Hi
Let me preface this by saying I am absolutely not looking to promote or encourage the recreational use, abuse, or misuse of drugs of any kind, but I ask for an open mind with this peculiar thread. While I reference my drug use here, I know that no part of it is morally or legally 'right'...
**** Skip to the list of questions at the end if you don't want to read the wall of text*****
About 4 years ago I was given Tramacet for neck pain. After a short-term stint, I enjoyed the drug, and had fairly open access to it (or Tramadol) from then on, so on occasion I would take it recreationally at weekends. I didn't sustain my use of it - never venturing beyond perhaps 3 consecutive days...sometimes on consecutive weekends and equally sometimes 3 or 4 months completely clear.
I became interested in opiates in general, so in the past couple of years I've ventured (very briefly) into codeine (and CWE), oxycodone and oxynorm. Purely out of wanting to know what the effects were - although I would never apply that thinking to certain other drugs obviously.
Nothing spiralled, I never exceeded maximum allowed doses, and I never used a sufficient amount, for any period of time to trigger physical dependance. I believe over the 4 years that I somewhat proved that I had the will power to use without going over the top - and it didn't have a detrimental impact on me financially, socially or otherwise - I managed to manage the situation.
Fast forward to now, my situation hasn't changed much regarding use. I've become much more literate on opiates, particularly Tramadol - because this year I have decided to stop coasting along in life - I'm not following the path I'm supposed to follow anymore. I am one of the owners of a company that is doing well, but I'm not happy. I laid out my personal goals, and realised that the prospect of working alone, free from the responsibilities posed by the scale of this company, choosing my own hours etc.. were far more valuable than the money. I would happily earn half what I'm earning now, but wake up happy and most importantly, free.
So I'm leading a double life, in the evenings I'm laying the foundations for my future, free from being part of the company - during the day I work my 'normal' life. I predict that I'll have built enough funnels of income in my evening endeavours that I can sell my share in the company and move on in approximately 3-4 months (in 'superman' mode...which ill elaborate on). No more 9-5, no more client phone calls, no more doing the heavy lifting for other people - genuinely happy to wake up every day, rather than living to see the week through till weekend starts. I want to break the mould because we only live once. My profession is Internet Marketing by the way - that's why I'm able to earn a living, alone, if I choose to - but that living would be modest compared to the 'corporate' life offered via the company, but still easily enough for me to have everything I could reasonably want.
One detail I left out of the above, is the increased motivation and focus (not uncommon with Tramadol). Something that directly affects my income as somebody that earns on the Internet. I intend to embrace the motivational properties of Tramadol to speed this process up and fast-forward to the life that I want. I know it sounds ridiculous and naive to try and control the use of a drug like this, to change my life in this way. I've compared my output while completely clean, to my output on a night of Tramadol - I get 3 times as much done. So...
Over the past month, after lengthy research on the Internet about Tramadol, I have been on a binge of sorts - I wanted to find out what would happen to me, if I suffered withdrawal symptoms - because I plan to use Tramadol every week 3 days on, 4 days off, for 3 months (no more than that - the available supply has been cut off to prevent any more). I'm using 200mg extended release caps, never exceeding 400mg per 24 hours. To find out the worst case scenario in implementing this wild plan, for 4 weeks I have taken Tramadol every day, except for a 48 hour consecutive disruption every week, starting Saturday and ending Monday. If I suffered any severe WD symptoms I would have to ride them out and cease the Tramadol use and forget the plan. I wanted to force WD symptoms because I was unsure that 3 days on 4 days off would be enough to induce them, but if it was, I wanted to be prepared - as my goal is productivity, and WD would ruin that completely.
I'm on the 5th week now and I've concluded the end of my 'binge'. Today is Tuesday, I stopped on Saturday. Having not had any real WD the past 4 weeks over the 48 hour clean times (5 on, 2 off), I expected this week, because I stopped for longer than 48 hours, and I have a months worth of use in my system, I would possibly have withdrawal on the Monday night. I have also been mindful that I'm taking it and then stopping abruptly, with no tapering, so there's the added risk of seizures.
I have indeed had some withdrawal symptoms, absolutely nowhere near the horror stories that I had prepared myself for. Extremely infrequent zaps or twitches, minor congestion that didn't last long, minor coughing and the most obvious one has been body temperature. I have been hot and cold, not to any severe degree. I would compare the past couple of days as a very very light cough and cold - nothing more - honestly, hangovers feel 10x worse than this.
So I'm posting to find out the following:
I fully appreciate the other side of this conversation, which is the psychological side. I believe in the past 4 years of self-control, and the past month of extended use and easily stopping for 48 hours, suggest I should be ok. I know there is a risk of the 3 months becoming 12 months because I fear not being as productive, but the fear of being dependanton a pill is much stronger, so (perhaps naively), I believe I have the psychological side in check...it's the physical dependance and side effects that are my main concern.
Next week I'm going to try 3 on 4 off to see if I have any WD symptoms whatsoever.
Thanks for reading - I expect this might get deleted and I understand why if so.
Let me preface this by saying I am absolutely not looking to promote or encourage the recreational use, abuse, or misuse of drugs of any kind, but I ask for an open mind with this peculiar thread. While I reference my drug use here, I know that no part of it is morally or legally 'right'...
