OFFICIAL 2023-24 FOOTY THREAD ⚽️: Champions League semifinals this week

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Newcastle fans. “Why are they attacking us?

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I wonder what kind of impact this will have on football (see article I linked below on the opioid Tramadol becoming a banned substance by January 1st 2024)
For reference, Tramadol is a moderately strong opioid that isn't quite as potent as Oxycodone or Hydrocodone but it's significantly stronger than Codeine. I don't know how common it is in the US, where it's apparently branded as Ultram.

In Belgium on the other hand, it is the opioid. If non-opioid painkillers are deemed insufficient, you'll be given Tramadol.
I've never seen or heard of codeine being prescribed for pain here, only in cough syrup.

I can actually give a little personal insight here, as I've been prescribed a daily dosage of 400mg (the maximum) for what is probably around 7-8 years now.
Doctors couldn't and still can't figure out the cause of severe chronic pain in my calves that appeared after my partial lung removal surgery, along with the onset of my hormone condition. I of course tried every non-opioid form of pain relief doctors could come up with, including obscure ones like Lyrica, but was eventually given Tramadol to make the pain bearable.

This stuff is no joke and it didn't take long for me to start rampantly abusing my prescriptions for the last 7 years or so. I tried tapering down a couple times from 400mg but each time I couldn't make it past 325mg without being forced to give up due to the pain in my calves. The last 5 years or so have essentially been a non-stop continuing abuse of my prescriptions far past 400mg, at some points up to 800mg by crushing up 2 extra 200mg Extended Release pills. Being an addict was something I kept to myself and only shared with my friends after meeting a fellow addict (cocaine in her case) and becoming mutual best friends. My circle of friends were pretty shocked when I told them, besides one who said he expected it due to the nature of opioids but never noticed anything off about me. Neither do my employers I suppose, as I was abusing a dosage of around 800mg during my job interview, so in theory it's perfectly possible to be a high-functioning addict for years.

Putting Tramadol on the ban list was announced a little over a year in advance so players had time to quit their addiction. As someone who has had to taper down from extremely high dosages numerous times (including currently), you really only have 1 if you want to keep your addiction hidden and continue functioning in society.
Cold turkey is not only virtually impossible, you will not be able to function or do anything at all for the entire duration. The other method is to taper down, but this again limits your functioning. Even something that seems minimal, like tapering down 50mg at a time, will cause severe withdrawal symptoms such as flu-like symptoms and worst of all an uncontrollable impulse to move your arm or hands, as well as the feeling of your brain getting overloaded.
Also take in mind that 400mg is the maximum dosage on paper, but addicts are likely to use up to 800mg a day due to gradually increased tolerance.

There is a way to taper down slowly with almost no withdrawal effects but it involves the use of either a weaker opioid like codeine (like the methadone treatment for heroin), and/or the use of a drug called Kratom that I assume to already be on WADA's ban list. I know Kratom is legal in the Netherlands but it's illegal in Belgium.
Kratom is technically not an opioid but it binds to the same opioid receptors in your brain, which basically tricks your brain into thinking you ingested an opioid and thus it strongly reduces withdrawal effects.

My personal taper down method is a combination of these two methods. I decrease my Tramadol dosage by 100mg at once, and fully relieve the withdrawal effects with a combination of Codeine syrup and Kratom. After getting back down to 400mg (usually from ~800mg), it's just a matter of tapering down the supplementary Codeine. Much like the methadone-heroin method, codeine is much less difficult to taper down to 0 than Tramadol. Quitting the codeine is just a matter of relieving the withdrawal with Kratom. You can then quit the Kratom immediately without any adverse effects.
This is a very slow process however, at least if you want to fully relieve any withdrawal effects along the way. I've found that tapering down by 100mg takes around 4 to 5 weeks, though I'm sure it can be shortened somewhat if you're willing to endure some degree of withdrawal effects.

As far as whether Tramadol truly belongs on the list of banned substances for footballers, I don't think it gives you an advantage. More specifically, for footballers I think the negative impact on cognitive functions would be a bigger disadvantage than the advantage you get from pain relief.
If you're not a regular opioid user, you'll experience intense euphoria. If you're an addict, your head won't quite be in the clouds due to tolerance but it's still a negative impact on your cognitive functions. Reaction time, quick thinking, staying focused, ...


https://web.archive.org/web/2023111...023/11/14/tramadol-football-banned-drug-wada/
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Pretty sure it is know that Tramadol was being given out like candy in the NFL. I don't know if they cut back but there were players who retired who would talk about basically taking it before and during every game due to constantly being injured. It is why the ban on weed in the NFL seems so stupid because some players would rather smoke to relax and help with pain then take opioids but it seems like the NFL would rather they not
 


Sin-bins are set to be introduced into professional football after the game’s law-makers decided to trial the revolutionary move.

The International Football Association Board (Ifab) has agreed in principle to testing the rugby-style measure in elite competitions such as the Premier League – potentially as early as next season.

Sin-bins have worked successfully at tackling dissent for many years at grassroots and youth level and the new trials could also see them used to punish tactical fouling.

But it’s understood that the trial will extend to cynical fouls, with one example understood to be Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini’s shirt-pull on England’s Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final, which resulted in a yellow card only.

