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Kratom Withdrawal

I was three weeks away from a significant and highly stressful professional commitment, and believed that I would be well past any withdrawal by then. The entire withdrawal process (and I am just coming to terms with the fact that I was addicted) was much worse than I expected
How many weeks did your total withdrawal process take??
 
How many weeks did your total withdrawal process take??

I would say two to three weeks, with perhaps minor effects thereafter. The worst parts are the mornings, what someone described as panic/anxiety/depression. Also, inability to sleep well and always feeling cold. Some things helped: exercise, Xanax, hot showers, but it was still terrible. I would have preferred more physical symptoms instead of the severe anxiety.
 
My experience when I quit cold turkey from a 20g of bali a day habit was 2 weeks until withdrawal symptoms were mostly gone. Wish I hadn't stupidly ordered more a few weeks later and started the whole cycle again. I am tapering this time and willing be stopping completely very soon, I will let you know how long wd symptoms last with a taper. Hoping we symptoms will be milder with a taper, but really not sure what to expect.

ETA: some supplements I find have helped me with withdrawal are california poppy tincture (not an opiate but a good anxiolytic), 5 htp, skullcap tea, milky oat seed and melatonin for sleep. None of these are a magic bullets, but they do help me with the ants-in-the-pants oh-my-god-i'm-gonna-jump-out-of-my-skin feeling. I halved my dose today and I'm doing ok.
 
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How long after the end of kratom withdrawal should one abstain in order not to restart WD? Is there a duration after which one is indisputably in the clear?

I'm coming off a 8 month habit, where at the peak I was using ~30 grams a day. I've still been able to take care of basic responsibilities (going to class, job apps) but I feel like a wreck. The main problem is that I can't get more than two hours of (shitty) sleep due to restless legs, so most of the day is spent doing fuck-all because I have no energy.

Thankfully after four days I was able to fill my gabapentin script. After 1.2 grams my legs are still for the first time in days, and I feel more "in control", since I know I can get a good nights sleep.

The thing is, I expect to use kratom again, but under supervision so I don't fall into the same trap. At present I have no desire to use it, I'm just wondering how long I should abstain in order to avoid this ordeal.
 
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I would say two to three weeks, with perhaps minor effects thereafter. The worst parts are the mornings, what someone described as panic/anxiety/depression. Also, inability to sleep well and always feeling cold. Some things helped: exercise, Xanax, hot showers, but it was still terrible. I would have preferred more physical symptoms instead of the severe anxiety
Were you taking kratom extracts or plain leaf powder??

Also how much were you doing daily before you stopped cold turkey??
 
Hey everyone! I was taking a heaping tbs. of high quality plain kratom leaf powder (reputable, Indonesian source), everyday, just once a day, for three months. And then quit cold turkey. Guess what? Basically got no withdrawal except for some restlessness and insomnia for three nights. Nothing some lorazepam and/or zolpidem didn't fix. So if you are using just once a day and you don't keep increasing the dose too much, don't fear the withdrawal. That's my experience at least.
 
That's about the dosage I am at now, 3 grams once a day. But I have been taking 10 times that amount for almost a year now and also have a history of addiction to other opiates/opioides. I am really hoping it will make the withdrawal a little more bearable than CT, just because I hate to think I've been wasting time when I could have just been through with wd by now if I'd just stopped the last time I ran out.

Considering how steep my taper has been (20g to 3g in 2 and a half weeks) it does seem to be helping. When I was in full swing I'd start to have wd symptoms if I went 6 hours without a dose. A wave of fatigue would hit me and I'd feel ice cold but would be sweating buckets of the most foul oily sweat. It's not nearly so bad now.

I feel sort of embarrassed though. Why am I having such a frigging hard time with this stuff? I've quit laudanum/opium, tramadol and alcohol and that really sucked, I keep thinking this should be so much easier, but it's been so tricky.
 
Just massively reduced my kratom intake to a miniscule amount each day. Withdrawals lasted about 1.5 weeks and consisted of moodiness, fatigue and anxiety (just like any other opiate I've quit). Still haven't managed to take an entire day off yet, but am working on it. My ultimate goal is to get down to using every other day.

