[jt50]

First of all, thanks to all of you who have posted about this drug and its addictive nature. You have scared the hell out of me and made me go flush my entire bottle down the toilet. I was right, I am becoming addicted.

I've been on Ultracet for a long time but only took it about once/week because I was always a bit worried about it becoming a habit but the doc said it was not a narcotic and basically harmless. My Ankylosing Spondolitis (AS) became more painful this winter so he precribed Tramadol 50mg and I started taking it daily for the past 3 months. I noticed that if I went 24 hours without it I was unable to sleep and my mood was terrible. I would go back on it the next day and all was fine again and I was sleeping once again.

I have noticed that the main thing that kept me from sleeping was a sensation in my left arm. I guess I would compare it to what I hear about Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). I kept telling myself that I must have some kind of nerve problem but I'm not so sure. I think it's Tramadol withdrawl. Has anyone else experienced this? I am going to be without the drug for the next several days and see if this sensation goes away and I can start sleeping again. I am experiencing a lot of the WD symptoms that everyone has written about here but the uncomfortable left arm problem has not been mentioned by anyone. It's odd that 9 times out of 10 it's always my left arm.

From what I'm reading, I'm lucky to have stumbled onto this forum before going down this road only 3 months. I've not taken more than 3 pills/day but if it's affecting me this way then I've got to stop now before I really get in trouble. Thank you all!
--
JT

[MaisieC]

Hi jt!

You've just done a really wise thing! If you think you're addicted, you probably are. Some people are more sensitive to meds than others, and nobody has any business telling you that you're at too low a dose to be addicted or experiencing withdrawal. If you are, you are...and you're doing the right thing by getting off that tramadol.

I think the arm sensations you're describing are definitely due to the withdrawal. I experienced something similar. I just felt sort of explosively twitchy. Sometimes my legs, sometimes my arms, sometimes it felt like my whole body and I just wanted to scream! I don't know what the actual physical cause in the body is. It usually happened more on my right side than my left. Who knows why?

But rest assured (sorry, maybe bad choice of words!) that it will get better. I had several bad nights of it. It started improving, and I started sleeping better, and it went away.

Hang in there. You're doing great! Please keep us posted!

[jt50]

Thank you so much for your reply. Two nights now without Tramadol and it's been hell. No sleep and I'm about to come out of my skin because of the left arm sensation. It begins right after I lie down for the night. I think at night the brain has no distractions of the busy day and can therefore take it out on the body causing physical sensations, discomfort and pain after being abused by this poison.

I have come up with something to help me through the night. I have a MP3 player and download audiobooks to it and just lie there listening to a book, podcast or music and find that I will doze eventually.

My last Tramodol dose was 100mg the morning of 02/09 and I slept soundly that night but 24 hours after that last dose is when the WD symptoms began. Hopefully tonight will be better and will continue to do so. I wonder if I should go get some OTC sleeping pills to help out some. What does everyone think of this and what would you recommend?

Thanks again!
--
JT

[MaisieC]

Hi JT,

In my opinion sleep is really important at this time. Not for any physical reason, particularly, but because insomnia can drive you so crazy and can increase the temptation to relapse. So if you can find something to help you sleep, I'd say that's a good idea. I even called my doctor and asked him for 5 Ambiens. I told him that I had gotten myself into a very late sleep cycle and was trying to get back on an early one, and I thought the Ambiens might help. He sent them with no problem. It's just a small number of pills, and I was able to get to sleep by taking half a pill per night.

As far as OTC meds go, the only thing I've tried for sleep is Benadryl, and that helped a lot.

Hang in there! This is the worst time, which means the best is coming!

Take care.

[jt50]

Well, it's been seven miserable sleepless nights without this medication. I'm beginning to think my left arm problems are not all in my head but an actual physical ailment. I have an arthritic condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) which is a degenerative disease of the spine. I was prescribed Tramadol for this condition anyway and have been taking only 2/day at the most or 100mg. I'm beginning to think it has been taking care of my pains as it is prescribed to do and when I would stop taking them for a couple days the left arm tingling would arrive at night as I tried to go to sleep.

