craigcrai...i am a 26 year old man, very high cholesterol, have had a lot of stress the past month and am prescribed Tramadol for back pain. the other day i took 250mg of Tramadol via pill, 3 hours later i ate 200mg more, so 450mg in all. about an hour later i had 2 seizures and was taken to the E.R. Doctors said it was grand mal seizure, they did not know i was taking Tramadol. i was embarrassed that it may be a possible overdose. i know that in the past my body has not had problems taking so much dosage of tramadol and also am aware that does not mean i am not susceptible to overdose. this was the first time i have ever had a seizure, no seizure history. could this have been a tramadol overdose or seizure brought on by a lot of stress? i made appointment with my doctor next week but right now he is on vacation. if this is a tramadol O.D. then what is the safe recommended dose? i'm sure 450 mg is way too much, even if it is spread out between 5 hrs.
Responses (3)
28 Jun 2011
Hi There Bud,
I am ER physician and I stumbled accoss your question b/c I'm sure that seizure scared you to some degree! 450mg of Tramadol is not recommended! Moreover, it's so important to tell the Dr.'s who are treating you everything or else you limiting them on getting you better, quicker! Lastly, have you tried Norco, Lortab or a Schedule III or even Schedule II narcotic pain medicine for your back? If you haven't, give me a list of your sympoms and I can get you a Dr. depending on where you live! Take care of yourself!
campana196219 Feb 2012
Craig,
I'm a psychiatrist, therefore I am quite familiar with seizures. Your seizure was almost certainly caused by the tramadol. Taking nine tablets over only a three hour time period is a very large dose. In general, patients should limit their tramadol to tabs po, q6h, iii, prn. You should not take more than 300mg/day, and less if you are on a SSRI or SSNI for depression.
Most males are still quite stupid at 26. Grow up. You're too old to be trying to get high.
7 May 2012
I take tramadol. I cannot understand what the euphoria is all about. I do not find it to be habit forming. I was prescribed 50mg every 8 hrs but increased my dose to 2tabs twice a day. I told my Doc, and he said that was okay. I dont feel high or anything and it basically just takes the edge off of my pain. I like it for the fact that I do not get all sleepy as with other medication. Only problems is occassional nausea and sometimes insomnia. I guess this is common.
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thanks for your answer, it was quite scary to go through. i have not tried norco, lortab, or any schedule III. i plan on quitting the pain meds all together though. i just wanted to know if that sounded like the seizure was brought on because of a tramadol overdose... ?
Tramadol combined with some anti-depressant meds can cause seizures. I had to stop taking Prozac in order to stay on Tramadol.
im not taking anything else than tramadol, and am now cutting back on the dosage because my back pain is not as severe as it used to be. wondering if taking four 50 mg (200mg) at one time is putting myself in danger of another seizure???
Hi there,
I was on Tramadol about 4 years ago and I NEVER had any history of seizures and I did have a grand mal seizure while taking it. I would say you are allergic to it or unlucky small percentage of ppl that have seizures.
I seized in my sleep and I woke my husband up by my gurgling on my blood bc I bit thru my tongue all the way. I woke up in ER and couldn't understand why so many ppl were standing in my bedroom, lol.
I would not suggest taking anymore, but I'm not a MD.
I must be extremely lucky not that i dont know the dangers because my sister had a grand mal and yet i still cant stop. I first started taking tramadol because i felt so horrible i am Completely fatigued extreme muscle and neck pain the first time I took a tramadol I thought it was heaven sent I never thought I could feel good. I only needed a half a pill and it lasted all day I could get anything I wanted done and go to work full time plus take care of a two year old and a newborn baby. Now three years later I'm on trams, vicodin, norcos, perks, and whatever for three years now. I know I have a huge problem with the trams I take three to four 50 mgs with hidrocodin about every few hours. I went threw more then 400 trams in the last month. I wish I never had started taking these evil pills it's killing me and I am afraid to stop taking them I can't take time off work and obviously my children can't take care of them selves.
Expand this post...
I know I did this to myself. All I ever wanted was to feel good and be able to function it's completely impossible without drugs to even get out of bed or to do simple things like take a freaking shower Grrr so very frustrated. Sorry this is so long but when I found this site I found a lil hope.
Interesting postings about Tramadol and seizures. 75-year-old husband with no history of seizures, prescribed Tramadol for back pain because he is nauseated with any narcotics, began seizures and ended up in hospital for 2 weeks, 10 days of continuing seizures, confirmed with continuous EEG over a number of those days. To be fair, after heart surgery, Tramadol was just one of about a dozen of NEW meds prescribed all at same time.
Neurologist said never to take anything with sudaphrine. Does nose spray (i.e., Aphrin) contain sudaphrine?
hi dipaul, i think you should look up that up at rxlist.com it seems yo be an easy site to navigate through. i hope your husband gets well and you find the answers you need. since he is on so many diferant meds and you should tell his doctor to give him Vicodin instead if he is in pain. also you may want to find a new doctor since he is the one to cause all of these problems by giving him the combination that he did. Tramadol seems to not mix well with allot of different meds. ive found that i have to tell any doctor i talk to what i think they should do like a sleep study because of all the pain im in and exhaustion etc. anyhow don't let the doctor push you aside insist on getting him something like the Vicodin for his pain. hope you are able to get him the help he needs.