Kratom Withdrawal

[RecoveringPothead]

Am having a bit of a weird time. The kratom I've been taking recently seemed different from other kratom I've used in the past - I was only using stem powder, but found it to be more than enough to get a buzz off, and indeed I couldn't take much more than a tablespoon of the stuff without getting "overdose" type effects such as nausea and shakiness.

Anyway, the latest kick has seemed to be going on longer than usual, with spikes of anxiety. Times I've kicked kratom before, I'd be able to go for a short run by day 3, but not this time, was still feeling totally exhausted and not myself, very irritable, and starting to get joint pains (despite taking small amounts of paracetomol/ibuprofen with codeine). As luck would have it, I visited a friend who was relieving themselves of some tramadol, and so popped 150mg. A few hours later I felt totally back to normal, happy, energetic, motivated, exactly as I would if I'd taken a dose of kratom.

I know tramadol and kratom can be cross tolerant along with other opiates as they act on the same receptors etc, but it seems weird the tramadol had this effect and has raised the question in my head of whether the batch of kratom I'd been using was being laced with tramadol or a related compound, as it seemed way stronger than stem powder has any right to be, and the sudden alleviation of the WD symptoms by tramadol has made me a bit suspicious. Though of course it could just be that my body was happy to get any relatively strong dose of an opiate-like substance at that point...

Thoughts?

I don't know if there's any way for us to know what it may or may not have been laced with unfortunately. (Tho I guess I'm just stating the obvious) My guess would be that after 3 days of being off kratom (or were you still taking the stem and leaf powder those 3 days?) your tolerance had started to drop significantly. With a lower tolerance comes stronger effects when you do take something and like you said kratom can be cross tolerant w/ tramadol as I have read they are similar in the receptors they activate. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on this can chime in.

When I go cold turkey I'm not taking stem and leaf powder and any other opiate otherwise (for me) it would not truly be cold turkey but this is all coming from someone with relatively limited experience overall with opiates and only a few months since "discovering" kratom and only a few weeks of daily use.

This thread really seems to be slowing down so like I said before hopefully someone with more knowledge chimes in.

As for me, I'm back to one dose per night after taking multiple doses everyday during the holidays (I celebrate Passover and Easter) but thankfully I was able to get next week off (lied to my boss that I had to help my cousin move) and only working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. Friday I see my psychiatrist for a new script for my clonazepam and lexapro and I'm going to see if he is willing to prescribe gabapentin assuming I have the balls to tell him about my dance w/ kratom.

What this means for me is I've committed myself to a cold turkey kick (no kratom or any other opiate even loperimide, no cannabis or alcohol either) after I take my final dose of that wonderful but double edged herb no later than Friday night (perhaps even Wednesday or Thursday night.) This means a fast taper before I kick.

Then I'm going on a 9-10 day road trip where I don't have to be around anybody and can WD in peace (or rather without disturbing the peace.) This may be hell but at least I'll be going from place to place and I'll have my solitude which I find essential to getting over that initial hump. I'm actually kind of excited for the road trip but no doubt it will be hell and when I sleep in will be in my car at a Walmart parking lot or in a tent. (You gotta do what you gotta do)

I'm serious about getting clean of everything but my clonazepam, lexapro and nicotine (which I need for my underlying anxiety and depression) and possibly diphenhydramine and Gabbapentin (if I have the balls to ask my psych. for the Gab.) to help me sleep (although if I'm feeling extra bold I may drop the diphenhydramine too and take only melatonin at night.)

This Spring I'm dead set on going 12 weeks without cannabis, kratom, alcohol or any other major intoxicant (except for my clonazepam taken only as prescribed for anxiety) so I may have the chance to know what it feels like to be sober for the first time in years. It will not be easy but I am committed as hell!

I wish you the best Hedonistica. Hopefully somebody with more knowledge on the stem and leaf and opiates in general chimes in.

 

[Hedonistica]

I don't know if there's any way for us to know what it may or may not have been laced with unfortunately. (Tho I guess I'm just stating the obvious) My guess would be that after 3 days of being off kratom (or were you still taking the stem and leaf powder those 3 days?) your tolerance had started to drop significantly. With a lower tolerance comes stronger effects when you do take something and like you said kratom can be cross tolerant w/ tramadol as I have read they are similar in the receptors they activate. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on this can chime in.