I'm thinking that my condition was worsening all this time but never realized it since the Tramadol was doing its job. I think I have developed Cervical radiculopathy or something of a pinched nerve from this condition.

I've not had anyone else state that the only WD symptoms they had was one arm that tingled only at night after going to bed. I have no desire for this drug at all actually other than wanting it to take care of this physical problem so perhaps I overreacted after reading all these horror stories about Tramadol. I have an appointment with a Neurologist Friday so hopefully I'll get to bottom of all this.
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JT

[MaisieC]

Yikes, jt, that sounds awful! I think it's a great thing that you're going to the doctor. If that twitching is a symptom of your medical condition, it needs to be evaluated. In your initial post you said that you were experiencing a lot of withdrawal symptoms, but if it's just the arm twitching that would be an unusual withdrawal; there must be something else going on.

Please take care, and let us know how you're doing.

[jt50]

I'm back. I went to a neurologist and they sent me for a C-scan which is a MRI of the neck to see if I have a nerve that is being squeezed. Cost me >$500! Results are not back but I'm back to thinking it's the Tramadol and wished I would have given myself much more time than 7 days to find out. I'm now starting all over again as my last dosage was on 02/28.

No sleep and miserable for the two previous nights without anything. My left arm sensations keeps me from sleeping but this time I'm also feeling general restlessness so I'm really thinking it's the dope. This time I'm riding it out the entire way. I'm going to go ahead and follow up with the Neurologist to the end. I asked him if he thought it could be wd from Tramadol and he didn't think so, especially since it affected just the one arm. Well, I'm now noticing it can affect my right arm sometimes and I had some small leg sensations the past two nights as well.

I noticed a lot of folks are jumping over to medhelp.org forums and found the following from one poster called tramhater:

SO THE DOC THAT I AM SEEING TO HELP ME DETOX IS AMAZING... 1ST OFF HE HAS CALLED ME HIMSELF EVERYDAY TO LISTEN TO MY SYMPTOMS. (I WILL TALK ABOUT THE **** SYMPTOMS LATER) SO THE DOCTOR SAYS THREE THINGS THAT EVERYONE OF US NEED TO KNOW!!!!!!

#1... TRAMADOL.. IS NOT AN OPIATE... HAHA.. NOT... IT IS NOT AN OPIATE UNTIL IT HITS THE LIVER AND THE LIVER TRANSLATE IT BACK TO BEING ONE!! INTERESTING HUH?

#2... THE SIDE EFFECTS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WANT TO CUT YOUR ARMS AND LEGS OFF IS YOUR BODY FIGHTING THE SERITONIN (Sp) WITHDRAWAL. THAT THE POS DRUG TRAMADOL HIDES IN IT! SO IF YOU TAKE A DRUG SUCH AS PROZAC.. LEXAPRO.... XANAX.. IT WILL HELP THAT SIDE EFFECT GO AWAY BY 80% (THAT IS AN EXACT STATISTIC) FROM TRAM WITHDRAWALERS... PROB FROM MY DETOX CENTER... WELL IT IS WORKING... HE JUST PUT ME ON PROZAC FOR THREE DAYS.. 20 MG... I AM SMALL SO THE DOSE MAY BE DIFF EVERYONE. BUT GETTING A DOC ENVOLVED HAS SEEMED TO HELP. "HELP IS THE KEY WORD.. BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MAKE IT ALL JUST GO AWAY.
#3... MY PHARMACY KNOWS THAT I AM TRYING TO GET OFF TRAMADOL.. I TOLD THEM... THE PHARMACIST. SAID THAT THEY ARE STARTING TO TREAT TRAMADOL LIKE AN OPIATE... SHE SAID IT IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE AND MANY DOCS/PEOPLE DON'T NEED THAT. SHE IS LEARNING FROM MY EXPERIENCE TO TELL OTHERS... AND ALSO IS PRAISING MY DOC. FOR THE ROAD HE IS TAKING ME DOWN.

