Thesun 2009-11-02 Page04 Confession Of A Tramadol Addict

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theSun

| MONDAY NOVEMBER 2 2009

news without borders

Confession of a Tramadol addict by Zakiah Koya [email protected]

KUALA LUMPUR: Sean (not his real name) has experimented with numerous drugs, including codeine, DF-118 and heroin but finds Tramadol “the most compelling”. He said when Tramadol is taken in excess, one feels “a state of rapturous, almost misanthropic euphoria.” The former addict, who started using the drug at 16 and was hooked on it for three years, said his life was severely damaged due to his addiction. “In all my years of using drugs; I most certainly found Tramadol to be more euphoric than other opiates.” He has also tried diamorphine or heroin. “Also, after repeated dosing over the years, my tolerance skyrocketed. This led me to taking doses amounting to 3gm or 60 capsules a day,” said Sean. He said he was prone to severe seizures and he only found this out painfully after being on Tramadol for a while. “I personally found Tramadol to be a solution for all my problems in my early days of abuse; I even found it capable of entirely mitigating the remittance or ‘comedown’ effects of other hard drugs such as ‘Ice’ or ‘Batuan’,” said Sean. He tried to quit “cold turkey” five times on his own but failed. He was then enrolled into rehabilitation

centres thrice before managing to stay clean. His relative, Dr C.S Loh, said when Sean developed seizures, they just could not understand how someone considered healthy at that age (he was 16 then) could have such severe fits. “We then found out that friends of his had been using it also to get high and that it was on the rise. It surprised us that young people were able to buy it so easily from local pharmacies,” said Loh. He stated that when Tramadol is taken in sufficient quantity with alcohol, it can cause suppressions of breathing and cause fits and convulsions, besides “brain zaps”. He also stated that it is not easy to quit the physical dependence. “If you stop cold turkey, there will be much pain and depression,” said Loh, who did much research into the drug after his loved one became addicted to it. The problem is, said Loh, the tendency to relapse is almost immediate due the lure of easy availability of Tramadol.

What is Tramadol? TRAMADOL is the generic name for the drug and is available in many different brands. It is a synthetic pain reliever commonly prescribed by doctors. When taken in high doses, it create an euphoric feeling. When abused with other drugs, Tramadol can give addicts a high with risks of adverse effects such as severe respiratory depression and/or provoked seizure as it can decrease the seizure threshold. It is also associated with the development of physical dependence and severe withdrawals on cessation, at times worse than that of heroin. Tramadol addicts say the drug boosts serotonin and the effect is a sense of well-being. Once there is a tolerance to the drug, the addicts have reported experiencing the effects of ringing in the ears at night and during prolonged use or withdrawals, they will feel “brain zaps”. Most have experienced a seizure triggered by their drug abuse. It is more difficult to quit than heroin because the withdrawal period is protracted.

Three Utar students drown at Kampar waterfall KAMPAR: The bodies of three Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) students, who had drowned at the Batu Berangkai Waterfall, here, yesterday were found late last night. Kampar district police chief Supt Abdul Aziz Salleh said the victims in the 5.30pm incident were male students Yew Ghim Chnieh and James Wan Kai Khor, both aged 20 and from Penang, and female student Yew Shy Gin, 21, from Sungai Petani, Kedah. Shy Gin's body was found at 11.10pm, and the other two bodies, at 10.20pm and about midnight. The first body was found about 300m from the spot where they were last seen and the second and third bodies were discovered not far from where the first body was found. All the three bodies were sent to the Kampar District Hospital. Another student who was also swept by the strong current managed to swim to safety. Abdul Aziz said a search and rescue operation following information received was immediately mounted by the police with the help of a fire and

rescue team and villagers. The incessant rain, the swift current and darkness had hampered the search operation. A witness, Syed Sarudin Syed Shamsuddin, 41, said the incident happened after heavy rain at the waterfall area. “My three children and I had sought shelter at a hut on the river bank while the three victims and others continued swimming in the river. “The water level rose slowly before I heard a loud gush of water pounding on the rocks and saw four people being swept away by the swift current,” he recalled. A villager, Razali Abdullah, 32, said he was nearby at the time but could not help the victims as the current was very swift. ”I heard cries for help and saw three people struggling in the swiftflowing water,” he said. Razali said the Utar students and others seen picnicking there about 3pm were advised by the local residents to go home as the waterfall could be dangerous during the rainy season. – Bernama

‘Father of China space programme’ dies BEIJING: Qian Xuesen, the man widely regarded as the father of China’s nuclear missile and space programmes, has died at the age of 98, state-run Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. Qian was born in the eastern city of Hangzhou but left the country in 1935 for studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. He later served as director of the Jet Pro-

pulsion laboratory at the California Institute of Technology before returning to China in 1955, six years after the Communist Revolution. Qian went to work for the defence ministry and helped lay the foundations for a nuclear weapons programme that detonated its first device in 1964 and for a space programme that achieved China’s first manned space flight in 2003. – AFP