2) If you enjoy kratom, don't take this bullshit. It fucking ruined kratom for me.
Has anyone else gotten a "toxic" feeling from this?
It's been months since I've tried it and it was definitely legit stuff, but it felt like a very, very mild and extremely dirty oxy high. I got very nauseated and dizzy at times (off about 100mg orally) and eventually straight-up dysphoric. It was definitely not an opioid OD as I had a hell of a tolerance at the time. Could it have been a TCA overdose, like taking too much amitryptiline, nortryptiline, etc? If so, that should be noteworthy for anyone with a tolerance to opioids planning to take a high dose.
When I started taking Tianeptine, I had a low tolerance because I was clean for 2 years. My tolerance almost instantly rose but that was to be expected.
I found high doses to be a bit dysphoric too but not enough to deter me from abusing it.
I never noticed much in the way of any effects beyond opiate like effects. I did notice some mild nystagmus at oral doses around 200mg +.
I think high doses strain the liver. I would get sweaty and nauseous from high doses and it seemed like my skin would become more yellow (no yellow in the whites of the eyes). If I consumed too much sugar close to bed on nights I took too much Tianeptine, then I would wake up with what felt like an alcohol hangover the next morning.
Don't know what it all means but I'm glad I'm tapering off. Tapering sucks but am slowly starting to feel more human everyday, which is nice.
this is kinda off-topic but once you're off the tianeptine, try using 5-HTP from time to time during PAWS, it really lifted my mood.
Have you ever been on a TCA? Maybe you could try one that doesn't have any opioid properties, if the effects of tianeptine were otherwise good. Then again, the emotional numbing is an AD symptom too. I was on mirtazapine while addicted to opioids and I quit both at the exact same time, so I couldn't tell you what was really worse. But yeah, I really like 5-HTP. I don't use it very often, but it does work. In PAWS, it'd just give me enough of a boost to get out of the house and go do stuff. Exercise helps tremendously too, I'm sure you've probably already heard that a million times but it's essential for me. Also, do you by any chance have ADD/ADHD? I'm asking because you mentioned Wellbutrin, and dopamine againsts are the only things that work for me. I've never tried Wellbutrin but ever since I started using adderall 3x a week I've had no depression whatsoever. It can totally be a symptom even though it's rarely discussed. When I run out of adderall for a week or two, I can feel the lack of motivation and depression coming back.
I don't believe I have add/ADHD. I did extremely well in school, I just seemed to be depressed all the time. When I was younger, my depression didn't keep me from doing things, ie I was still able to do really well in school.
But then I used opiates for like 8 years. I got over it with suboxone but my depression was worse than ever. For the first time in my life I had trouble getting out of bed, eating enough or even showering. Time didn't seem to help bring back my motivation.
Then I abused the hell out of mdpv. I finally quit that but I then had even less motivation. Even after a couple years I still don't seem to have fully recovered. I used wellbutrin for a short while and it helped immensely.
Then I tried kratom. I was cautious because of my previous opiate addiction. Small kratom doses alleviated depression and gave me energy to do things again. I used it sparingly for months without losing control or getting hooked.
That's when I tried Tianeptine. I thought I could use it sparingly like I had with kratom. The opioid effects I got from it hit too close to home... Things spiralled out of control quickly.
When I quit Tianeptine I hope to be able to use kratom again sparingly. I'm not holding my breath though. I realise I'm an addict and kratom may be too slippery of a slope for me.
Wellbutrin really helped but I only used it for a short while. I tried lexapro for two months but it didn't help at all. Those are the only two legitimate medications I've ever been prescribed. I have yet to try a TCA (besides Tianeptine of course, but I've heard it's TCA properties have been under scrutiny?) Maybe I should try one... Once I finish my taper, of course.
