scarlet_tunic
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2016
- Messages
- 143
Today I did not do kratom, and the withdrawals are not really that bad. I am just trying to keep busy. I feel more tired than usual, weaker, less energy at night.
Anything that affects opiate receptors can lower testosterone, at least from what I've researched. This may not be an indisputable fact, but it's generally considered accurate (although things get changed, debunked, and etc every day in the medical world). As far as personal experience, in my body only (obv ), kratom has had some decent and noticeable unwanted effects.
Most notable is the adrenal fatigue, which I experience after about a month of constant daily use, but if I don't maintain a steady 4-6 hour dosing regime, the rebound fatigue from not having it in my system is even worse. This occurs with any strain, and my doses widely vary from 7gr high end to 2gr just to maintain. Buy I will use about 20gr a day of a different strain and color, switched every 3 days.
I never noticed any I'll effects (or withdrawals) until I threw extracts in the mix, where I had been using plain leaf for about 6-7 years and never experienced wds. It seems that for me, once I abused extracts, my body made a semi-permanent change from benign and positive effects to dependency and side effects.
This is of course in no way provable since I am not a doctor, just happens to be what I have noticed. One of the reasons to not abuse extracts I guess. Now, even in the absence of extracts for a month plus, I have become severely dependent on kratom, needing it at regular intervals to avoid becoming a self powered swimming pool of sweat and fatigue.
Just a thought, I may just have broken something with all the unknown chemical use that extracts undoubtedly contain and it could be that the kratom itself has nothing to do with it... But that seems unlikely since I still need to use unadulterated kratom for maintenance.
Again, grain of salt, I'm not claiming anything medically factual, just anecdotal experience.
For the record I know next to nothing about Kratom so my comments may be nonsense.
I think it's pretty rare for someone to take Kratom out of the blue with no prior drug history or even alcohol problems. So that would make me wonder if negative side effects are being caused by Kratom alone or years of drug and alcohol abuse.
Kratom definitely affects my libido (temporarily) but as soon as the effects wear off my libido is back again. So I know Kratom doesn't affect hormone (because I inject myself with testosterone in the but every week which makes me 2 horny n kratom helps bring me down a notch)
There is no question kratom is addictive. However, even heavy use doesn't approach mild to moderate opiate withdrawal. I would say it's slightly worse than heavy caffeine withdrawal, except less headaches and more malaise.
Kratom is not well studied. I have suspicions it may be hard on the kidneys, but nothing that alarms me considering my kidney function was tested after a year of daily use, and was within healthy parameters (as was my liver).
I think it's clear at this point that kratom is a very good choice to comfortably withdraw from mild to moderate opioid addiction without resorting to suboxone. For many suffering from chronic pain it is a godsend and better than a pill habit. And I am convinced that should the DEA ban this substance then opioid deaths will increase by the thousands.