I always staggered my tramadol doses (like others say, starting with 100-150mg and redosing 50mg a couple times during the day) and always kept the total in any one day below 400mg. Was the first opioid I used and I liked it at the time.
Until one day I woke up in the morning, having used tramadol the day before, and had a seizure that knocked me out for about 10 minutes. I had 350mg spread throughout the day and that's it.
After that I stopped using tramadol.
I have had some given to me in the years since, and tried like 100-200mg, but didn't really feel anything except the weird SNRI effects. No opioid high even with no tolerance. Just does nothing for me now. Same with tapentadol, literally does nothing to me.
I also noticed tramadol tolerance developed extremely rapidly. I needed a few days break between each use because if I took it two days in a row I'd feel nothing from it the next day even when I was still enjoying it. Very odd.
Anyway, definitely better (and safer) drugs out here.