Drug withdrawal headaches?

Question

I take tramadol occasionally and i've found that i get headaches the day after....what can I do to reduce these headaches? i don't want to take more pills and be addicted, but i don't want to start having to take something else to counteract with the tramadol. Isn't there a simpler remedy for these types of headaches? Like drink a red bull or water or something?

what do i do to get rid of these?

Answer 1

That is a pain killer right?

You should really ask your doctor because everyones body chemistry is different and what may work for someone else may hurt you!

(personally a couple excedrin or a cup of coffee work on my headaches!)

Answer 2

There are plenty of examples of drugs that when withdrawn cause 'rebound' effects opposite to the purpose of their use.

One example drug is clonidine, which act on alpha-2 receptors in the brain to lower blood pressure. In the literature I have read about 20% of people who stop taking clonidine (used for high blood pressure) go into hypertensive crisis.

The interesting thing about Tramadol is that it is a mixture of two different mirror image molecules.  The (+) image binds (very weakly) to the narcotic mu receptor and also inhibits serotonin uptake.

The (-) image of Tramadol inhibits norepinephrine uptake and stimulates the alpha-2 receptor.  It might be the case (talking just theory) that you are getting hypertension from Tramadol withdrawal just like with clonidine.

In any case you should see your doctor, and also monitor your blood pressure expecially when you get these headaches to rule out hypertension as a cause of the headaches. You might in theory be part of a sub-population having this type side effect.

Caffeine withdrawal can cause horrible headaches, it is a built in marketing tool for those over the counter HA remedy products that contain caffeine.