everything was fine in the end, it was a good high. It was paranoia mostly posting on here. As I mentioned, I took the tramadol as a small top up, after I had gradually taken everything else over time while assessing how I felt as I went. Of course, I would not recommend anyone to try the combo without caution and some tolerance and some knowledge.
NB - I'm posting general answers here to everyone as I don't want to quote every individual to respond (I'm lazy and the forum software doesn't make it super easy)
The mild serotonin syndrome was from the day before, when I did indeed do the stupid combo - 3g kratom and then 250mg tramadol about 2 hours later. It was pretty horrible, but not dangerous in the end just very close to be being dangerous and quite uncomfortable. The most annoying thing was by the end of that day I had very gradually taken about 50mg of diazepam (which is very high for me), but I was so disregulated it merely quietened my body and did nothing in my mind. Strange phenomenon was also that when the serotonin had died down about 6+ hours later, I took nearly double my normal THRESHOLD dose of codeine and DHC and felt almost zero opiate high (please note, I also took this gradually over time, not all at once). Again, the semi-syndrome had disregulated me so that there was nothing available to make the high work. However, I ended up with that dosage and that situation as I had done 200mg plus other drugs a few days earlier, and it was actually a threshold dose on the verge of not even doing much in terms of high. But on the serotonin excess occasion (24 hours before my OP here), I didn't factor in the proximity and strength of the kratom dose (as I mentioned, it was the day before this post, hence the paranoia of pushing it that tiny bit to far again).
50mg is indeed fuck all, I did have to ask though, I get quite paranoid. I just wanted reassurance. It served exactly the purpose I intended it to in the end, which was to top up the opiate high and to halt any come down feelings from the day before when I had pushed it too hard.
I do lots of homework, it never ends. Sometimes you have to stop obsessively reading about drugs on the internet and actually take them. It's hard to know everything about something that we as a species know so very little about. Most importantly, a lot of the knowledge around these parts and other forums about these drugs and combinations, is not exactly always truth. Some is, but much is hypothetical, based on single studies on rats/mice models, and/or anecdotal. So.... why do you think I took that combo in the first place? If I did not understand it on some level, it must have been some pretty strange random compulsion that led me to take those substances within close proximity. It's not exactly like I did 2 + 2 = 5. Probably a bit closer to 2 + 2 = 3.95 though
"And grapefruit+promethazine both inhibit an enzyme converting codeine into morphine, so taking them makes no sense"
This has been debated a fair bit and I have read at least one thread in which it is refuted that it might de-potentiate (not to hand right now). If you can give me proof of this being "no sense" then good on you and I would appreciate it, but so much knowledge on these forums and beyond is just one guy saying one thing based on a random rat study and then it gets passed around as "knowledge", but it has no solid evidence. It may in fact be correct what you say but the debate is really about potentiation not about the function just about the results - but perhaps that was what I wanted, a longer and more sustained high. Perhaps that is more efficient (oxycodone SR are apparently better for analgesia over time than taking a few smaller doses of the same amount IR - quote on wiki somewhere, something like oxy IR is 1.5 x the strenghth, but SR is 2x morphine)
Most importantly, the opium was the most prized substance, I'm pretty sure you would agree that eating a lot of grapefruit would be worth it for some high quality opium. The codeine was for support.
Lastly, I mentioned that the 250mg opium was a threshold dose, so it was not exactly unsafe to add more threshold level doses gradually over time. If I was opiate naive, swallowing it all at once, or on SSRIs I would understand some of the slight criticism here.
Not sure why I'm being so defensive, perhaps the tone of some the replies.
thanks for replying nonetheless, best wishes
PS @ speedking - yeah I appreciate the advice but it ended up too far on the side of caution IMO. As mentioned in the end there were no signals of respiratory depression or seizure sensations whatsoever, just a nice high. But I did recently do another silly combo around Christmas time and did go to A&E when on stims and opium, but I was fine and I felt very guilty as we are having a crisis in A&E at our NHS at the moment. Lots of shortages and very long waits at A&E.
I am always cautious when using drugs and try to use them gradually and monitor, but I do have a habit of very tiny overdoses when approaching the peak of the high, especially when using slightly unfamiliar substances. Tramadol on this occasion was the unfamiliar variable, hence the post. The main problem normally isn't that I'm on my way to blue lips or fits, the main problem is I just ruin the high by taking it just a tiny bit over the threshold into uncomfortable. For the record, I have never been a fan of "nodding", so you can extrapolate from there.
update about promethazine FYI: I took 50mg promethazine and a total of 360mg codeine, 180mg DHC and 10 grams kratom, plus grapefruit and 14mg loperamide today. VERY WIDELY SPACED OUT over 10 hours.
I'm putting this update in to comment on the onset of the codeine. I find often with pre-dosing loperamide well in advance, it can take a long time for a kratom buzz to hit. I think today, and including the promethazine, it was an extremely slow onset. The high, however, is certainly my cup of tea. Promethazine adds an interesting dynamic, and certainly keeps the histamine away. This dosage would have been quite nice, considering my tolerance. But with the lope, the grapefruit, and the promethazine, I am certainly as close to a nod as I like to be without having to lie down
