Is Tramadol Addictive In a Suboxone Cocktail?

[dopemegently]

So, I've been on Suboxone 12mgs for nigh on 6 years, and up to around 2 years ago, I'd also shoot a further 8mgs daily of Subutex with a dipenhydramine mixer, until one day my Subutex supplier was swooped by the pigs...

I had trouble adjusting to such a large reduction, my dose didn't seem to hold me and I struggled with not being able to shoot any longer thanks to a hardcore needle fetish. More to the point, I felt like a zombie on Suboxone.
Then I found the perfect solution in Tramadol; 400mgs daily would give me a very tolerable sub-euphoric buzz making my dose reduction painless. (And rather enjoyable). My plan is to begin hoarding these Tramadol to help me cope with any further Suboxone reductions; I'm finding it difficult to stop using it however. It's become a compulsion almost like shooting was.

My question is this: if I were to stop Tramadol cold, would I experience any unpleasant symptoms, considering I'm already on a potent opiate-type drug. I have an almost pathological fear of withdrawal, and I can't seem to find anybody in a similar boat. Is this a psychosomatic thing? Is it "all in my head"?

BTW I'm also taking Mirtazipine, amitryptaline, phenibut, and Robaxin to help me sleep.

 

[twotoomany]

Yes. You can withdraw from trams. Probably wont feel the ope portion if you stay on subs, but you'll get the snri WD bullshit that is no fun.

 

[dopemegently]

I'm glad I won't rattle, but I don't like the sound of this SNRI.. I've never heard of it so ill have to research it. Maybe the ssri will cancel it out? They sound similar after all...will research this.

 

[T. Calderone]

Since you're using mirtazapine and amitriptyline, you might be okay. But still with 400 mg tramadol you could try and drop off gradually. You didn't say how long you have been on this dose.

 

[dopemegently]

Thanks that's a relief. I've been on it for two years roughly. It's in two separate doses. Yesterday I didn't take my evening dose. Obviously I didn't get the buzz I'm used to so my mind is screaming " oh god, I'm not high I feel terrible!" But really I didn't feel bad, tho I did take phenibut for anxiety. It gives me a wonderful feeling of serenity without druggy side effects.

 

[laCster]

please please please dont keep IVing diphenhydramine! doing so is definitely not worth the risks

 

[dopemegently]

I haven't done that for ages, I don't even take the pills anymore. At one point I was takin 20 a day and used to get the most blinding headaches. Also I blacked out at work once

 

[Toz]

Why exactly are you using tramadol? Tramadol is just another opiate like any other, trying to taper subutex with tramadol is a bad idea because of the SNRI effects. You will end up with 2 addictions instead of one you have to get rid off.

Stacking tramadol on top of the subs will eventually raise your opiate tolerance, leading to you having to take the tramadol everyday too, or add more buprenorphine to compensate.

 

[dopemegently]

I had to suddenly lower my buprenorphine dose, the tramadol helped me cope with that, and it's readily available to me. I'm not saying my thoughts on this are rational but at the time I saw it as the lesser evil. It was a dumb thing to do, but at the time it got me through a harsh period.

Btw I didn't feel right by missing my dose twice in a row instead so I'm going to taper my use. I never seem to learn my golden rule number one: what the drug giveth the drug taketh away.

 

[dopemegently]

This post is pretty much dead now, but I thought I'd give an update: I haven't used tramadol for 3 months; I stopped cold, and experienced zero discomfort whatsoever, although I was worried about the SNRI discontinuation symptoms some people were mentioning - no such symptoms there, either, although I put that squarely down to the SSRI's i take. Saying that, I stopped taking citralopram cold years back, and also experienced zero WDS; I guess some of the horror stories I've been hearing are exaggerated - either that, or I'm just lucky.

Now that I'm not using them, I'm saving them for a future reduction, for when my suboxone dose is so low things begin to get very tough, cause I know these things work for me, and I can stop using em painlessly. IMO the reason I felt zero withdrawals after stopping tramadol was because of the suboxone in my system; if I were to take tramadol while clean, I would become def become hooked on tramadol, so I can't take them once I'm clean from bupe -An SOA habit is something to be avoided, with the tolerance and the need to redose constantly. My goal is to get clean from opiates, after all - I feel it's gonna take a long time though, as I've been on them so long.

There's one thing I just don't get: why the hell did tramadol work, when I was on a blocking dose of bupe? I've read a hell of a lot of posts from people who also claim that tramadol works very well indeed with suboxone - too many to put down to a psychosomatic/ placebo effect - and when I was feeling really bad from my large sub reduction (20 -24 mg a day, down to 12, overnight) those tramadol fixed me right up: moderate euphoria, distinct and fairly intense codeine "warm and fuzzies", lasting for a good 6, sometimes seven hours, if I took a high enough dose; I can't put that down to a placebo effect. I know jack about pharmacology, so I wonder if there's somebody who could explain this? I guess one explanation could be that tramadol have SNRI activity, but the thing is, I already take SSRI's, and that group of drugs certainly couldn't account for the distinctly opiate-like effects I experienced - not to mention the fact they can take a long time to work, weeks to months in some cases. It's something that's puzzled me for a while now; bupe hogs those receptors like a greedy pig at a blocking dose - no opiate should get a look in. Heroin, morphine, diamorphine, dihydrocodeine, opium, codeine - I've used them whilst on suboxone, and the bupe was like a brick wall, letting nothing past - so why should some weak- ass opiate, comparable in strength to codeine be able to get past so well?

Of course, I realise this will be fairly divisive; a lot of people are adamant tramadol will not work with suboxone. IME and IMHO they did for me.