Social Anxiety Forum - View Single Post - tramadol/ultram for anxiety and depression

RockiNToM · 10-23-2009, 03:22 PM

Hi all,

I've been a spot of bother recently with my stomach troubles, but they have now found out what's wrong with me. I seem to have a cyst as found by a recent scan of my abdomen. Anyway, long story short, I've been given tramadol for the pain I've been experiencing that recently put me in hospital. When I took it I really wasn't expecting anything other than it to take the pain away, but my god!! my mood is the best it's been in years, EVER.

I knew I heard of tramadol before but couldn't remember why so I looked it up, and sure enough, its anti-depressant like properties with the ruptake of serotonin and norepinephrine explain everything. I know it also works at the opioid receptor too; making it good for pain relief (while still not officially an 'opioid'). I also think the key thing to note with this medication is it works fast. It doesn't need to be taken for 2-4 weeks to for it to be in the system before it works. So because of that fast action relief, this is probably the best mood elevator I have taken for my depression.

Thing is, as you've probably already gathered is that there is that possibility of addiction. From what I've read from other users, if it's used at relatively low doses now and then, rather than high doses all the time, tolerance levels should remain pretty low still and your body doesn't have to face horrible withdrawals when you suddenly stop taking it. But this is just what I've read, it isn't by any means totally accurate.

So inevitably because my mood is elevated my anxiety has dropped and I feel more confident, happy and generally better in my own skin. I'm not sure it's fair to say the effect is like a 'high' because it doesn't really make me feel euphoric or anything, it just makes me feel how I used to feel when I was happy.

A lot of people give tramadol some stick because it's not as confidence boosting as say Ritalin or Adderall, but I think that's ok for me. Subtlety is all I need - I don't need big confidence boosting effects or euphoria. On top of this though, if there is no 'mood' to correct or fix because you have no problem with your mood, then you may find it will do absolutely nothing.

The biggest problem of all is that Tramadol is not licensed for depression or anxiety, it's used for pain relief. However there are cases (from where I've scouting the net) where it has been used off-label for depression, anxiety and ocd and found to be pretty effective. But finding a doctor/psychiatrist who will prescribe it for those things is going to be extremely rare and difficult. I can only hope this changes in the future.

The best thing of all that I like about tramadol is the minimal side-effects. No sexual dysfunction, no apathy, or that 'dumbing' down that I experience usually with anti-depressants on cognitive function. The side-effect I get is a bit of dizziness, nothing else at all. But there is a bit of a seizure warning, but these seem to be at really high abused doses. I only take 50 mg.

All in all for me this has been a godsend, but for how long? I know I probably won't be allowed this after my op to remove my cyst, which is the down side. I just wish it was approved more for other things than just pain relief so others out there can have some relief from their symptoms of anxiety and depression - rather than going through the motions of having to wait ages for a med to work and suffer from side-effects.

The information I have given is my own experience, and is not something to be taken as medical advice.

10-23-2009, 03:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
RockiNToM Status: SAS Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: UK Gender: Male Age: 22 Posts: 498	tramadol/ultram for anxiety and depression Hi all, I've been a spot of bother recently with my stomach troubles, but they have now found out what's wrong with me. I seem to have a cyst as found by a recent scan of my abdomen. Anyway, long story short, I've been given tramadol for the pain I've been experiencing that recently put me in hospital. When I took it I really wasn't expecting anything other than it to take the pain away, but my god!! my mood is the best it's been in years, EVER. I knew I heard of tramadol before but couldn't remember why so I looked it up, and sure enough, its anti-depressant like properties with the ruptake of serotonin and norepinephrine explain everything. I know it also works at the opioid receptor too; making it good for pain relief (while still not officially an 'opioid'). I also think the key thing to note with this medication is it works fast. It doesn't need to be taken for 2-4 weeks to for it to be in the system before it works. So because of that fast action relief, this is probably the best mood elevator I have taken for my depression. Thing is, as you've probably already gathered is that there is that possibility of addiction. From what I've read from other users, if it's used at relatively low doses now and then, rather than high doses all the time, tolerance levels should remain pretty low still and your body doesn't have to face horrible withdrawals when you suddenly stop taking it. But this is just what I've read, it isn't by any means totally accurate. So inevitably because my mood is elevated my anxiety has dropped and I feel more confident, happy and generally better in my own skin. I'm not sure it's fair to say the effect is like a 'high' because it doesn't really make me feel euphoric or anything, it just makes me feel how I used to feel when I was happy. A lot of people give tramadol some stick because it's not as confidence boosting as say Ritalin or Adderall, but I think that's ok for me. Subtlety is all I need - I don't need big confidence boosting effects or euphoria. On top of this though, if there is no 'mood' to correct or fix because you have no problem with your mood, then you may find it will do absolutely nothing. The biggest problem of all is that Tramadol is not licensed for depression or anxiety, it's used for pain relief. However there are cases (from where I've scouting the net) where it has been used off-label for depression, anxiety and ocd and found to be pretty effective. But finding a doctor/psychiatrist who will prescribe it for those things is going to be extremely rare and difficult. I can only hope this changes in the future. The best thing of all that I like about tramadol is the minimal side-effects. No sexual dysfunction, no apathy, or that 'dumbing' down that I experience usually with anti-depressants on cognitive function. The side-effect I get is a bit of dizziness, nothing else at all. But there is a bit of a seizure warning, but these seem to be at really high abused doses. I only take 50 mg. All in all for me this has been a godsend, but for how long? I know I probably won't be allowed this after my op to remove my cyst, which is the down side. I just wish it was approved more for other things than just pain relief so others out there can have some relief from their symptoms of anxiety and depression - rather than going through the motions of having to wait ages for a med to work and suffer from side-effects. The information I have given is my own experience, and is not something to be taken as medical advice. __________________ Disorders: Dysthymic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder. Medications: Propranalol, Valium, Prozac, Celexa, Paxil, Zoloft, Roboxetine, Effexor, Mirtazapine. Current status: Medication free.