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Potentially Dangerous Buzzkill
Tramadol & Alcohol
Citation:   Rationale. "Potentially Dangerous Buzzkill: An Experience with Tramadol & Alcohol (exp85771)". Erowid.org. Jan 17, 2021. erowid.org/exp/85771

 
DOSE:
50 mg oral Pharms - Tramadol
    oral Alcohol - Beer/Wine
  3 shots oral Alcohol - Hard
BODY WEIGHT: 130 lb
Halloween night, and the girls and I were getting dressed up and ready to barhop. I was in an exorbitant amount of muscle pain thanks to an intense morning lifting weights followed by an unexpected day of hard yard work. I hurt so badly, I could hardly get in and out of the car without help. One of my friends offered me a 50mg tramadol pill, which I gratefully accepted. I had never taken tramadol before, but I know people who have, and who always reported that it was wonderful.

Sure enough, about an hour later, I was good to go. This, my first experience with tramadol, was the same as all my subsequent experiences with it where I was aware of the fact that I was in a lot of pain, but the pain just didn't seem that bad and/or I just didn't care. The pain became more of an intellectual curiosity. This is in contrast to drugs like morphine or hydrocodone that completely eliminate the sensation of pain. Also, the tramadol didn't make me sleepy like opioids would normally; it just made me a little fuzzy-brained, kind of dreamy feeling.

Before we left the house, we had a couple of beers, and then proceeded to drink more in the bars. Of course, we ended up doing shots. Whiskey, in our case. I was having fun, walking around, people watching, and drinking in each bar we stopped in, pleasantly buzzed.

When we ended up several blocks away from where we started and one of my friends ordered another round of shots is when I suddenly realized how much I had had to drink. I asked my friends, and we counted our way down the street, and realized that we were on our fourth bar, and thus our fourth shot.

Now, I know myself and my drinking habits very well. I know that I can NOT drink like that. As a 5'4' and 130lb girl, I'm such a lightweight that I can usually only handle one shot in an entire evening, maybe two if it's a long evening. Any more than that, and I'm worshiping the porcelain god. But this night, even after three shots and several beers within a couple of hours, I did not feel drunk, not even in the slightest. I felt kind of buzzed and dreamy, but not seriously drunk like I should have. I wasn't stumbling when I walked, though I was slurring my speech.

I declined take the fourth shot because I have no idea why I wasn't feeling the alcohol.
I declined take the fourth shot because I have no idea why I wasn't feeling the alcohol.
I could see that I could very, very easily have ended up with alcohol poisoning without ever even realizing it. I did not vomit that night, and my hangover the next day was not nearly as bad as I would have expected.

To this day, I don't drink if I've taken tramadol. Not so much because I'm worried about the danger, because I'm smart enough to know I have to count my drinks instead of relying on how I feel when I combine the two, but really - who wants to drink and not feel the buzz? It's boring.

Exp Year: 2008ExpID: 85771
Gender: Female 
Age at time of experience: 30
Published: Jan 17, 2021Views: 1,708
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Alcohol - Hard (198), Alcohol - Beer/Wine (199), Pharms - Tramadol (149) : Club / Bar (25), Combinations (3), First Times (2)

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