Hi guys,

I’ve been tapering off Tramadol for a couple months now. I was taking like 600 mg a day and, at points, I’ve dropped to as low as 100 mg a day—but I can’t maintain that because I get such severe stomach pain and bloating. I look six months pregnant, none of my clothes fit and I can’t eat anything (not even a few bites of toast or half a banana) without being doubled over in pain for hours afterwards. It’s ruining my life.

If I stay at 200 mg a day, I’m okay—but as soon as I try to drop to a lower dosage (even 150mg a day) , the stomach problem happens. I’ve tried just dealing with it and giving my body time to adjust to 150 mg a day—but after a couple weeks of it just getting progressively worse instead of better, I always end up moving back to 200 a day.

I was on Tramadol for fifteen years and I don’t think my body knows how to digest food without it. My doctor is no help—my old Dr. retired without telling me and, even though I’d been taking the meds for 15 years, the new doctor gave me a two week refill and told me to taper myself off. When I asked for help/taper instructions, I was told to just keep taking less and, if I couldn’t do that, to check into rehab. Also, I lost my health insurance so seeing another Dr. isn’t a possibility right now.

I don’t know what to do. I read a thread online about someone with the same issue (except she’d been taking way less than me for and had gotten off it completely for like four months) but she said the bloating/pain never got any better, even after months without the meds. I don’t know what to do. Please tell me someone has a solution for this!