Long story short, ten years ago, after having always been a healthy person and never taking anything stronger than Tylenol (even after childbirth for 4 children) I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. My disease course has always been a bit different than most people with MS and 10 years later, thankfully I am not in a wheelchair, nor do I need a walker to walk and my vision, bowel and bladder function is fine, however, I have suffered from intractible constant pain in my hands and feet that radiates to my entire body within a few short hours IF I miss a dose of my tramadol which I take every 4 hours, 100mg. I also have debilitating fatique and frequent migraines ( those I have had for most of my adult life however). After years of my MS remaining stable, I decided I would like to try to get off the tramadol but each time I tried to stretch out the dose to about 8 hours,the pain would worsen and travel through my whole body and leave me bedridden, along with an odd sensation inside my skull. finally, through research I realized it could be the tramadol causing the pain and not my MS and likely the tramadol is also making me so tired as well. I have tried to get off it before by doing the taper but it never works because as a mom of 5 there are always things that come up that I have to be functional for so I end up back where I started. this time I decided to take a week and go off really fast. I have weaned fast from 100mg(2pills) 5 times a day over the week until yesterday I took my last 50 mg tab at 8am. I have had terrible symptoms of WD since I got to 50mg 2xday and was hoping the worst was behind me. Now is almost 30 hours since last pill....how long will these awful symptoms last if I don't take anymore at all. Am I crazy to do it so fast? Now that it has been so long since a pill it will feel like a major step back if I give in and take one. I am afraid I will just go back on them once I feel the physical relief. I do have pain in my feet now but I won't know if that is MS pain or a lie of tramadol until I am off and I need my energy back that I am hoping getting rid of Tramadol will give me. symptoms of WD are restless agitation, restless legs at night that make me thrash and have to take some Xanax to calm and sleep, terrible runny nose and sneezing, diarrhea, hot sweats and then chilled, emotional lability and the worse is an awful sensation inside my skull as if my brain is moving around in small jerky waves...especially if I turn my head and eyes at the same time...it causes me to take a big inhalation when it happens and sends a jolt through my core. it happens to a greater degree when I am up,walking, unless I try not to move my head or eyes or make any sudden turns and barely open my eyes basically just looking at the floor...very debilitating and no way I can drive with that....I will say so far it is a bit better, but the Xanax I took last has not warn off and I do still feel it slightly even after 30 hours. How long will the withdrawal take since it has already been 30 hours since last pill? Please tell me I am almost over the worst of it! Thanks to all who took time to read this and I pray for better days for all of you, starting NOW! Blessings!

so far I see 41 people have read the post but zero replies....if someone can suggest a more appropriate forum to go,to please do. It is getting much worse now....so so bad and I can't take much more. I tried to talk to my MD, but he tells me tramadol is not that addictive and to just cut back to every 8 hours. I can't function well enough at every 8 hours and he also says the increase pain when I stretch the dose is just because of the MS and since it works so well for me why not just stay with it. It is true I never feel high on it or have weird side effects but I don't like being addicted to it if I don't really even need it and I won't know for sure that I do until I am off and withdrawal goes away and anyway I think it does zap my energy and I didn't have much to spare to begin with. I need energy to keep up with my family! Please if you know an active forum I can Go to for advice on detox at home, please let me know.....I am so close to losing and taking another tramadol after 4 agonizing days trying to get off and now being so very close it is within my reach but I can't take this feeling much longer... I have found detox forums for tramadol on the web but no one is doing any current posting on them. Somehow, I can better understand the junkie that is normally a loving person but in desperation they globber some unsuspecting soul over the head to get his money for their next fix! Not that I am going to do that as I have way too much tramadol on my hands but I still feel like if I could hit something and maybe even rip something apart I might feel better, but alas my head spins so badly, I'll just lay here and writhe. sorry for the pity-party...I do feel a touch better!
Thanks, even if no replies...