When I go cold turkey I'm not taking stem and leaf powder and any other opiate otherwise (for me) it would not truly be cold turkey but this is all coming from someone with relatively limited experience overall with opiates and only a few months since "discovering" kratom and only a few weeks of daily use.

This thread really seems to be slowing down so like I said before hopefully someone with more knowledge chimes in.

As for me, I'm back to one dose per night after taking multiple doses everyday during the holidays (I celebrate Passover and Easter) but thankfully I was able to get next week off (lied to my boss that I had to help my cousin move) and only working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. Friday I see my psychiatrist for a new script for my clonazepam and lexapro and I'm going to see if he is willing to prescribe gabapentin assuming I have the balls to tell him about my dance w/ kratom.

What this means for me is I've committed myself to a cold turkey kick (no kratom or any other opiate even loperimide, no cannabis or alcohol either) after I take my final dose of that wonderful but double edged herb no later than Friday night (perhaps even Wednesday or Thursday night.) This means a fast taper before I kick.

Then I'm going on a 9-10 day road trip where I don't have to be around anybody and can WD in peace (or rather without disturbing the peace.) This may be hell but at least I'll be going from place to place and I'll have my solitude which I find essential to getting over that initial hump. I'm actually kind of excited for the road trip but no doubt it will be hell and when I sleep in will be in my car at a Walmart parking lot or in a tent. (You gotta do what you gotta do)

I'm serious about getting clean of everything but my clonazepam, lexapro and nicotine (which I need for my underlying anxiety and depression) and possibly diphenhydramine and Gabbapentin (if I have the balls to ask my psych. for the Gab.) to help me sleep (although if I'm feeling extra bold I may drop the diphenhydramine too and take only melatonin at night.)

This Spring I'm dead set on going 12 weeks without cannabis, kratom, alcohol or any other major intoxicant (except for my clonazepam taken only as prescribed for anxiety) so I may have the chance to know what it feels like to be sober for the first time in years. It will not be easy but I am committed as hell!

I wish you the best Hedonistica. Hopefully somebody with more knowledge on the stem and leaf and opiates in general chimes in.

Wasn't having any kratom at all since Thursday - you're probably correct, there are so many variables anyway. I managed a 5 mile run today without further tramadol (though did have some afterwards) but I have a small supply of the T should I need to dip into it to get through work and will see what happens. At least I have got over the kratom cravings but seeing as I've been taking the tramadol it's hard to say where I am right at the moment. I do want to get clean of it all at some point but am maintenancing on codeine.

Good luck with your road trip plan etc, I wish you well too!

 

[RecoveringPothead]

Wasn't having any kratom at all since Thursday - you're probably correct, there are so many variables anyway. I managed a 5 mile run today without further tramadol (though did have some afterwards) but I have a small supply of the T should I need to dip into it to get through work and will see what happens. At least I have got over the kratom cravings but seeing as I've been taking the tramadol it's hard to say where I am right at the moment. I do want to get clean of it all at some point but am maintenancing on codeine.

Good luck with your road trip plan etc, I wish you well too!

Yeah I can't blame you for not wanting to do it all at once even with my limited time on kratom it was hell to come off. I hope that works for you. I know I couldn't have kicked the kratom cold turkey if it wasn't for the 3 mg klinopin and 20 mg lexapro I'm prescribed as well as the nicotine, diphenhydramine sleeping pills and melatonin.

However I did have success with the road trip but unfortunately I was away too long and now one of my part time jobs is over also alot has changed with my relationship with my parents and I'm just feeling like a peice of shit asshole now but overall everything has leveled out for me...I think. All I know is its been 15 days now...15 out of 100. I committed to staying away from pot and kratom (I was wasting too much time and money on the pot too even though its obviously a far more benign animal than opiates)...staying away for 100 days. Feeling like I got over the worst thr rest shouldn't be too hard but now that I opened up to my parents about all this (I am living with them due to financial reasons I have to figure out how to get along with them without carrying this negativity and they want me to go to daily meetings now...Anyway...one step at a time.