The measure would equate to an ‘orange card’ and see offences deemed worthy of greater punishment than a booking, but not quite meet the threshold of a sending-off, clamped down on.
Click to expand...

Game is gone :rofl:

Officials barely get it right with regular yellows and reds :lol:, having an 'orange card' is gonna make for chaos
 
Crazy, the body is so strange and we know so little that a lung removal can cause your calves so much discomfort. Are you still using at all?

And I kind of like the Madrid Gazelle’s.
 
Belgium said:
6c24ebe08e94f112d61f19ef22d6a006.png


7a8f009879192a331bdec8d521535210.png


I wonder what kind of impact this will have on football (see article I linked below on the opioid Tramadol becoming a banned substance by January 1st 2024)
For reference, Tramadol is a moderately strong opioid that isn't quite as potent as Oxycodone or Hydrocodone but it's significantly stronger than Codeine. I don't know how common it is in the US, where it's apparently branded as Ultram.

In Belgium on the other hand, it is the opioid. If non-opioid painkillers are deemed insufficient, you'll be given Tramadol.
I've never seen or heard of codeine being prescribed for pain here, only in cough syrup.

I can actually give a little personal insight here, as I've been prescribed a daily dosage of 400mg (the maximum) for what is probably around 7-8 years now.
Doctors couldn't and still can't figure out the cause of severe chronic pain in my calves that appeared after my partial lung removal surgery, along with the onset of my hormone condition. I of course tried every non-opioid form of pain relief doctors could come up with, including obscure ones like Lyrica, but was eventually given Tramadol to make the pain bearable.

This stuff is no joke and it didn't take long for me to start rampantly abusing my prescriptions for the last 7 years or so. I tried tapering down a couple times from 400mg but each time I couldn't make it past 325mg without being forced to give up due to the pain in my calves. The last 5 years or so have essentially been a non-stop continuing abuse of my prescriptions far past 400mg, at some points up to 800mg by crushing up 2 extra 200mg Extended Release pills. Being an addict was something I kept to myself and only shared with my friends after meeting a fellow addict (cocaine in her case) and becoming mutual best friends. My circle of friends were pretty shocked when I told them, besides one who said he expected it due to the nature of opioids but never noticed anything off about me. Neither do my employers I suppose, as I was abusing a dosage of around 800mg during my job interview, so in theory it's perfectly possible to be a high-functioning addict for years.

Putting Tramadol on the ban list was announced a little over a year in advance so players had time to quit their addiction. As someone who has had to taper down from extremely high dosages numerous times (including currently), you really only have 1 if you want to keep your addiction hidden and continue functioning in society.
Cold turkey is not only virtually impossible, you will not be able to function or do anything at all for the entire duration. The other method is to taper down, but this again limits your functioning. Even something that seems minimal, like tapering down 50mg at a time, will cause severe withdrawal symptoms such as flu-like symptoms and worst of all an uncontrollable impulse to move your arm or hands, as well as the feeling of your brain getting overloaded.
Also take in mind that 400mg is the maximum dosage on paper, but addicts are likely to use up to 800mg a day due to gradually increased tolerance.

There is a way to taper down slowly with almost no withdrawal effects but it involves the use of either a weaker opioid like codeine (like the methadone treatment for heroin), and/or the use of a drug called Kratom that I assume to already be on WADA's ban list. I know Kratom is legal in the Netherlands but it's illegal in Belgium.
Kratom is technically not an opioid but it binds to the same opioid receptors in your brain, which basically tricks your brain into thinking you ingested an opioid and thus it strongly reduces withdrawal effects.

My personal taper down method is a combination of these two methods. I decrease my Tramadol dosage by 100mg at once, and fully relieve the withdrawal effects with a combination of Codeine syrup and Kratom. After getting back down to 400mg (usually from ~800mg), it's just a matter of tapering down the supplementary Codeine. Much like the methadone-heroin method, codeine is much less difficult to taper down to 0 than Tramadol. Quitting the codeine is just a matter of relieving the withdrawal with Kratom. You can then quit the Kratom immediately without any adverse effects.
This is a very slow process however, at least if you want to fully relieve any withdrawal effects along the way. I've found that tapering down by 100mg takes around 4 to 5 weeks, though I'm sure it can be shortened somewhat if you're willing to endure some degree of withdrawal effects.

As far as whether Tramadol truly belongs on the list of banned substances for footballers, I don't think it gives you an advantage. More specifically, for footballers I think the negative impact on cognitive functions would be a bigger disadvantage than the advantage you get from pain relief.
If you're not a regular opioid user, you'll experience intense euphoria. If you're an addict, your head won't quite be in the clouds due to tolerance but it's still a negative impact on your cognitive functions. Reaction time, quick thinking, staying focused, ...


https://web.archive.org/web/2023111...023/11/14/tramadol-football-banned-drug-wada/
81d1ffa525a3f04e18fb9c8b8864d1c1.png
Click to expand...
Also this
 
Tramadol is very popular in the states, or at least the NW. Unsure how popular it is for abuse but it's prescribed like crazy
 
had tramadol once after i had surgery on my ruptured achilles. the cast tech messed up my cast. had my ankle all twisted so when the nerve block wore off i was in the worst pain i’ve ever been in. went back to the er they shot me once with tramadol and i couldn’t feel it at all. it was pretty amazing
 
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