Note #2 above! I have finally found others complaining about this effect. Still, I was a very moderate user and followed the directions on the bottle and it's still terrible. I can't imagine those of you who have taken it in the massive amounts that I'm reading here.

I will post back in a few days for anyone who might be inerested in my continuing drama.
--
JT

[MaisieC]

Hi JT,

Well, it's good to hear from you, but I'm really sorry to hear you're still having problems.

I think you're in a particularly unlucky situation in that it's hard to tell what might be the effects of the tramadol vs. what might be the result of your medical condition. I suppose it is also possible that your medical condition might be influencing the withdrawal in some way. I think you need to be careful and patient and get as much information from your doctor as possible before you make a firm decision about what's going on. It must be very hard to be in your situation, and I feel for you.

Tramadol is an opioid, not an opiate. The distinction doesn't make any difference for those of us who have taken it. I have no flaming idea why it is not a controlled substance; that pharma company must have some marketing department! I'm very glad to hear from the poster on medhelp that medical and pharmaceutical professionals are getting hip to the real nature of this drug. It's dangerous.

Regarding the use of SSRIs to deal with RLS, I'd like to learn more. On first blush, it sounds like using an elephant gun to kill a mosquito. But that could be my own prejudice. I have a very healthy respect for SSRIs and believe they are over-prescribed. I really don't like the way doctors sling them around. But the poster's point about involving a supportive doctor for detox and withdrawal is a very good one.

So back to you. Your last dose was Saturday? And what dosage are you coming off of? Do you have anything that can help you sleep (benadryl, etc.)? And when will you get your test results?

Hang in there. I hope you'll be feeling better soon!

[ashunter81]

I've experienced similar WD symtoms only not just in the arm or the legs but all over... it is a joint withdraw that makes it impossible to get comfortable enough to sleep... after a few days it should subside especially if you were only taking 3 a day... I used to be addicted to lortabs and started on the ultracets thinking they were harmless but it ends up in the same spiral... higher tolerance... more severe withdraw... especially irritability. I feel your pain.. hang in there

[ashunter81]

does anyone know if ultracet will test positive in a urine screen for opiates since it is only an opoid?

[MaisieC]

Originally Posted by ashunter81

does anyone know if ultracet will test positive in a urine screen for opiates since it is only an opoid?

It won't. At least it didn't when I was using it.

There is another member around here who is a pharmacy student who could confirm. I can't remember his name, but perhaps he will look in here.

[MaisieC]

I found him. His name is "pharmstud(ent)" Maybe you could ping him?

[ameliabadelia]

I think you're right, and the arm pain is actual pain from your medical condition or a new one that the Tramadol was covering.

I think you gave your body enough time to figure out whether or not your pain was from the withdrawals or from your actual condition. You have a painful medical condition, and I know that if it's affecting your spine, it can cause pain in your arm, or in both. Mine went down one arm for the longest time before it affected both.

[sunnycali]

I googled restless arm and saw this thread I stopped taking tramadol 2 days age and could not sleep because I wanted to cut my arm off. I hope this goes away the rest of my pills are going down toilet today. I have some Clonipin and I take an antidepressant so I am hoping taking the Clonipin tonight will help.
I have been trying to bring attention to my boss that the tramadol should be treated like a controlled drug. I heard the DEA may put it on the list. We'll see. It is introduced as an alternative to the traditional opiate/narcotics as being less additive...I think that is bull.

[mrsharwell]

Hi I don't actually take prescription meds but I've noticed when I take OTC sleeping pills w/ other pills..(none narrowed down quite yet) but my LEFT arm also does this and it drives me crazy. So, I think it's something to do with sleeping pills but has only occurred recently. Anyone have any ideas of maybe a chemical reaction with the sleeping pill when another pill is still in your system?