The road trip was great but I don't reccomend it to other people coming off opiates because that shit really can be hell and it was at times. I'm just glad I kicked it before it got a stronger grip on me

 

[Hedonistica]

Yeah I can't blame you for not wanting to do it all at once even with my limited time on kratom it was hell to come off. I hope that works for you. I know I couldn't have kicked the kratom cold turkey if it wasn't for the 3 mg klinopin and 20 mg lexapro I'm prescribed as well as the nicotine, diphenhydramine sleeping pills and melatonin.

However I did have success with the road trip but unfortunately I was away too long and now one of my part time jobs is over also alot has changed with my relationship with my parents and I'm just feeling like a peice of shit asshole now but overall everything has leveled out for me...I think. All I know is its been 15 days now...15 out of 100. I committed to staying away from pot and kratom (I was wasting too much time and money on the pot too even though its obviously a far more benign animal than opiates)...staying away for 100 days. Feeling like I got over the worst thr rest shouldn't be too hard but now that I opened up to my parents about all this (I am living with them due to financial reasons I have to figure out how to get along with them without carrying this negativity and they want me to go to daily meetings now...Anyway...one step at a time.

The road trip was great but I don't reccomend it to other people coming off opiates because that shit really can be hell and it was at times. I'm just glad I kicked it before it got a stronger grip on me

Sounds like you have a longer road still to go but good luck with it all.

As for me, stayed off the kratom, the tramadol ran out but I tapered with it and have no lingering effects, and have reduced codeine, the thing I will miss most when I do finally let go of it will be the big end of day dose to relax - but one step at a time, as you say!

 

[Anthrax Donut]

Kratom can be some evil stuff. I was on suboxone for 7+ years. I tried to get off of suboxone with kratom. It worked for about a month, then I started feeling worse and worse. I was still taking Cymbalta and xanax at the time. My nerves were shot. I felt super sensitive to everything and avoided talking to people at work. I was taking about 10 grams of powder at a time 3-4x a day. I only weighed it like once, so 10 grams is an estimate. Normally I just poured a big pile onto a piece of paper and funneled it into my mouth along with some water and gulped it down. Sometimes I would misgauge it and end up choking on the stuff.

Three months later I'm back in a sub program. Kratom definitely has an opiate feel to it. I know quite a few people that take it for energy and anxiety. Anxiety... maybe it's not a bad idea to take it if nothing else works. I was on Cymbalta and Klonopin for a few years. Kratom almost seemed like it made my anxiety worse after a month of taking it. If you get reliant on this shit for energy, there's a good chance you'll get addicted. I needed it to get out of bed in the morning. Same thing with the suboxone, but at least I feel more normal with the suboxone. Any kind of opiate withdrawal sucks, and this definitely has a bad opiate like withdrawal, or it did for me anyways. When I went in to my sub doctor I was figiting in my chair and sweating real bad (but I would get cold if I took my jacket off). I was extremely uncomfortable. It was the longest 2 hours ever. There were a couple of other people new to that doctor's office or the sub program. No one else looked like they were withdrawaling like I was (you're supposed to be at least moderately detoxing when you go in).

I'm not saying anyone who's taking kratom and only kratom should get into a sub program. I don't think a doctor would give you sub for just kratom use anyways, but kratom definitely is something to be careful with. If you're in a suboxone program or have a legitimate pain killer script, I wouldn't try to switch to kratom. I thought it would have been a miracle herb. For the first month it was pretty good, but somehow things got really bad. It wasn't my dose or tolerance either. I felt the kratom effects, but I still felt horrible. I didn't want to talk to anyone. My body temperature was all messed up. My stomach was real sensitive. I pissed way more than normal (I think that was the benzo reduction though). I'm about 75% better now that I'm back on sub. I still have nerve sensitivy and some other wierd feelings. I'm not sure if that's from kratom, Cymbalta, or benzos though. It's been 3 days since I took Kratom (just got back on sub this Monday). It's been well over a month since I've taken Cymbalta and Klonopin. Up until 6 days ago I was taking one xanax 3MG er every other night to help sleep and fight off klonopin withdrawal.