Nobody should feel ashamed about kratom addiction. Sure, it's not heroin but it's still an opiate as far as the brain is concerned. I was only using about a half-gram a day and it was still hell to quit, so I can imagine how bad it must be for some of you.
 
kratom is weak i was addicted and one day just stopped cuz i knew it was weak and i threw up for like three days. <snip>
 
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ETA: some supplements I find have helped me with withdrawal are california poppy tincture (not an opiate but a good anxiolytic), 5 htp, skullcap tea, milky oat seed and melatonin for sleep. None of these are a magic bullets, but they do help me with the ants-in-the-pants oh-my-god-i'm-gonna-jump-out-of-my-skin feeling. I halved my dose today and I'm doing ok.

There are other supplements that may help w/ kratom wd. Kava supplements are quite useful for restless legs and general fidgeting/nervous movements such as you were describing.

Blue lotus tea was somewhat helpful for falling asleep (15+ grams petals steeped in water) and is fairly cheap. Valerian capsules are also helpful as an adjunct.

Phenibut can be helpful for mood and anxiety issues, as well as being a strong sedative. However it should not be used more than twice a week (on non-consecutive days) due to possible WD issues.

Also, gabapentin, if you can get it, is a lifesaver. I helps stabilize mood and completely stops restlessness IME. This is by far the most strongly recommended. If the taper doesn't help, consider adding these to your arsenal.

Good luck.
 
I haven't had much luck with kava for wd, although I usually like it for relaxing. I might just make a kava milkshake for the heck of it. I have blue lotus too but I didn't think to take it, probably will tonight.

I had a really bad reaction to gabapentin years ago, I think the main problem was I just stopped taking it abruptly, but I doubt I'd be able to get a script for it again. I think I'll be alright. I think the biggest thing is just that I've been taking something or other non-stop for over half my life, so there's a certain numbness I felt and now that I'm feeling things again it's uncomfortable. I haven't taken anything today and I feel a little blue and antsy, but it's bearable.

I considered phenibut and came to the conclusion I'm better off not messing with it. I have a really hard time with self control and I just don't want one more thing I might have to withdraw from. I think I've gotten myself to a reasonable point to jump off with and I'll just have to deal with a couple uncomfortable days.
 
It seems like I'm just spinning my wheels now. I should probably just jump off at this point but I don't know if I can do that unless I flush the rest of my stash, which is easier said than done. I know it would be for the best, but it's still hard. I am very proud of myself that I haven't backstepped once through the whole taper, but if I stay where I'm at for too long it will feel like backsliding.

Just venting I guess, but what's annoying me is that the wd seems totally disproportionate to the effects it gave me. I think I tended to get a better buzz from kratom than a lot of people, but still, it was nowhere near the effect of laudanum or oxycodone, but the withdrawal hasn't been all that different. I know from experience that kratom withdrawal is shorter lived for me, but time is pretty relative when you're in withdrawal. It's no picnic, that's for sure.

It's like if you lost a finger in an accident and someone was like "well it could be worse, you could have lost a whole hand or arm". I mean, that's true, but losing a finger would still suck, and it doesn't make it any less painful to know it could be worse, although I guess it good be good to cultivate gratitude that you're better off than you could be.
 
How's it going feralkitten? Have you dropped off your taper yet, or are you still reducing your dose?

It's cliche, but exercise does help. 40 minutes on a stationary bike or similar will tire you out an make you feel relaxed for a few hours. Take a cold shower followed by a warm bath, and you will feel more relaxed.

Unfortunately I need to start over (social obligations required I indulge), but I expect it to be over in 7-8 days at the most. As long as I can get more than two hours sleep I'm not too concerned.
 
I'm still at 2g, although I did go 48 hours without a dose. Monday night I had a cup of kava before bed and I think it really helped me not to crave anything. I'm going to repeat the experiment tonight. I like kava, but I never really drink it, but it might be of some use, at the very least might help with sleep when I do drop off.

I think I am gonna drop down another .5g and then just stay on that until I run out, which will be in about a week from my rough estimate. In the meantime I'm trying to eat well and have been running every day after work and meditating in the evenings. I will definitely keep it up through and after withdrawal. I can see pretty clearly now how I haven't been as good to myself as I need to be. Especially since I'm still dealing with health issues from lyme (I did get the all clear to run again though, which helped me get through quitting alcohol and I hope kratom too). I mean, I have my issues, trauma in my past and it's been following me around my whole life and I really have to maintain these things that help me deal with it. It's not something I can just stop doing.

