Tramadol Causing Breathing Problems (Page 2)

I was taking Tramadol as prescribed for 5 years. Then one night I took the same amount then I felt like I almost couldn't breathe. Now I can't take it without feeling like I can't breathe...what is wrong?

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I've been taking Tramadol for over three years. Thought they weren't adversely affecting me but they are. I'm on low dosage. I can take 3 50 mg tab per day. I half them and take three 25 mg a day. Easily irritated. Now having breathing difficulties. These posts really concern me. Think I'm going to try to wean off. Don't want my children to find me dead.

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For all of you people taking Tramadol for pain relief and wondering if it will cause a problem, the answer is emphatically YES!!!! It is an opioid just like Vicoden, Oxycodone, Percocet, and whatever other pain drugs you can think of. When you stop cold turkey or cut down too much, you WILL go through withdrawal. You can NOT just stop taking it. Read that again -- you can NOT just STOP taking these pills without a plan. Aside from the withdrawal problems, you could suffer from a seizure or other complication. Everyone is different and I can't begin to know each of your health problems. BE SMART. Do not just stop taking them cold turkey without help. Even then, you will suffer excruciating pain -- vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, freezing, joints aching to your bones -- you get the picture. There is no point in lying to you. This will be the most difficult thing you have ever done, but you CAN do it. You will need help getting through this. YOU WILL NEED HELP. Especially if you are taking more than 200 mg per day of one or many pain meds. But there are easier ways to do it than going cold turkey and you must make a plan to do this in the safest and most effective way. If you insist on doing this at home, you must TAPER the dose down. For example, if you are taking 4 -100mg pills per day, start by taking 3 and 1/2 pills for the next week...7 full days...not 3, not 5, but 7. You may feel a bit like you have mild flu, but you can help this by drinking lots of fluids (water is best, but anything except alcohol), juices may irritate your stomach at this time, but if you can drink orange juice, by all means, do it, take hot showers or baths, try to get some minimal exercise even if just a walk up to the end of the street, eat 3 times a day even if you don't want to - make a smoothie or buy Ensure to get nutrients into your body.

I recommend you take Imodium if your stomach feels at all queasy. Diarrhea is your bodies reaction to the change of meds. Tapering usually keeps that from happening, but it won't hurt you and it can help to use Imodium before or if it starts to be an issue. You must drink lots of fluids. Getting dehydrated will make this 100 times worse. The second week, cut down another half pill, so now you are taking 3 pills a day and so on until you are tapered off. If you have Valium or some other anxiety med, take that while you are tapering off. It will help with the anxious feeling you will inevitably feel. I know that sounds counterproductive, but it helps if you still need to go to work or take care of your family. Obviously, if you are throwing up, you will want to be very careful taking other meds. I am not suggesting you take ten 5mg Valium to counteract the pain. That isn't going to work and you will have another problem with overdosing on that. And if you are taking other medication for other problems (high BP, etc) and you begin throwing up more than a few times a day, see your doctor or go to the ER. You will not be able to know what or how much of those meds are still in your body. If you have the option to take time off from work when you get closer to the end of tapering, do it. You will not feel great and your body will be fighting with everything in you to start the meds again. That will pass in time -- I promise you. If you can tell your family and friends what is going on, so much the better because you will likely be grouchy and not much fun to be around. Do not try to taper down by half (4 pills - 2 pills as an example) or you will begin vomiting, shaking, having tremors, uncontrollable diarrhea, immediately which is going to make you fail at trying it without all that being necessary. If you notice severe problems cutting down half a pill, try a quarter and go from there. YOU CAN DO THIS. I was dependent on Vicoden ES, Oxycontin. Xanax, Restoril, Dilaudid and Demerol for 16 years for intractable migraines.

I went off everything cold turkey after trying Methadone through the same doctor who prescribed all the other meds. I have no memory of two weeks of my life beyond a small visual of hitting a guard rail in my car (yes, I was driving...!). Thank God I didn't kill anyone or myself at that time. I went to an addiction specialist who put me on some other very serious meds which only prolonged the withdrawal and scared the hell out of me and my family with all the side-effects I was having. I couldn't sleep, I had tics and tremors, inability to speak anything but gibberish -- it was horrible. I went to a local ER and they gave me some meds to keep me from having seizures and I asked to go to rehab which I was promptly taken to. I did not want one more pill for anything and I was sure death would have been easier. I couldn't control any part of my body. I was freezing and sweating, I threw up and had chronic, uncontrollable diarrhea -- sometimes at the same time. It appeared my organs were coming apart and leaving my body. It was frightening, but it was showing me what these drugs did to my body. My body was at war with itself and every bone in my body felt like it was being screwed together tighter and tighter. If I thought I could have left there and gone to get more drugs, I would have. But, I couldn't drive and I knew no doctor was going to write me a prescription and none of my friends were going to drive me over the border to Mexico looking the way I did with $1000 in my pocket (and yes, that is funny now, but at the time I would have done anything to stop being in pain!).