 

[Hedonistica]

Kratom can be some evil stuff. I was on suboxone for 7+ years. I tried to get off of suboxone with kratom. It worked for about a month, then I started feeling worse and worse. I was still taking Cymbalta and xanax at the time. My nerves were shot. I felt super sensitive to everything and avoided talking to people at work. I was taking about 10 grams of powder at a time 3-4x a day. I only weighed it like once, so 10 grams is an estimate. Normally I just poured a big pile onto a piece of paper and funneled it into my mouth along with some water and gulped it down. Sometimes I would misgauge it and end up choking on the stuff.

Three months later I'm back in a sub program. Kratom definitely has an opiate feel to it. I know quite a few people that take it for energy and anxiety. Anxiety... maybe it's not a bad idea to take it if nothing else works. I was on Cymbalta and Klonopin for a few years. Kratom almost seemed like it made my anxiety worse after a month of taking it. If you get reliant on this shit for energy, there's a good chance you'll get addicted. I needed it to get out of bed in the morning. Same thing with the suboxone, but at least I feel more normal with the suboxone. Any kind of opiate withdrawal sucks, and this definitely has a bad opiate like withdrawal, or it did for me anyways. When I went in to my sub doctor I was figiting in my chair and sweating real bad (but I would get cold if I took my jacket off). I was extremely uncomfortable. It was the longest 2 hours ever. There were a couple of other people new to that doctor's office or the sub program. No one else looked like they were withdrawaling like I was (you're supposed to be at least moderately detoxing when you go in).

I'm not saying anyone who's taking kratom and only kratom should get into a sub program. I don't think a doctor would give you sub for just kratom use anyways, but kratom definitely is something to be careful with. If you're in a suboxone program or have a legitimate pain killer script, I wouldn't try to switch to kratom. I thought it would have been a miracle herb. For the first month it was pretty good, but somehow things got really bad. It wasn't my dose or tolerance either. I felt the kratom effects, but I still felt horrible. I didn't want to talk to anyone. My body temperature was all messed up. My stomach was real sensitive. I pissed way more than normal (I think that was the benzo reduction though). I'm about 75% better now that I'm back on sub. I still have nerve sensitivy and some other wierd feelings. I'm not sure if that's from kratom, Cymbalta, or benzos though. It's been 3 days since I took Kratom (just got back on sub this Monday). It's been well over a month since I've taken Cymbalta and Klonopin. Up until 6 days ago I was taking one xanax 3MG er every other night to help sleep and fight off klonopin withdrawal.

Thanks for your input to the thread - and I see it's your first post, so welcome to BL! Good luck with staying off the kratom!

 

[Anthrax Donut]

Thanks Hedonistica. I wouldn't touch the stuff again unless I lose my sub doctor for some reason (a lot of places seem to get shut down). It's (kratom) the cheapest opiate receptor satisfying thing I could find. I would have preferred pills or even H, but this stuff is pretty strong and is $80 or less a lb for powdered leaves. If I used it sparingly enough, a pound would last me a month. I was surprised at how well it worked at first. I don't know why it changed all of the sudden. If I felt like I did when I first started taking it, I probably would have just kept taking it. I don't have it in me, or at least not yet, to be totally opiate free. I've been on something for the last 10 years of my life. It's so hard to transition to complete sobriety.

 

[pdood]

My pet goat read about kratom online 6 months ago and started consuming it every day. It got to the point where he was blowing through a bag of 65 capsules (standard, not extract) every 3 days to where he was pooping green. My goat started to realize that this new hobby was quite expensive and gave it up cold turkey a week ago. He had no horrible withdrawals like some have reported. Maybe slight stomach discomfort, but nothing debilitating by any means. My pet goat wonders how much of that stuff people must have been taking to equate it to opioid withdrawals. Weird. Since my goat cant type with hooves, I am writing this for him. If anyone reads this and is scared about withdrawals, unless you were taking a shit ton of kratom, I don't think you have much to worry about. Just stay hydrated, eat healthy, and take vitamins (like you should normally do anyways) and you will be fine.