Hi there
as you only made your post a few hours ago and it is a Sunday, when most members are spending time with family, church etc and not online as much...please don't become disheartened at the lack of responses...the forums are busier on week days

Please also note that the views come from all who have read your post *not* just members here...so that includes anyone who has found it on Google and also the Google and other search engine bots

So just be patient and anyone who is able will try to help you

so sorry, I just don't think I have mcuh time to be patient, I shouldn't have waited so long thinking I could hadle this all by myself. I am so weak right now and while I told my husband to hide the bottle,from me and he is not home for me to plead,for it, I have a couple pills I hid from him... Guess I had a Feeling I couldn't do it... Just one Little pill and I will feel right again....at least what I have come to think of as right. I did take some old out of date Xanax and is calming me down but I have cried for two hours straight and now can't even breath through my nose....
Oh well Maybe withxanax I will at least sleep now and tomorrow is a new day. This detox is so evil though...does anyone ever know what they are getting into when they take a drug like tramadol which at first is like a life safer and then it turns on them! Thanks for at least saying something to me....I don' t feel as alone.

that is why it is suggested to always titrate off such medications very slowly and preferably under professional supervision. It is an enormous shock to your system when the withdrawal is too fast.
Hopefully members with more knowledge about this specific drug will be along soon to offer more advice

I know that when my son was being withdrawn from SSRI meds, it was a very lengthy and still traumatic experience. He found having epsom salts baths each night very helpful...2 cups epsom salts in a tub of warm water, soak 20 min
Hot lemon juice (boiled water with fresh squeezed juice of one lemon, with or without honey to taste, also helped him with the nausea he experienced.
I realize this is a different class of drug, but maybe those tips can bring some soothing

Do be careful about self medicating as you could be opening up a whole new Pandora's box!!

What you are experiencing does sound like some kind of withdrawl. I felt much the same weaning down from morphine. However, I read up on tramadol. and it was not suppose to be so addictive. The hot and cold, chills and sweats is what I went through too. My concern is that it is related to the MS, and not necessarily the medication. If these symptoms persist, and your doctor is not responsive to your concerns, I would ask for a referal, and see a doctor specializing in MS. Call the doc, and ask him again about the tramadol. It sounds like you are having a terrible time with the whole situation. If you feel bad enough, and this does subside, I would get to an ER. Real detox needs to be monitored by a physician, and a gradual approach is usually used. If this is the tramadol, and there really is an addiction there, you do need a doctor to help you reduce the amount in a more humane way.
I am so sorry you are going through this. I sure would act on it, misery would drive me to the doctor. I hope others will be around to give a few more ideas to you. I know what that withdrawl feels like, and my doctor went slower for me. Get some help if you can to sort out exactly what is happening to you. You will get more responces, I am here to listen to you too. You can PM me, and I will answer. I try to come back as often as time permits. You are not alone, I care. ginnie

Tramadol has TWO actions in the body.

One is to sit on mu receptors and block pain signals (like opiates), but this is a smaller effect than opiates like morphine.

Secondly, it also affects serotonin receptors, and in some people this action is what causes alot of withdrawal problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramadol
This link discusses withdrawal.

Are you taking an antidepressant also?
If not, you could try using L-tryptophan, as this sometimes lessens serotonin withdrawal syndrome.

You should discuss this carefully with your doctor, as he/she may prefer you use long acting Prozac to help with withdrawal (and tapering that carefully over time).
But it has been my experience that many doctors do not understand tramadol and hence don't know how to help you.

This depends on the particular medication, dosage, length of time on it, and the individual.

Yes, I think you are crazy (ok, maybe naive ) to do it so fast and without the help of your physician.

There are 2 ways of doing this. One is to try to space out the doses, which usually doesn't work in early stages (as you've found). The other is to keep on the same schedule, but slowly reduce the dosage until it is low enough that it spaces out on its own without your noticing it so much.

