tramadol + hydrocodone - relatively inexperienced - surprised

[Mettray]

Hi! So, I'm quite startled by an experience with tramadol and hydrocodone that I had last night. I've read that tramadol blocks the effects of any other opiates, even when taken a few days prior. (Is this true? I read it here.) Last night, I was feeling sick and had a very sore throat with inflamed tonsils (I'm very prone to this because of awful pollen and mold allergies). I decided to take 2 Norco, for a total of 20/750mg hyrdocodone/apap. I felt the mild hydrocodone buzz (my usual recreational dose is 40mg), but the pills didn't entirely take away my throat pain. (I should add that I am experienced with hydrocodone and have taken 40mg recreationally, once a week, for about 2 months now.)

At about T+2, I decided to take 200mg tramadol to help with the pain. I'd had three prior experiences with tramadol: 100mg (did nothing, didn't even kill my headache) and 300mg (extremely mild buzz, almost unnoticeable).

So, imagine my surprise when I took 200mg on top of the hydrocodone and felt a MAJOR increase in my buzz. It definitely changed character - I felt light and relaxed, lost the hydrocodone go-forward energy. But I was MARKEDLY more messed up. I completely lost inhibitions and started babbling about all manner of irrelevant stuff to my housemates.

Is it true that tramadol blocks the effects of other opiates? Was I simply feeling the tramadol high? But my previous experience with a higher dose of tramadol was nothing like that! Any ideas?

I had also vaporized marijuana earlier in the night, but I do that many times a day and am extremely accustomed to its effects. I had vaporized marijuana during my two prior tramadol experiences too.


love
mettray

 

[nzp]

good read,
god damn i love those vapourisers!!! i have a "wake and vap" every saturday morning, its like my little tradition.
sorry i cant answer ur question about the effects of tramadol on opiates, but im sure someone else will prompt a reply soon enough.
cheers
peace.

 

[Mean Girl]

i don't know much of tramadol at all. but hopefully some of the geniuses in here can help you out

 

[Mettray]

Well, regarding tramadol and other opiates - the link in my above post is to an rxlist drug discussion board thread where the first poster remarks that using tramadol blocks his codeine high for several days afterward. Then a couple other people concurred and said that tramadol blocks the high from ANY other opiates within a few days of use.

However, I've discovered that this is NOT the case, at least not with me. Yesterday I woke up and took the rest of the tramadol I had (300mg). Again, by itself - blah. Helped out my sore throat a little bit (I know it's intended for other types of pain, not sore throats). Very mild high - similar relaxed, 'floaty' feeling, but less than half the effects that I felt in combination with the hydrocodone. Not really worth it for just the high.

But then, about ten hours later, I took my usual recreational dose of 40mg hydrocodone (cold-water-extracted Norco). I felt it perfectly, 100% of my regular buzz, even though I had used 200mg tramadol + 20mg hydro the day before, and 300mg tramadol that very morning.

So, maybe tramadol does block weaker opiates like codeine, but does not block something much stronger, like a 40mg dose of hydrocodone. Or maybe the people on the rxlist board are just wrong... in fact, in the same thread, someone claims that he has used Vicodin and Percocet to 'come out of overdosing himself' on tramadol. (Here's that post.) I don't have much pharamcological knowledge, but that sounds very odd to me.


love
mettray

 

[LinZ-E]

yes i've read all of the same things....but, as you've experienced, i've never noticed a lesser buzz from hydro/tramadol interactions. I've taken 250 - 400 mg tramadol a day regularly along with 30 - 50 mg hydrocodone and think the two have always worked better together rather than alone.
also, in the depths of OD you will find many threads about this combination - also with mixed results...some claiming it works and some it doesn't.