 

[z06-frank]

My friends and I took it to come off of H and a few of my friends are still taking kratom one of them has been taking it for almost 2 years now and he buys a shit load like a half a key to save $$ he mixes with other strains and he can not take any for days and he is fine he went on vacation and forgot it in his counter and flipped out but he was fine he told me that he had a little lack of motivation but not sick.. I just don't understand how people can say it can be just as bad as H wd myself including my buddies all had wd from opiates and H so I am saying if you are taking kratom and scared to come off of it my advice is just take a weekend and just kick it cold turkey

 

[dextor1960]

Hi I have just made the effort to actually sign up to blue light just to post this message in the hope that people will read this and feel empowered to quit Kratom. After 20 month addiction to Kratom (4-7 grams 3x a day) I decided to quit and cut down to stem ( 3 grams 3 times a day). After a month of the stem and vein I hVe quit and have not t had any Kratom for 36 hours a i would like you all to know that the withdrawals are not that bad!!!! I have been sick with tonsilitus or flu and it has been way worse than this! I originally went on Kratom becuase I was suffering with serious anxiety and depression and I have not noticed a serious increase in these symptoms since I quit so far. I just wanted to post this because o have been living in fear of these wothdrawals for months and they are nothing to scream and shout about! Yeah a few beers/Ibuprophen helped and yeah I understand that everyone is different in terms of withdrawals but for anyone like me who is taking Kratom as self medication and has been addicted for a substantial amount of time take it from me that the withdraws are manageable and more annoying than anything! So please please try and quit like me because with any luck you'll have a
Similar experience to me...not too bad so far! Will update please quit xxx

 

[DogLover123757]

Hello everyone, this is my first post and I am currently stuck in Kratom Extract's web of misery. I have been doing kratom for about two years to help the opiate withdrawal (percocets) and same old story I got addicted to kratom. I have a tremendous tolerance to all things and about eight months ago I discovered UEI. Now I am taking between 15-20 grams at a time two times a day. I am at the point where I am taking it to just feel "normal". At the beginning it was an incredible rush of energy and the sensations were amazing. I of course fell in love with those feelings. I am at a familiar spot where I feel like hell everyday even when I am on this stuff. My brain feels scrambled and it is difficult to think sometimes and I have no desire or motivation to do anything. I actually am the Chef of a pretty decent SteakHouse but I am on the edge and anyday now I am going to crack and lose it. I can feel the pressure building as I am extremely irritated all the time and work is very difficult when it used to be easy and enjoyable. I have a genuine passion for food and people but a couple of months ago I became filled with anger and hatred for myself and what I have done. I just wanted to get this out there, I don't really know what else to say. I am all by myself and there isn't anyone around who can relate to what I am going through so I joined this site to hopefully connect with some people that are in similar situations and see if I can develop some connections to get some help. So I wish everyone well in their struggles an journeys and if anyone had time to talk that would be great. Thanks.

 

[burnt2c]

I've been trying to quite Kratom for the past few months but I'll be dammed if it didn't elude me every time. Ib tried the tapering off method but then the slightest thing would go wrong or upset me, made me need to dose up. I got the point where I was taking upwards of 80 caps a day. I had the energy to get through work, once off work dose up again and by bed time I was ready to sleep and would sleep great. This past Thursday I took my normal dose in the morning but lunchtime came around and I didn't redose. A few hours later, it hit me.

Nausea, sweating, shaking, so I went to my truck and took a small amount to subdue these feelings. It helped for a few hours. Later that night it hit me hard. I was able to last down and sleep height it for a few hours until 3am when I woke up with my entire body convulsing and trembling uncontrollably. I ended up in the ER an hour later, hooked up to an IV and having an EKG done due to my heart pounding at 107 beats per minute.

I was discharged once they got my shakes under control with an anxiety medicine. The next 2 days e same symptoms continued. Finally on Sunday I was able to eat my first meal since lunchtime Thursday. It is now Wednesday and I feel much better, however the sore muscles, restless legs and being unable to sleep are pure hell. The diarrhea and what feels like a bad cold are other lingering symptoms of the withdrawal that I'm still battling through. Imodium has helped a lot with the diarrhea, but nothing has helped with the restlessness/sleeplessness.Hopefully these symptoms subside soon because absolutely exhausted from this. Fuck Kratom and it's withdrawals.

 

[wnjcwjkk]

Man, that's cool as hell that you got on here and manned up and apologized. Most people aren't man enough to do that! I absolutely understand how you would be shocked, I never woulda thought that either. I wanted to share my experience.

