coolcutti...I have been taking Ultram for 10 months now.. And I never really went a day without it. Then I went on vacation and had no need for it (I take it for my back at work), but after the first day I was experiencing crazy zaps in my head and random parts of my body. I was scared to take my medication again, but scared NOT to. I can't function with brain zaps like this at work or school. I asked my doc to taper me off, but now that it's down to 2 pills a day (starting from 8), the brain zaps present themselves about 6 hours after taking one pill. I can't stand them! And I have no idea how long this will last. I have read similiar stories, but no answers. Should I stay on 2 pills for a while or increase to 3 for a few weeks? Am I tapering too fast (down by one pill each week)? No idea what to do. Any advice would be great.
Brain zaps from Ultram - how long do they last? I have yet to find a concrete answer anywhere?
- Posted:
- 24 Oct 2011 by coolcuttiegirl
- Topics:
- ultram, back pain
Answers (4)
Thor28324 Oct 2011
Hi Coolcuttiegirl,
I've helped several people detox from Ultram, but no one ever said they were getting brain zaps. Just for my knowledge, can you describe these?
You are tapering faster than what I usually have people do. I also use another technique most doc's don't. As the number of pills per day comes down, I ask the people to break them in half and take just half more times in the day. The idea is to try and maintain a steady dose of the drug. I believe that by doing this you accomplish several things. You get used to not have having the rush of the drug getting into you, while at the same time not going into withdrawal because you're still taking the drug. That's the mind part. Physically, you're starting to get used to less of the drug. It usually works well if the person wants it to work. To get free of any addiction, you have to want to.
nyra41724 Oct 2011
Hey there... am in same support group.
I myself was on those about 3 years ago and 3 days in I had HORRIFIC side effects including severe vomiting. The pain mgt. dr. I was seeing at the time took FIVE days to call me back after my leaving several messages (needless to say I am now with another dr.).
In summary, everyone is different; if I were you I would ask your dr. to wean you off those and try a different pain med (I'm not a dr. but have been thru various types of pain meds and it took about 14 months to get the right 'combo' (I take sleep meds as well which I've also changed several times). Anything that gives you 'scary' side effects in my opinion is not worth taking.
Much luck to you... peace :)
- Anna
stephy197525 Oct 2011
I have done quite a bit of research on these tablets I was on them for 5 years, and have been completely off them for a month, I would say if you are maybe prone to epilepsy then maybe this is the reason why, people dont realise there are more chances of have siezures( brain zaps) whilst on the tablets then off, I have known of people that have permanent seizures even when they have dicontinued the tabs, it seems to set off a motion of seizures and it could be permanent, you probably find that your body does not agree with them and you should stop completely under the supervision of your doctor before more damage is done, only 1% of people suffer with seizures on withdrawls, most of the seizures occur whilst on them and esp if you are on any other type of medication such a anti depressents, sleeping pills etc
7 Nov 2011
i have been taking ultram for a couple of years. i periodically get the zaps as well. when i first started to take them i had a horrifying episode. my brain was continously zapping for at least an hour. it felt like my brain was convulsing if that makes sence. i thought that i was going to die. i came to the conclusion that my dose was too high. you think? i swore i would never take them again. i was scared enough to just cold turkey. which i felt was very hard at the time. i did start to take them again a few months later bc of back pain as well. its very hard for me if i do miss a dose now. i remember a doctor explaining that this drug does not work like most pain pills. it has something to do with nerve blocks in the brain. sort of like the pill chantex. this i believe is the reason for the brain zaps. i am also wondering if anyone has stiff muscles while taking ultram?
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Very good info Steph,
I'm wondering if you've read anything about there being an advantage to taking an anti convulsive drug (Neurotin, Tegretol, Depakote, Topamax, Lamictal etc) while doing the detox from Ultram? So maybe someone like the Original poster, who sounds like she may be prone to seizures, should she take an anti-convulsive med to try to diminish the chances of having a seizure? Or could an Anti-Conv drug possibly stop the brain zaps? Anything you know on this issue will be helpful.
Hi there, Self medicating is not the key here, I would seriuosly go the doctor or the ER and find out if if is small like little siezures that the person is having first, I know on some of my medications such as arapax, I used to get terrible brian zaps if I missed a few tables, if felt like someone was electicuting my head, you see it could be very well from the tables and detoxing, it is just another theory I have, when I was trying to sort out my withdrawls myself, I noticed that a few people started having seizures whilst on them, and you probably found they prediposed to them and this just acitvated the whole process, if you also read in the phamplet that is inside the box it will tell you that you can have siezures from ultram, tramadol, tramacet,
go and look at this www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/PUArticles/TramSerious.htm