Other meds (tranquilizers, muscle relaxants, antihistamines) may help lessen the withdrawal symptoms, but care must be taken that you don't swap one dependence for another.

Another factor that may come up is that once you're through all this, you may still have pain requiring medication to be able to function. This is another reason to bring your doctor in on this decision. S/he may be aware of the reasons for your doing this, and in addition to helping you stop the one medication, may be able to rotate you to another one that wouldn't produce the bad side effects, but still control your pain - often at a much lower equivalent dosage.

My suggestions are to talk to your doctor about this, and while waiting to get in to see him/her, network with other MS patients who may have had similar experiences. Here is one MS forum:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum17.html

Doc

I want to than you for your response. Please excuse my typos as I am still,groggy from the Xanax. I finally feel asleep after adding a half ofa clonazipam my husband uses for his occasional vertigo. I slept til pone woke me at 11. I am sorry to put you all in th eposition of trying to give advice about such an important life concerning issues for someone yOu donq't even know. It is hard to say what one will do in another ones shoes. I do appreciate your tips and if I do feel well enouGh once I can get up to try the epsome salts and the lemon I am sure going to try it?...sorry still so out of it...will respond to all later and I thank you from bottom of my heart!

I tried to highlight your last sentence but don't think I figured it out too well...that is very true, they all say it is not that addictive and hand it out like candy....it it their go to drug if APAP does not work. apparently for some conditions it works like a charm and then when the pain is chronic and neuropathic in a way in which there is nothing mechanical they can do to fix the problem, it becomes a godsend because without it there is no life ( except maybe those addictive drugs they try not to give you). and I don't blame them but now that so many of us who take tramadol for real reason and not for a high and who never get a high from it and never really abuse it at all want to try to come off we can't without the same WD's of all the " stronger, true" opioids.... Well this stuff is really awful and for years has tricked me into thinking it was helping me and not creating the pain so that I had to take it to get rid of the pain until time for the next dose. At first I have no doubt it helped....hate first 10 months of my illness the quality of my Pain was different and I had so many other MS symptoms but about 10 months into it that flare up went away along with all my other symptoms except pain and fatigue.... For which I was treated with increased frequency of tramadol and various ener enhancers until finally tram was the only drug left.... And I can tell when the 4th hour comes and I better get the pills quick before I end up in bed. I carry them in pockets, purses, cars, camera bags, etc....wherever I might find myself out somewhere and need it. Mh neurologist did suggest it is contributing to my fatigue, and suggested to try to wean off...I have done that too many times to count and always go back because life just doesn't stop so I can roll around in m bed for days delirious. finally, I read up all I could, stocked up on a few things to help me get over the worse of it and didn't tell a soul what I was doing cause when my husband sees me start to suffer he always ends up telling me to take one to stop the pain and he does not know the half of what I don't let him see. this time I got farther than ever before and then told him.... He is being more supportive this time but last night I slept in the spare room since my RLS and jumping out of my skin was so bad he would not be able to sleep so he still does not see the worse of it. I can not go to rehab....no money and insurance is high catastrophic. I will not let this fail this time! I pray I am over the hump....still dizzy, brain quakes but not so bad as yesterday.... I appreciate everyone's responses....but for any who think Tramadol is not hat addictive be very careful and don't stay on it longer than a few short days if you must take it and take as few pills as possible. My docs were fine with keeping moon the dose I Was on for 10 full years because I don't think they know yet what us patientshwo have experienced low and what the newere studies will soon be showing...it deserves to be a controlled substance for sure! thanks again! I did find a detox site with lots of helpful advice I can try over the next several days as I can expect at least 10 days to get back to my normal metabolism from what I have read. I can hardly wait to know what is really me...pain and all.... And what is the tramadol. If the true MS pain is still too much to bear, I think acupuncture and the anti-inflammatory diet is next up! My love and thanks to you all and pray for better days ahead! Xoxo