Like most of you I found out by accident after having dental surgery that tramadol really helped my depression and anxiety. I've struggled with both for 38 years and have tried most every antidepressant available. A couple of them worked for a few year with awful side effects. But I was willing to put up with the side effects to get any kind of relief. My husband, daughter and I did a great deal of research on tramadol and decided it was worth it to ask my doctor if I could give it a try. She didn't want to saying it could be addictive. My husband told her, so are antidepressants. After a very long talk with her and telling her that tramadol got better reviews for depression than any of the antidepressants she agreed to let me try it. That was 2 weeks ago. I felt so much better after just one pill. My depression was worse than it had ever been. I was suicidal. It's never been that bad before. I've read many of your comments and see that some of you do well on one pill per day, others do well on two pills per day. But, do any of you feel like you need to take three or 4 pills per day? My Dr prescribed one every 12 hours, 2 per day. I went against my Dr and take 3 per day, 1 every 8 hours. I feel like it helps so much more than 2 per day. I know she's going to flip out when my husband and I tell her. After feeling so incredibly depressed for so long I just wanted to stop feeling suicidal, and I have. I don't understand why she kept wanting to increase Effexor when I told her it was making me feel worse. I did what she wanted and I did increase it. But, when she wanted me to increase it a 3rd time my husband and I told her no, things are not getting better. They're getting much worse. Then she wanted to add Seroquel to the Effexor. Again, we told her no, we weren't willing to do that. I took 75 mg of Effexor many years ago and did well on it. I put up with the side effects because it did help. I'm so stressed out by what my Dr is going to do and say that I can't even enjoy feeling better. These are my questions. I've already asked one so I'm sorry for repeating myself. Do some of you need more than 2 50 mgs pills per day? And do you think doctors are willing to throw any antidepressant at us, sometimes 2 or more at a time, because they're not in the opioid family like tramadol?
Tramadol dose for depression?
Question posted by Remar on 10 Aug 2021
Last updated on 13 October 2021 by cadman230
Answers
Tramadol may be a good option. There is a negative bias associated with opioid use that don't differentiate recreational vs medical use . As antidepressant 100mg a day will probably be enough and it is highly unlikely you will develop tolerance or addiction at such low doses. Also consider adding some activating, pro-dopaminergic medication like methylphenidate 36 or 54mg a day.
I was on this regime for over two years and it was much better than traditional ssri medication.
Every person reacts slightly different to the same medication so please ask your doctor first and if necessary go and seek a second opinion. Good Luck and get better.
Hi, Remar!
Because of the opioid crisis which we know is very real doctors are in a bind when prescribing them as their actions are well supervised. Tramadol is a CSA Schedule 4 synthetic opioid only approved as a pain killer and is only prescribed off label for other purposes which puts the doctor at huge risk.
Since it's classed as a pain killer there is no recommended dose for depression. Everybody responds differently to medications so what works for one may not be effective for another. Some people respond well to a safe low dose; others may find that they need higher and higher dosages to achieve the same effect.
Doctor's prescribe antidepressant/anxiolytics because they are much safer, not addictive, and have relatively fewer short and long term side effects.
The other problem is that if you take more than the prescribed dose what do you do when you need to refill your prescription?
It's a terrible situation for some people but one must also respect the doctor's position.
Best regards and I do hope you can some relief.
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