Tramadol Detox

You may have done this before. Maybe your GP brought the dose down. Maybe you did it yourself, half a tablet at a time.

It went alright for a while. Then you reached a dose you couldn’t get past, or the pain became harder to manage, or each reduction got harder to stick to.

Call

01438 583222

What tramadol detox is here

Tramadol detox at Abbington House is themedically supervised part of coming off tramadol. Where it’s clinically needed, it takes place during aresidential stay at our private rehab centre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

Detox deals with the physical dependence and isn’t something you can book on its own. The rest of the stay looks at what tramadol has been helping you manage, and what support you’ll need as the dose comes down.

If you've tried to come off before

You may have already had a written reduction plan. You may have reduced it yourself, taking one fewer tablet and seeing how the day went.

The plan can look manageable on paper, but it can feel very different when you’re the person deciding whether to make the next reduction, in the house where the tablets are, around work and everything else in an ordinary day.

Where the last reduction became difficult is the most useful thing you can bring with you. It tells the prescriber what to plan around, not anything about you.

Is coming off tramadol different from coming off other opioids?

Yes, it can be. Tramadol works as an opioid, but it also affects serotonin and noradrenaline. This means reducing it can cause the symptoms associated with opioid withdrawal, as well as some symptoms that are less typical when other opioids are stopped.

Some people notice changes in mood, increased anxiety or unusual sensations as the dose comes down. Not everyone experiences these symptoms.

This is one reason the prescriber asks about antidepressants, other medication and what happened during previous reductions. All of that needs to be considered when planning how your dose is brought down.

Ourguide to opioid withdrawal covers more generally what can happen when opioids are stopped or reduced.

Tramadol andseizures

If you've read anything about tramadolyou'll have come across this, usually without much explanation attached. It's important to understand this properly rather than carrying around vaguely.
Tramadol can make a seizure more likely in some people. Seizures are uncommon,and the point of knowing about the risk isn't to worry about it. It's that the risk is one of the reasons a tramadol reduction is planned rather than improvised.
The likelihood is higher at higher doses,and higher again when tramadol is taken alongside certain other medicines. Those include some antidepressants, some antipsychotics and some anti-sickness medicines. It's also higher for people who have epilepsy or have had a seizure before, and for people with reduced kidney function.
That's the practical reason the assessment asks for everything you take rather than just the tramadol, and asks about your wider health rather than only your dose. It's also why stopping suddenly on your own isn't advised, whichever route you end up taking.
If you're reducing on your own and something about it is frightening you, speak to your GP,or call 111if you can't wait for an appointment. If someone has a seizure, call 999.

How the reduction is managed here

We don't publish doses or reduction schedules. There isn't one schedule that's right for everybody, and a number printed on a page doesn't know your medication, your health, or what the earlier attempts ran into.

What the prescriber needs is the opposite of a number: what you're taking, how long you've been taking it, what happened during previous reductions, and what else is going on with your health.

You're assessed before you arrive. Anything prescribed at Abbington House,and any change to your existing medication, goes through our prescriber and clinical team.

You can read more about how admission works on our admissions page.

If you're unsure whether residential treatment is appropriate, call 01438 583222 and talk through what you're taking and what happened when you last tried to reduce it.

What happens to my pain if I stop taking tramadol?

The pain doesn't get treated as a side issue, and you won't be asked to choose between it and the reduction.

You may be worried that if the tramadol goes, the pain will come back and stay. That worry belongs in the assessment rather than outside it: what the pain is, how long you've had it, what has already been tried, and how tramadol became part of managing it.

If you've had the experience of not being believed about your pain, say so early. They need to understand that history too.

There's more about how dependence can develop during pain treatment on our painkiller addiction page. You can also read about residential treatment for opioid addiction.

Can you come off tramadol at home?

Some people do, often with support from the clinician who prescribed it.

Whether it’s right for you depends on more than how many tablets you’re taking, and it’s a decision for the clinician responsible for your medication rather than one to make alone.

If you’ve tried before, tell them where the reduction became difficult and what was happening at the time. That’s what shows whether residential treatment would add something that was missing.

What a stay changes is the conditions. The reduction no longer has to fit around the same routines and pressures you were managing it around at home.

How long does tramadol detox take?

There isn't

a useful number we can give you before you've been assessed, and anyone who gives you one hasn't asked enough questions yet.

It depends on

the dose you're on, how established it is, whether anything else is involved, your general health, and how the earlier reductions went.

A stay at Abbington House

is usually around 28 days and is assessed individually. Detox, where it's clinically needed, is the early part of that stay rather than the whole of it.

Ourlength of stay page explains the wider treatment timeframe.

What happens after tramadol detox?

The reduction is the early part of the stay. Treatment then looks at the place tramadol had taken in your day, and what you’ll need once it’s no longer there.

That might include pain, sleep, anxiety, routine, relationships, or the way your day had started to revolve around the next dose.

Treatment happens in the same building with the same team. You don’t finish detox in one place and then have to look for therapy somewhere else.

Ourresidential rehab page explains what the wider stay involves, including the therapy on offer and the support available after you leave.

If private treatment isn'tan option

Private treatment isn't the only route, and it won't be right for everybody.
If your tramadol is prescribed by your GP, they're an important place to start. They already know the prescription and can talk to you about reviewing it.
Depending on where you live, you may also be able to contact your local drug and alcohol service yourself. FRANK publishes information about drugs and treatment and runs a helpline if you'd rather talk to someone outside all of it first.
And if your dose is already coming down under your GP, the pain is being managed and you have enough support around you, residential treatment may not add enough to justify the upheaval or the cost.
Where private treatment is the right route, it's charged as a single fixed fee covering the stay. The figure is on our rehab costspage.

Common questions about tramadol detox

01 : Will I have to stop taking tramadol before I arrive?

Don’t stop taking tramadol or change your dose in preparation for admission unless the clinician responsible for your medication tells you to.

Tell the admissions team exactly what you’re taking, including the dose and how often you take it, and they’ll explain what happens from there.

02 : Can I be off it completely by the end of the stay?

That isn’t something we can promise before you’ve been assessed.

What can be done during a stay depends on where you’re starting from, how you respond as the reduction goes on, and what else is happening with your health.

If the reduction isn’t complete by the time you leave, what happens next is agreed before you go, with the clinician who’ll be responsible for it.

03 : Do I have to tell my GP?

You don’t need to speak to your GP before making your first call to us.

If your GP or another clinician prescribes your tramadol, they’re likely to need to be involved if treatment goes ahead, so that they know about any medication changes and what needs to happen after you leave. The admissions team will explain this before anything is arranged.

04 : What if I'm taking other things as well?

Tell us everything you’re taking during the assessment. That includes prescribed medication, over-the-counter medicines, supplements, alcohol and any non-prescribed substances.

Some medicines and substances affect how tramadol is managed, and the clinical team needs the full picture before agreeing a plan. Don’t stop or change anything yourself unless a clinician advises you to.

05 : Will I be judged for becoming dependent on tramadol?

Being dependent on medication a doctor prescribed for pain isn’t treated as a personal failing here.

What gets asked about is what you’re taking, how it reached that point, and what happened when you tried to stop.

Speak to someone

If you want to talk through what’s been happening with tramadol and whether residential treatment might be appropriate, call01438 583222.

You don’t need to have decided that you need rehab or detox before you call. The first conversation helps us understand what you need. If residential treatment at Abbington House doesn’t look like the right route, we’ll tell you that.

Contact us