yawning uncontrolably, get confused with tasks and interuptions, including not coping with more than one other person in the room as talking is confusing. When I take the drug, within minutes, I start to feel better. Within 1/2 to an hour I am awake again. I have managed to lower my does from 400mg to 300mg daily, using slow release capsules. To do so, I took a 150mg in the morning in place of the 200mg, and kept the 200mg at night. After a month, I was able to switch the night to 150mg, but the restless legs did have me up until 2am for over a week.
I am now trying to lower my dose again using the same method – 100mg morning as the first change. I have developed a very dry itchy throat, and runny nose. I am very tired by mid day. It is clearly going to be like having a bad cold every afternoon for some time. The change down at night will be the hard one. I do not know if my back is healed enough for me to go lower with the pain meds. If it is, I do not know how I will do it, as there are no slow release under 100mg. The 50mg will last 4-5 hours, so trying to get to less than 200mg in 24 hours will not be possible without some severe withdrawal.
I have learned to chose the worst withdrawal symptoms to be in the day. I need my sleep, and my body will not settle without the drug. It will be like having flu and anxiety and confusion, headaches and irritability by choice for at least three weeks. I may do it, but will chose a time when my husband’s job is not too demanding, as his sleep is compromised by the process. Hope this helps you out there. If you start to withdraw, use paracetamol/acetaminophen. Drink water all the time. Carry tissues. Plan simple meals and simple tasks. If your legs are restless at night, get up. they will not settle. the only thing you can do is be up, no matter how tired you are. If you stay in bed, your legs will drive you insane. Eventually, you will find you fall asleep on the couch, or the kitchen floor, when you were resting but not trying to sleep. It is aweful but know that others have done it, so we can too.
Joy
Subj: RLS and insomnia
Date: 9/17/2009
During my withdrawal. (I broke a toe, and then started buying it online and abusing it for 2 years) the RLS and insomnia were the only bad parts. Go to your local urgent care, and tell them you haven’t slept for 3 days. Play it up, and get some Ambien 10’s. You will get 6hrs sleep the first night, and 8hrs the next. I can’t say Tramadol is “addictive” as I don’t crave it at all. It’s a bitch to get off of though. That is for sure. I will never *uck with it again. Best wished for all who are detoxing from this nightmare pill when it’s abused.
Steve
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