Anybody who is reading this, kratom can be a good experience and have you feeling good, but if you're gonna do it, DO NOT do it more than three days in a row! Maybe just a weekend thing, you get hooked quick and it takes all your money and the withdrawal can be complete agony.

Sorry for being graphic, I once had a stomach virus that kept me laid up for three days, spinning on the bed, rushing to the bathroom every 15-30 minutes at least, sitting on the toilet, immediately spinning around to put my head in the toilet, just spewing this disgusting black bile from either end. As horrible as that was, I would take that over kratom withdrawal any day.

I got so bad, I had to pop kratom at least every six to eight hours to keep from withdrawals. I got a DUI one day and they held me in jail for five days until my court date. The withdrawals started about five hours in.

For starters, terrible depression, anxiety, this feeling of being dead inside, as if you'll never be able to experience happiness again.

The absolute worst, though, is this feeling of literally wanting to crawl out of your skin, like my skeleton wanted to rip my skin off and step out of my body. I couldn't get comfortable no matter what position, constantly moving, adjusting, fidgeting, making it almost impossible to sleep, except from pure exhaustion, for maybe thirty minutes at a time, during which I would have terrible nightmares. This improves over time, you won't be able to get comfortable for probably at least a week, though. The depression and feeling of being dead inside will last for several weeks.

There doesn't seem to be much research on kratom use. I got to the point where I wouldn't eat a thing all day until I was ready to sleep, to get a stronger feeling, I kept having to take more and more to get fucked up, usually feeling pretty good from around 7pm to 11pm. Well, one night around midnight, I'm sitting on the couch, my girlfriend looking at me very concerned.

"You just had a seizure. The dog woke me, barking. There's an ambulance on it's way."

"What? A seizure?"

"Do you know where you are?"

It took me a second to remember. Then I thought, I had no recollection of the previous fifteen minutes, how I got to the couch. I looked down, and my shirt was covered in blood. I had fallen directly on my chin, busting a huge gash wide open.

The stupid thing is, I kept doing it. And kept having seizures. I chipped a tooth one night, busted my chin open again once, busted the back of my head open, probably got a few concussions. Sometimes, I'll have trouble with my memory, and worry that I suffer from aphasia due to head trauma. It's so stupid, but addicts will tell you that it takes a lot to finally realize you have to stop.

Some people may say that I was having these seizures for another reason, but I can 100% guarantee that it was kratom use. By the time I could get my good kratom high, I would feel dizzy and weak in the knees when I stood up. Every seizure came about after a ton of kratom that day, probably also because I had nothing in my stomach but kratom. I was taking the Saphire brand Maeng Da Kratom, probably 45 grams a day, by the way.

The reason I share this is to warn others of the dangers of long term kratom usage. Addiction, physical and mental withdrawal, seizures, I also lost about 20 lbs. Looked like Christian Bale from The Machinist, if you've seen that, you could see my entire rib cage. I also lost all motivation with school and work. Biggest mistake of my life to start taking kratom, I almost lost everything, and don't even wanna think about the money spent, several thousand a year at least.

So you guys reading, please take my words to heart, if I can get one person to realize the dangers of kratom use, it will be worth it. Be safe out there!

 

[lisa1]

[Kratom IS NOT an opiate! I'm seriously thinking of getting some for opiate withdrawal, so, to everyone thinking the same, you will not be replacing one opiate with another. It may come with its own side effects and some people may find they get addicted to it, but this does not mean it's an opiate. Ive read from a lot of addicts that it's saved them, so don't be put off by miss information if thinking of trying out Kratom to help with your wd's.

 

[herbavore]

Fixed your double post. No problem, happens all the time.

While it may not be an opiate, many people struggle with kratom addiction so while it can be useful in the short term it can undermine your efforts to face life without substances.

 

[pinpoint]

Hello TDS'ers. I've been following this thread for a little while and I'm actually at one week off kratom after a 2 year run with it. I'm not going to lie, unlike almost every other opioid, I have no regrets with kratom. It never made me do any messed up shit or caused any major cravings but I was physically dependent nonetheless. I used it to relieve PAWS from a prior 3 year run with Suboxone. It worked wonderfully for about a year to a year and a half but then the magic was gone and I was dosing up to an ounce a day with only negative side effects.

