Opioids *WORD OF CAUTION - Tramadol follow-up*

[crisler]

Hi OD, a few of you may remember a thread I posted about 2 weeks ago asking for support and different things about tramadol withdrawal and what I should do to make it through it because it was the roughest thing Ive ever survived in my life. Well a follow up to that for those who have been private messaging me and/or wondering how I have been since then. I have been too sick to message people sorry.

Well after quitting tramadol completely now, which I am so happy about finally, I have unfortunately been in the worst bout of depression I have ever been in my life. I was slightly depressed before abusing tramadol and once I found a good source I abused it for way to long but it made my life amazing. Well was it worth it?NO. Tramadol will DESTROY your chemical balance in your brain. Serotonin and norepinephrine. I have been suicidal, extremely depressed, no control over it. Just the worst outlook on life, I have been in so much mental anguish that I often thought about shooting myself in the head to end it and get peace. Tramadol will destroy you. Its worse than heroin, xanax, alcohol, nicotine, anything. The down-regulation of serotonin and Norepinephrine is serious. Stay away from this one please. It wll ruin your brain. I never got why people dont want to believe me because tramadol "doesnt get you that high" or "is so weak compared to this, that, and this" please just trust me. Tramadol withdrawal is one nightmare in itself, but the Post acute withdrawal symptoms are all antidepressant symptoms. And they really are a hell.

Hope this saves atleast one person's life from being ruined.

 

[strity1994]

Thanks for the update. I used to take anti depressant medication (Effexor/SNRI for a long time then Paxil/SSRI for a brief period) and coming off them was hell. Its been 1.5months, I'm still messed up and get the brain zaps.

 

[Prescottdave]

It sounds rough what you are going through. Maybe there are some supplements you could take to help rebalance and restore a natural level of seratonin and dopamine in your brain. I found exercise and speaking with a trained psychologist
would be the most beneficial.

As a side not high dose long term H WD's are far worse then tramadol WD. Remember addiction is progressive so WD can also become progressively more intense no matter the type of opiate used. Yes dose always plays a role but people forget this simple fact. If you find yourself in this position in the future again I would switch to a short acting opiate like 30 mg codeine 2x/day for two weeks before dc'ing the trams/narcs for good. I have had WD's from tramadol at doses of 250 mg at least a dozen times but I switched to a normal opiate for a week or two then finally stopped. That worked much better. I believe a quick short-term low dose taper using tramadol is one of the easiest way to get off opiates.

Low dose short term. Low dose short term. Otherwise long term high dose use of tramdol can result in moderate to strong SSRI WD's. Not fun but not worse then fent, H or benzo's.

 

[Speed King]

Thanks for the update. Yet another word of caution about Tramadol.

 

[Ksa]

Damn man, your like I was 6 years ago, your problem is serotonin not u-opioid. You gotta teach your brain not to down regulate. Think about the venom of a snake. If a venomous snake bites you, you die. If however, you collect venom from one, and every day you inject a bit to make yourself sick, after a while, 3 snakes can bite you and you're ok. It's not ok to have a drug plan:

|SSRI Virgin|Non-Stop SSRI abuse for years|Withdrawal hell|

You gotta break it up a bit, in small pieces, you use for a few weeks then you cold turkey, to show your brain ok, you down regulated...you screwed up, look what you done. Then again. Eventually your brain learns the lesson. If you do it in one big piece then you fuck yourself. The serotonin system is very maleable, it's easy to model. If you teach it right. The first time a drug virgin messes with that, he either goes into serotonin syndrome or grows suicidal. It goes up and down. But with time, you can grow a lot of resistance to serotonin variations, it will resist going up and it will also resist going down.

What's even more interesting is that the serotonin levels can freeze to a higher level then they were before using drugs. This is my case. I definitely broke something big inside that was part of the serotonin system, and when it rebuilt itself it was way better. My head has more voltage now then 6 years ago, that's for sure, the levels are not going down, I'm not taking anything serotonin related and even if I did it wouldn't do much unless I get past my boundaries.

Sekio is more familiar with my case but I had my serotonin episodes too, long time ago. In one episode, ejaculation triggered such high levels of serotonin, that simply touching my penis just a little bit on the tip sent out electric shockwaves through my entire body like I was tasered. So I literally had to take off my underware so nothing would come in contact with my penis, and walk legs split apart, the penis hanging, because as soon as it touched something I would get zapped. The lesson that my brain learned that day and during the year that it took to heal the nerve damage, was that, sometimes, when my dick feels like it, large amounts of substance can enter my system, and that doesn't mean that the brain can increase serotonin as high as it wants to. I can't describe it, it's a survival mechanism that cultivates in yourself, it gets built in when serotonin levels vary up and down due to substance use.

Can you imagine being in a state like that for weeks, and having to appear sober in front of your parents? Can you? Wondering, if I put my pants on to go to the mall, am I going to pass out or get a seizure there? Yep. Not wearing any underware, and wearing those jeans, lowered...and walking funny. Yes. It's all real. My brain was not manufactured by my mom to use drugs and I had to teach it the hard way...I went like, you are going to use drugs, or you're going to die. And the brain knew how to find a solution, it's a smart mechanism that we humans have. A genius machine. It never ceases to amaze me.

So don't follow my example there because I played a risky game, just know that there's things far worst than what you have experienced, and...best of luck man, I don't doubt that tramadol withdrawal can be bad, but I also have to point out the fact that what you did was extremely...uninspired.

 

[Man in the Dark]

Tramadol is more dangerous than most think. I was on Oxy and morphine for awhile. Then came the Tramadol I then found myself reaching for the Tramadol over the oxy if u can believe that. It made me feel good and happy and I was bearable to be around.

I didn't receive the pain relieve I needed but at higher doses it suited me just fine. I was using Tramadol during the day and Oxy and morphine at night. I would get really cranky off the Oxy, not Tramadol. She is dangerous, glad you got off them OP. I have been in a dark place since stopping all my prescribed pain meds about a month ago.

 

[Ksa]

The serotonin system is a tough beast to fight, I fought mine and won but it was terribly hard. I was mostly into sex and like with all people, a way for the brain to say no to you and tell you you've had enough sex is to increase serotonin until your experience becomes so shitty that you just stop because you only feel an electrical buzzing and zero pleasure. That day in my post above I had enough, so when I felt that my brain was applying the brakes, by re-dosing Dexedrine and Codeine in that amount I told my brain, "you're saying no to me? No bro, you're not saying no to me or I'm gona fucking kill you". So I completely broke the mechanism that was saying no, the brain said like ok, I was not designed to operate under these parameters, I'm out, it's gone, now I can stroke for a week and my serotonin levels stay normal. But it was Hell to go through.

It' a tough fucking system, I would leave it alone if I was in your case.

 

[Zerwas]

Yeah...Tramadol can be a nasty bitch especially when abused in higher doses over a longer period of time. I used to love it back then but after kicking a ~200mg/day habit I just hate the SNRi-effect it has.
It really unbalances your neurochemistry in a very bad way in addition to the opioid effects. The combination of both causes extremely disgusting WD-symptoms.