Pickwick

I was in a similar position some years ago after breaking my neck in a car accident in Germany. Stay calm you have already started the process and soon you will be Tramadol free, it's not easy but will most likely not be as bad as you fear. You do need a bit of fortitude, so be happy with your decrease today, allow yourself some time to adjust to the decreased dosage, but also begin to focus on how happy you will feel when Tramadol free. There are two issues you are facing - the mental and the physical. It sounds like you have the motivation for the mental part - but please be aware that Tramadol does mimic some antidepressants, so as you taper down be aware of your mood and feelings. Your body is physically dependent on Tramadol, the main reason you need to taper down. Unfortunately, this is more difficult here than in Germany. In Germany you can get drops - liquid Tramadol - and you can literally decrease by a single mg. I do not believe liquid Tramadol is available here, though I am not 100% sure - perhaps @Sheryl can advise? That means you are stuck with the capsules (50mg each) or Ultracet (37.5mg). Superficial research suggests you should not split an Ultracet pill in half - again perhaps @Sheryl can advise, that's a pity as it is easier to taper into ever decreasing amounts. But if you have the will - and it sounds like you do - you've go this. You've already started, so well done. Take it slowly - that's the most important thing. Taper will most likely be a bit up and down during periods of decrease. You will have good days and bad. Make a plan - maybe 3 capsules for a week or more, then swap the middle capsule for a slightly weaker Ultracet pill; then go down to 2 Ultracet pills+one capsule etc etc). Stick to your plan, but do not be afraid to stay at 3 pills (or 2 or 1 etc) a bit longer if you need. But also keep focusing on your end goal to keep yourself motivated and determined. I found it a little difficult to adjust but it was not nearly as bad as I feared. Allow yourself to feel happy that you have got to 3 pills already, build your mental strength and then go down to 2. Slowly, steadily and you'll be fine. Best wishes.

Two conflicting answers! @DrJack54 I thought we always had to give the TM6 when exiting?

I last entered Thailand by land so have a TM6 stapled in my (now old) passport. Whilst in Thailand I applied and received a new passport as there were only six months remaining on the old one. I have the extension of stay stamps transferred to new passport etc., - I still have the old (now cut and invalid) passport with TM6 inside. I am off to the UK next month, do I need to show the TM6 when exiting, or just the new passport? I think the TM6 is linked to the old passport but TiT and assumptions are dangerous! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

May I ask which brand of magnet curtains you have found to be effective?

Do you have a prescription from your home country? I'm asking with flying in mind. Tramadol really helps with my back pain here, I don't take it daily but it's effective when needed and fast acting. Next month I'll be travelling back to the UK via Qatar and would have liked to take some with me but that's not possible obviously. I am not sure I can get a prescription in English out here in the sticks (or if it's possible anyway). I'll be able to get co-codomol from UK GP but it's definitely less effective.

Could you expand on that please? What 'salary' did he want to see? I thought the only requirement was a statement showing 500,000 baht in the account at time of application?

I quoted his speech directly, thank you for sharing it.

Do you think your video is reflective of the House of Lords which you apparently admire so much? Or do you think your good Lord, former head of UKIP, might have a particular viewpoint given his political history (I don't just mean his UKIP history)? This is a man, who during the 2010 general election, as leader of UKIP, embarrassed himself on TV by not knowing what was actually in UKIP's manifesto. You seem to think people who disagree with you and do not want hotels set on fire are all Muslim apologists, when in fact we are simply saying the majority are not extremist terrorists, which your video supports - thank you. Here's a direct quote from your video of the good Lord, who is mates with Tommy Robinson: "Of course my Lords I pay vast tribute to the majority of Muslims in our country who eschew these tenets (radical Islam) and live decent and helpful lives in our democracy."

Er, no. Nowhere in my post did I mention myself or what I would or wouldn't do. When we are talking about a man who actually did something in the real world, I am happy to praise him, without needing to tell everyone that I would have simply done the same - from the safety of my keyboard. Yet when talking about the man who actually did something, you needed to tell us all that at the age of 57 you would have no problem tackling a man with a knife. Why did you need to tell us that? Was your point simply to belittle the bloke who did tackle a man with a knife? Why you need to do that is anybody's guess. Making stuff up again. I ended with 'good for you' - a compliment - because at 57 you are quite a bit older than me. Good that you still feel fit and able, though irrelevant to the thread.

I believe he is a security guard for a tea shop. I am not sure that patrolling the streets of London for any beverage related extremists and knife-wielding, coffee-drinking insurgents, is in his job description, though that's clearly speculation on my part. We are repeatedly told on this forum that the term racist is a meaningless insult thrown about by those on the left. I agree it is a term thrown about too easily, though I have no problem if you have left of centre politics. Good for you. I am aware that Thailand is full of tough farang, many with backgrounds in the special forces.

I'm not sure how saying we have a horrific problem with Islamic terrorism is burying my head in the sand? Did you overlook that part of my post, or did it not suit your hyperbolic reply? That many Muslims also have a problem with Islamic terrorism because it is extremist in nature really isn't a difficult, inaccurate or controversial thing to say. Unless you think all Muslims are extremist terrorists, of course - which clearly some on here do.

No, I am not saying that at all - you are making stuff up.

Why do you say Muslims are usually at the other end of the spectrum? They are victims too. Do you read your own links? Just a few paragraphs later it states: We also show that the majority of Islamist attacks were in Muslim countries and that the victims were mainly Muslims. It also states that 39% of worldwide terror deaths are due to Islamic fundamentalism. So no one is denying it's a horrific problem, but it's an extremist problem. I would suggest that the majority of terror deaths that are not due to Islam - the other 61% - are as equally horrific.

The majority of legal migrants are a net economic benefit to the UK. I'm not sure why you continue to conflate legal migration with illegal.

Let's remember we are talking about legal migration here. The majority of legal migrants work in the NHS and care sector - we have an acute staffing crisis, one of the actual reasons for longer waiting lists etc; or they pay a premium to study at a UK university. The workers have paid the NHS surcharge as part of the visa process and then subsequently help fund the NHS via continued taxation. The students also pay to use the NHS should they need it. Given that the UK has an increasingly ageing population, legal and positive net migration is a necessity to help fund the NHS and the state pension etc. We desperately need working age tax payers, and we desperately need more doctors and nurses. What do you think would have happened to the NHS if we had subtracted 10 million people from the population - people who have paid the NHS surcharge and are continually paying taxes to help fund the NHS? People actually working for the NHS? I appreciate the word 'immigration' is now loaded with emotion. But we need to be able to discern between positive and negative migration, unless you want to scrap the state pension to fund the NHS etc.