What is keeping me away is knowing that my emotions were obliterated by kratom use. I actually entirely stopped listening to music while I was on it because it provided no feel-good feels. I'm happy to say that music is once again a part of my life and getting goosebumps when the beat drops feels amazing.

The worst part of being sober is dealing with BOREDOM. Since I no longer have an opioid to keep me emotionally numb I am forced to utterly embrace my feelings, good & bad. I suppose this is what they mean when they say 'dealing with life on life's terms'. Just a tip: the one thing that I did differently this time was I started an exercise regimen approximately a week prior to quitting and I continued it up to this day. I'm now running about 3 miles a day mixed with another 2 miles of walking. I do this in the evenings so when I come home I have zero RLS - my legs still hurt but it's the good kind of burn you get from a workout and all the accompanying feelings of natural accomplishment. I'll admit it's been really hard to force myself to do this but it's made all the difference. I never listened to the folks who said it worked wonders but damn, they were right.

I wish you all the best.

[Kratom IS NOT an opiate! I'm seriously thinking of getting some for opiate withdrawal, so, to everyone thinking the same, you will not be replacing one opiate with another. It may come with its own side effects and some people may find they get addicted to it, but this does not mean it's an opiate. Ive read from a lot of addicts that it's saved them, so don't be put off by miss information if thinking of trying out Kratom to help with your wd's.

Just wanted to comment on this. You're right, it's not an opiate as it's not derived from the poppy however you're wrong to say it's not a replacement. Kratom, or some alkaloids in kratom are opioids, that is to say, they are agonists at opioid receptors. The same mechanism that opiates like morphine have kratom also shares. There are a myriad of alkaloids in kratom, some actually good for you, but the ones we are after are the opioidergic ones. This is why it shares a very similar withdrawal symptom profile with classic opiates. It's also the reason why it works so well as an opiate replacement (because it is!). There is a lot of propaganda out there spread by vendors and advocate groups (easy as coffee to quit, anyone?) so perhaps you are misinformed due to this, but if you can accept what I said the truth will set you free.

 

[Kaydkay]

I'm trying to get off kratum and it sucks really bad especially since I took a week off work to do so! My mind keeps telling me to just take some but I know I shouldn't ! I have come off of methadone oxy Herion you name it and yes those were worse but this sucks too! I feel so anxious and depressed and alone. I'm scared to go back to work . I hear that small doses of anti anxiety meds will help with the anxiety. Could someone pm me a website that would actually prescribe those legally through the mail? Thanks !

 

[Hedonistica]

Careful, asking for sources (even legal ones I think) might put you on wrong side of the forum rules. I would be very careful with anti anxiety meds as they become addictive in themselves and the withdrawal is much worse (benzo withdrawal can be life threatening whereas kratom wd generally isn't). The only thing I can think of is phenibut, which is legal in many jurisdictions, but again it can be addictive, and quickly, so best used as a very short term tool. Maybe you could try something herbal like St John's wort or valerian or a combination? The anxiety will never settle as long as you use something to ease it, but I know it's not easy - I have just traded my codeine addiction for kratom again, but am using less kratom than I used to as I don't really enjoy it, so hopefully will get fully off it soon, I am using a range of other herbs and also exercise and mindfulness as much as possible to try to work towards being substance free.

Good luck!

 

[Kaydkay]

Thank you ! What is phenibut ? I've never heard of it...

 

[Hedonistica]

Google and the BL search engine are your friends! This thread is quite balanced:

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/722864-A-couple-questions-about-phenibut

Do be careful if you choose to use this, if you have an addictive personality profile it could end up being a MUCH bigger issue than kratom like any strong anxiolytic, but some people do use it positively either for general anxiety or to get through withdrawal.

Also if you can and wish to, see a health professional who may be able to provide a small script of anti anxiety meds so you don't end up with a huge supply of something from online that may lead down the path to more pain.

On the other hand kratom withdrawal anxiety will pass - and it's important to consider doing the long term emotional and psychological work (groups, therapy, exercise, forums support, etc) if you want to build for the future free of substances.