Ahh ok, I always bring that up because I used to get bouts of anxiety and depression that were very atypical and treatment-resistant. It all goes away (pretty long term) with adderall so it must have been a low dopamine thing, but no doctor has ever suggested that to me. I was the WORST student though, teachers despised me![]()
I was a pretty bad addict (still have an insane perma-tolerance despite being pretty much clean since Feb/March) but it only lasted for 6 months for me, so your PAWS will probably be quite a bit worse than mine, but ride it out. I literally woke up one day feeling ok again. I still use kratom myself, not daily, but pretty frequently lately. My honest opinion is that it's mostly a slippery slope into falling back into kratom addiction, not opioid addiction in general. At least, that's how it is for me. I like my kratom but I have no desire to get back on the harder shit. If kratom really does help you, I'd stick with that over tianeptine. Yes, it's still trading an addiction for another addiction, but it's more like habitual weed smoking or coffee drinking imo. There's always the chance of that ban actually happening though :/ In any case, I feel like switching to kratom would at least be a lot better than tianeptine, especially in those moments where you're really craving an opioid. Addiction sucks but ultimately, it's good to do what truly works best for you and not to worry about labeling yourself. There's a huge difference between active psychological addiction and dependence anyway, in my opinion, and you clearly fall in the latter category because you're actively trying to get clean, so you're past the hardest step already, even if it doesn't feel that way yet.
I don't have any good experiences with TCAs personally, but they do work for a lot of people. Statistically, they're more effective than SSRIs but less than MAOIs iirc. AD's aren't really my area though because like I said, I've had nothing but bad experiences with them. Actually I can say one good thing about TCAs lol, they can be quite good at relieving nerve pain, at least mild nerve pain.
Btw, where'd you hear about tianeptine's TCA properties being under scrutiny? I'm curious because I've always wondered that myself. If it's active on the MORs at doses that are pretty low relative to the AD dose, idk it's just logical that much of the "antidepressant" effect is really just mild opioid euphoria. I mean, it could also easily be both working in tandem, it's just something I've always wondered about myself. It's clearly fairly strong as an opioid too if we could both feel the effect even as addicts. I'm too tolerant for stuff like hydrocodone and codeine to feel much effect at all.
At 3-4 gs per day, could you feel any organ pain?I've been tapering my usage of this stuff. Was using 3-4g per day of Tianeptine sodium salt before I started tapering. I'm now down to about 300-400mg of Tianeptine free acid per day... About a tenth of what I was using before.
Things are getting rough for me. I spend most of the day just on the edge of withdrawal. My body aches, my nose and eyes run and my nerves are wrecked. But I'm trying to stay positive, focusing on feeling good about the progress I've made so far helps.
Even at this level of use the withdrawals are nothing to sneeze at. I let myself go for 24hrs over the weekend and what hit me was no walk in the park. Much much better than what the withdrawals from 3g a day felt like... They were downright scary in intensity at that level.
For anyone using this stuff at more than a gram a day (or higher, Reddit has people claiming 10g a day!). Do yourself a favor and try to keep atleast 2 to 3 months worth on hand at all times. You never know when this stuff will disappear for good. You want to make sure you have enough to taper with, or atleast have a plan in place. I cannot describe the utter hell I felt trying to withdrawal from 3g a day... And I've been around the block, I've successfully withdrawal from codiene, tramadol, oxycontin, poppy tea (each at separate times). Tianeptine withdrawals, from high doses, are downright awful. I don't know what iv herion withdrawals are like exactly, but I bet it must be similar in intensity.
At 3-4 gs per day, could you feel any organ pain?
i do probably 1-1.5 grams daily. And yes, I need to taper down because you never know when the sites will just stop carrying it or disappear altogether. It's a house of cards for sure, but some days I dose around 3pm, and wake up the next morning around like 6am feeling only slightly off. Other days I dose at 10am when I get up, and by 2pm I am feeling pretty shitty. It's weird how the withdrawal symptoms aren't linear. Plus if i take a nap during the day it "resets" the withdrawal and I wake up sick no matter what.