How long or how often do you take Tramadol? And do you take breaks to keep your tolerance low?
The reason I'm asking is because so far Tramadol has been the only drug that actually works to mitigate my depression, and I'd hate for it to stop working due to increase in tolerance.
I take it every day. I only take a break when I run out hahaha. Those days are a real hell.
If I were you and wanted to use tramadol only as an antidepressant, I would take small or moderate doses (under 400mg). There was a long time when I took it this way and it works great as an antidepressant. The problem comes when you try to "chase" the opioid high. Perhaps you could take tramadol every 2 days or switch doses (one day 300 mg to the other 50 mg and so on).
P.S. My tolerance is monstrous and irresponsibly dangerous.
I think taking methadone for a while caused me to no longer get effects from tramadol or codeine maybe?
Yes. I think that's the reason. As far as I know, methadone blocks the euphoric effects of other opioids.
I only take Tramadol 2 to 3 times a week, so I'm skipping days, and I don't mind skipping weeks. I started today. And I took 300mg of Pregabalin and it's taking my mind off Tramadol craving.
I still feel the Opioid high of Tramadol even when taking a small dose of 150mg and 200mg. So doesn't this euphoria contribute to lessening the depression? Regardless of its SNRI properties. If this euphoria is gone, I think the depression will come back, hitting hard.
In my experience, when you no longer feel euphoria, tramadol still works as an antidepressant and manages to stabilize my mood. Due to my chronic abuse, I hardly feel euphoria at low doses but I don't mind because I still feel like it works as an antidepressant.
But, if you have depression, I think the chances of abusing tramadol are very high. Have you tried any SSRI or SRNI?
If you want to go the tramadol route, you will have to accept that sometimes you will run out of doses and those days will be a real hell. And not to mention all the things that come with an opioid addiction. You should know if the benefits outweigh the risks.
My life before tramadol was pretty shitty (depression, anxiety, eating disorders, etc.), at least now with tramadol I feel happy and without all those problems.
I don't know. I felt tramadol the handful of times I took it. Codeine is useless to me though, no effect. High doses made me feel like I was going to sneeze. It was quite strange
Yeah, codeine useless right now. The only thing I feel is that it depresses my breathing more than tramadol. I didn't even feel the itching, but that may have been my codeine came with doses of chlorphenamine.