**** Skip to the list of questions at the end if you don't want to read the wall of text*****
About 4 years ago I was given Tramacet for neck pain. After a short-term stint, I enjoyed the drug, and had fairly open access to it (or Tramadol) from then on, so on occasion I would take it recreationally at weekends. I didn't sustain my use of it - never venturing beyond perhaps 3 consecutive days...sometimes on consecutive weekends and equally sometimes 3 or 4 months completely clear.
I became interested in opiates in general, so in the past couple of years I've ventured (very briefly) into codeine (and CWE), oxycodone and oxynorm. Purely out of wanting to know what the effects were - although I would never apply that thinking to certain other drugs obviously.
Nothing spiralled, I never exceeded maximum allowed doses, and I never used a sufficient amount, for any period of time to trigger physical dependance. I believe over the 4 years that I somewhat proved that I had the will power to use without going over the top - and it didn't have a detrimental impact on me financially, socially or otherwise - I managed to manage the situation.
Fast forward to now, my situation hasn't changed much regarding use. I've become much more literate on opiates, particularly Tramadol - because this year I have decided to stop coasting along in life - I'm not following the path I'm supposed to follow anymore. I am one of the owners of a company that is doing well, but I'm not happy. I laid out my personal goals, and realised that the prospect of working alone, free from the responsibilities posed by the scale of this company, choosing my own hours etc.. were far more valuable than the money. I would happily earn half what I'm earning now, but wake up happy and most importantly, free.
So I'm leading a double life, in the evenings I'm laying the foundations for my future, free from being part of the company - during the day I work my 'normal' life. I predict that I'll have built enough funnels of income in my evening endeavours that I can sell my share in the company and move on in approximately 3-4 months (in 'superman' mode...which ill elaborate on). No more 9-5, no more client phone calls, no more doing the heavy lifting for other people - genuinely happy to wake up every day, rather than living to see the week through till weekend starts. I want to break the mould because we only live once. My profession is Internet Marketing by the way - that's why I'm able to earn a living, alone, if I choose to - but that living would be modest compared to the 'corporate' life offered via the company, but still easily enough for me to have everything I could reasonably want.
One detail I left out of the above, is the increased motivation and focus (not uncommon with Tramadol). Something that directly affects my income as somebody that earns on the Internet. I intend to embrace the motivational properties of Tramadol to speed this process up and fast-forward to the life that I want. I know it sounds ridiculous and naive to try and control the use of a drug like this, to change my life in this way. I've compared my output while completely clean, to my output on a night of Tramadol - I get 3 times as much done. So...
Over the past month, after lengthy research on the Internet about Tramadol, I have been on a binge of sorts - I wanted to find out what would happen to me, if I suffered withdrawal symptoms - because I plan to use Tramadol every week 3 days on, 4 days off, for 3 months (no more than that - the available supply has been cut off to prevent any more). I'm using 200mg extended release caps, never exceeding 400mg per 24 hours. To find out the worst case scenario in implementing this wild plan, for 4 weeks I have taken Tramadol every day, except for a 48 hour consecutive disruption every week, starting Saturday and ending Monday. If I suffered any severe WD symptoms I would have to ride them out and cease the Tramadol use and forget the plan. I wanted to force WD symptoms because I was unsure that 3 days on 4 days off would be enough to induce them, but if it was, I wanted to be prepared - as my goal is productivity, and WD would ruin that completely.
I'm on the 5th week now and I've concluded the end of my 'binge'. Today is Tuesday, I stopped on Saturday. Having not had any real WD the past 4 weeks over the 48 hour clean times (5 on, 2 off), I expected this week, because I stopped for longer than 48 hours, and I have a months worth of use in my system, I would possibly have withdrawal on the Monday night. I have also been mindful that I'm taking it and then stopping abruptly, with no tapering, so there's the added risk of seizures.
I have indeed had some withdrawal symptoms, absolutely nowhere near the horror stories that I had prepared myself for. Extremely infrequent zaps or twitches, minor congestion that didn't last long, minor coughing and the most obvious one has been body temperature. I have been hot and cold, not to any severe degree. I would compare the past couple of days as a very very light cough and cold - nothing more - honestly, hangovers feel 10x worse than this.
So I'm posting to find out the following:
- Has anybody out there successfully used Tramadol for a period of time, in an on / off pattern, and avoided physical withdrawal?
- Does anybody have any experience or evidence to support the idea, that a month of 'testing the water' is good enough? I haven't had a seizure from stopping abruptly - but should I still expect the chance of a seizure (with 3 On, 4 Off) regardless of that fact?
- How long should WD symptoms take to kick in - given that I'm now 3 days clean, should I expect that I might get symptoms on day 4,5,6 etc..? Or has the worst of any WD already occurred (typically)?
I fully appreciate the other side of this conversation, which is the psychological side. I believe in the past 4 years of self-control, and the past month of extended use and easily stopping for 48 hours, suggest I should be ok. I know there is a risk of the 3 months becoming 12 months because I fear not being as productive, but the fear of being dependanton a pill is much stronger, so (perhaps naively), I believe I have the psychological side in check...it's the physical dependance and side effects that are my main concern.
Next week I'm going to try 3 on 4 off to see if I have any WD symptoms whatsoever.
Thanks for reading - I expect this might get deleted and I understand why if so.
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