Originally Posted by
lovetosail 
Just a word about tramadol. I was addicted to the stuff for 18+years. Numerous rehabs. Tapered more times than I can count. Oh, and I preferred this drug to all other opiates because it gave me energy and lasted a long time. And yes, I got high off the stuff. Not surprised it negates withdrawals from Tianeptine. And the withdrawals from tramadol were horrendous for me.
Just felt I needed to share my experience with this drug.
You are correct, Tramadol is very addicting and if used irresponsibly can lead to a new problem. People addicted to opiates or tianeptine are in a bad place and the withdrawals are some of the most hellish a person can experience. I think once a person figures out they can't do it alone they search for something to help ease the withdrawals. I read on several forums of people taking loperamide or Immodium in gigantic doses to offset their opiate withdrawals. There are people that advocate drinking grapefruit juice with the loperamide so it crosses the blood barrier in the brain to tickle the opiate receptors in the brain.
I stumbled across Tramadol by accident as it was prescribed to me for an injury. When I started taking the tramadol I noticed I had no desire to take the tianeptine and I responsibly used tramadol to stop my tianeptine addiction. I always stayed aware that I could be trading one addiction for another so I weaned off the tramadol in a fast enough rate to keep addiction at bay while also making sure it was not fast enough to pull me back to tianeptine.
I posted this thread because I know being addicted to anything is scary but when you start messing with receptors in the brain and get addicted, the agony, fear and hopefulness is 100 times worse and no one out there that I could find figured out how to crack breaking the addiction of Tianeptine as its withdrawals can be easily compared to extreme heroin withdrawal. Always be careful with any prescription meds. Don't walk out of one jail cell just to enter another.