United Kingdom

Have you considered cannabis treatment? There's many services on the internet that provide it. That's much better than dodgy pills from the darknet.

The other thing you have to remember is opiods are only short term painkillers. For most people after a while all you're left with is the side effects. https://fpm.ac.uk/opioids-aware-clinical-use-opioids/opioids-long-term-pain

I think it'd be better if you planned that career change or looked at that hip replacement before you properly fuck yourself over physically or with an addiction. If I'm doing heavy manual labour I try to never be on painkillers because that increases the risk of further injury. In this case it sounds like the pain is doing its job and telling you about a problem with your body. It'd be sensible not to ignore it.

I worked for the NHS/PHW a few years ago. We would get internal emails and such, occasionally from Wedinos.

It's estimated, with the findings from Wedinos, that a great majority (over 70% a few years ago) of prescription pills, including Tramadol and Diazepam as the biggest culprits, were counterfeit and more or less generic Benzos.
They would be in blister packs, in proper looking packaging. All of that can and has been replicated, unfortunately.

If you want to see some public findings for yourself, check out https://wedinos.wales/ and what testing they have publicly available. People have been sending samples to them for a long time, and people who do this stuff frequently are likely to know about the service from various darknet communities (I don't think it's necessary nor responsible to mention them).

I would say it's not worth getting these things from darknet marketplaces, as there's a good chance you won't be getting what you think you're getting.

Using Tramadol to help you work seems like a bad idea to me. The reason being is that it will let you make your existing injury much worse. If you can't work then you can get disability benefit and an operation. If you just block the pain signals and keep working you could end up a whole new level of fucked.

I wrote a long comment that ended up being lost due to my app crashing. I'm too burnt out to write it all out again right now, but I wanted to leave something, even if brief.

My advice is to not do it. I looked into this myself due to chronic pain, and I concluded that even if I felt like I could manage the risk of dependence/tolerance if I were self medicating, that it would be impossible to do safely if buying stuff on the darknet.

Aside from it being hella expensive, there's also the constant risk of the particular market you use going down, either due to law enforcement, or "exit scamming" — when a market or vendor plans to leave, but they continue accepting new money for a while, without sending out parcels/paying out to vendors.

If you find a market that you're able to access, it isn't a question of "if" it goes offline, but when. When it does go offline, you might be in a really tricky spot of struggling with withdrawal symptoms from not having access to your regular medication whilst you try to find a new alternative.

Even setting aside that problem, there's the issue of finding a reliable vendor. Dark net markets function sort of like eBay, and you may have some trial and error finding someone who sells reliable stuff for a reasonable price. But even then, you need to be prepared for parcels to not reach you, and the anxiety of not knowing if you've been exit scammed; or for your regular vendor to temporarily pause taking new orders; or for them to just close their shop, never to return. Even medications that look legit might not be. There are reagent tests you can do to keep yourself a bit safer, but what would you realistically be able to do if the tramadol you had purchased showed up as negative for opioids, and you suspected they were just Xanax. Depending on the market and the manner in which you purchased them, you might be able to get your money back, but in the meantime, you would be without your medication.

If you go this route, it's not a question of if your supply gets interrupted, but when. Honestly, you would be better served seeking proper medical care, privately. I'm guessing that if you have considered going private already, it's not an option for you because it would be too expensive. Well trust me, it's probably more reasonable than jumping down into this forsaken money pit.

Wow. Have you tried the other legal routes first, such as getting a second opinion, asking for a referral to specialist care for the back, hip or the pain, switching doctors if you don't get on with your current ones, and/or seeking a private consultation with any likely-looking workplace, trade union or commercial doctor near you? Going private wouldn't be cheap, but might be cheaper than getting caught with controlled meds in some sort of sting.

The NHS is a wonderful thing, but sometimes people don't seem to realise that the GP you are currently registered with is not the only option. They go ask the GP, get turned away, then just take matters into their own hands.

If you need some guidance DM me and I'll tell you what I know. Whatever you decide I wish you the best.