I thought of every possible scenario to get out of there and stop hurting. And then when all the fantasizing about getting drugs was over and in a brief moment of clarity, I thought even if I get something today, what about tomorrow? What about next week? When does this ever end? I can't go on like this...either way, I was screwed and since I was already so violently sick, I stuck it out. That part of the detox took six full days. I spent much of it in a warm bathtub. There were no plugs in the tub, no mirrors in the bathroom, no locks on the door (for suicides) but I got a little paper cup with soap to take my bath and I squished it up and made a plug to fill the tub with just enough water to get warm for 15-20 minutes and that was the only time I felt somewhat normal. I left on the 7th day and went home where I could take as many baths as I wanted. :-) It took another year before all those drugs leached out of my bones, so I wore layers of clothing to keep warm and took Aleve to help the joint pain. I'm 11 years clean and I have taken Vicodin since then for surgical recovery. I was very clear with my surgeon about my problem and he worked with me. Even though I trusted him, it took me 4 hours to get up the nerve to take that one pill. I took one out and gave the bottle to my dad to keep so I wouldn't be tempted to take more than I needed. Thankfully, I did not even consider taking more after that.

I am not saying that is true for everyone -- my body became dependent on meds that were prescribed for me. I did not seek them out to feel high. But the pain of withdrawal does not care how you got there. In my mind its a little like the recovering alcoholic who says he can have a beer now and then without relapsing. I disagree, so please do not think I am saying it will be ok later to take what got you sick to begin with. I don't have pain meds in my house anymore and have been fortunate not to have to have them, but I do not know that if my life became so bad I wanted to escape, that I would not turn to those pills to feel numb. I hope that remembering all that pain would make me stop, but I don't know that 100% and I am 11 years clean. Despite why I took them before, your body only reacts to the chemicals in those drugs & that craving can sit there waiting. So, even after you go through this, you need to be honest with doctors treating you. You can ask to speak to them privately. They will understand and work with you. I am not any different than any of you out there struggling with this decision. I swear to you, I am not. I never thought it would happen to me and I was terrified wondering how I would tell my family, my job, my friends... but, if you take this on yourself on your terms (and not because you got caught taking unprescribed drugs in the bathroom at work) everyone will help you. And if they don't, you don't need them in your life anymore.

Those that stick around may never understand the pain or the fear you feel, but they don't have to. You are only responsible to yourself to understand and do what needs to be done. It will not be easy. It will not be without pain that you can not begin to imagine. I could lie to you, but you've been lied to enough. You will be able to do it and you will be glad you did because for once in your life since you started those meds, you will be free. You won't have to count your pills every day, sometimes multiple times, to make sure you have enough to get to the time you can renew your prescription again. You won't have to go to multiple doctors to get enough meds to get through each day. You won't have to lie to get those drugs. You won't have to figure out what other lie you are going to tell your landlord about why you can't pay rent because you need the money to buy pills. You won't have to plan how many pills you can take with you when you are traveling so you don't run out and start feeling terrible. I had a situation when I was out of the country where my suitcase was lost. I was assured I would have my meds in two days which was fine since I kept 5 days in my purse at all times. Seven days later while I was supposed to be having an amazing vacation, I was lying in bed writhing in pain from the onset of withdrawal and having to take a ton of what other meds I did have, (Xanax, etc) to help counteract the pain which only made me a groggy, throwing up, tremor-ridden, raging person.

What a lovely time and I'm pretty certain I have been banned from returning to that country! LOL! Maybe some of these things apply to you and maybe they don't, but you have your own demons and you are the only one who knows what that is like for you. I know even thinking about stopping the meds is terrible -- I know this with every bone in my body, but I also know you can do it. After going through that, I know there isn't anything I CAN'T do. I am Queen of the World from my own perspective. You will not die, I promise you. You will want to, but you won't. However, if you can do this in a medical setting, you will be safer from any other issues that may come up. If you are over 40 or you have blood pressure problems or diabetes or anything else that requires medication, DO NOT do this without some kind of medical supervision. Please. I am NOT A DOCTOR and I would never advise someone to do this without help. By all means, if you are determined to do it at home, make sure someone is there with you when you need help getting to the bathroom or helping you lean over the bed to throw up. You do not want to inhale your vomit because you couldn't sit up fast enough....that will be an emergency situation requiring an ambulance. So, please, please, please get off these insidious meds but not without some help, preferably medical. I wish you all the very best because you deserve to live a pain-free life without succumbing to something else that will bring you far more pain. Believe in your ability to overcome the prison of addiction... you are stronger than you even know. Peace.

*Again, I want to be very clear -- please do not try this without medical supervision. If you begin tapering, let someone know. It is best to have a physician aware of what is going on. And if it isn't possible for you to get that kind of help, get a responsible friend to be with you in case a medical emergency arises. I am only someone who went through this, not a doctor. Best wishes...

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Can you suggest an effective painkiller for heavy pain which doesn't cause a seizure?

Recently, I was diagnosed with epilepsy and since then, I could not take Tramadol because of an increased likelihood of a seizure.

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Re: Mary (# 20)

Good for you for sticking with it and getting off of them. I know how difficult it was. Mary, you did it the smart way and took care of yourself in the process. Congratulations! Stay well.

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