I told my best friend what I'm going through, he had no idea. He's the one who nursed me through opium withdrawal and he's just been really awesome. Telling someone in my life what I'm going through really underscores that feeling that the party's over. Will be telling my therapist tomorrow.

Oh, and it's a small victory, but tonight I passed a mirror in the dim hallway and I was like "wow, my eyes look amazing" and I realized it was because I had normally dilated pupils! It's been a long time since I've seen that.
 
I am not dependent on kratom, but have had a few times over the past few weeks, and have noticed something. About 36 hours after a dose, my sweat takes on that (terrible) smell that it did during heroin WD. As long as I am not feeling any other symptoms, this does not really concern me, but I want to know if it is real or my mind playing tricks on me. Does anyone else, who I assume knows the heroin sweat smell, get this after kratom too?
 
I have never taken heroin, but I do know that nasty opium/oxy withdrawal sweat smell, which I assume is in the same family, like sickly sweet/sour metallic chemicals, and yes, I noticed it with kratom when I first started taking it, even though I wasn't dependant or going through withdrawal at that point. I didn't really connect it until a few months later, at first I wrote it off as unrelated "stress sweat". I am self conscious of having people over now because I can smell it in my house all the time, it's very pungent.
 
Oh, if you have gone through opium WD, then I think you could make an educated guess what the joyous occasion of heroin withdrawal is like to celebrate. And I know what you mean about being self-conscious of it. It just does not stop, no matter how much air spray, cologne, candles, incense, etc is used. I don't think most people can link that smell with opioid use, so don't worry too much. I tend to isolate when things aren't going well/I am sick, so I never worried too much about people smelling it.

As for healthy living, it sounds like you are doing the right things. The more active you are, the quicker it will all pass through your system. Drink a lot of fluids, try and keep the amount of fat in your diet low. You could try taking Imodium for a few days after your last dose, as the main ingredient (loperamide) is a very weak opioid and can smooth the taper even more.

Opioids/kratom kill our appreciation for the mind/body/spirit connection. When I am clean, I exercise, eat well, meditate, hike, and so on. It all slows to a halt if I start using again, though, and I really feel little passion for anything. I find that I have to "go through the motions" for about three weeks before my passion comes back. But it does once your body is back in rhythm. And it feels great to be back in that mindset. Not only does it give you some much-needed self-esteem, but it really helps give you some perspective that you can use to rationalize yourself out of potential relapses.

It's good that you have a friend and a therapist to help. Does the therapist know about this? Opioids are good for trauma in the short-term, but the problem is that after a while, they start to generate their own trauma. It really becomes counter-productive. I relapse a lot to medicate post-traumatic stress, but the big picture usually just gets darker each time.

You deserve to be back in the light, where the world feels alive again and you can better live in the moment. Be able to feel fit and healthy, able to fall asleep, able to wake up. No longer changed to a shameful habit you hide from the world. Better days are ahead!
 
Opioids/kratom kill our appreciation for the mind/body/spirit connection.

I totally agree. When I quit alcohol I feel like I started to have an amazing spiritual equilibrium, I was reading a lot of hermetic works and the Tao te ching and for the first time in my life I could really really feel like my material self and my spiritual self were inextricably linked. I didn't consider that kratom would get in the way of that, but it did, just as much as opium, just as much as alcohol, or whatever other substance I happened to be hooked on at the time. All those addictions are different in the specifics, but the way they mess with the mind/body/spirit connection all amounts to the same thing.

My friend who helped me with opium withdrawal once told me that every time I used he could see my "light going out". I know what he means. You're just not really "there" anymore, and in some way that is part of the appeal. I feel like I'm trying to get back home again now, it's not serving me anymore to be absent from my own life.

My friend is a damn saint btw, we lived in a small rural herbalism community at the time I went through ope w/d and all we had was a small outhouse at the top of a steep hill, and he'd carry me up the hill to use it, then empty the bucket for me while I sat in a bush crying. He's a complete angel. He's sending me a care package now of some of the things I used to get back on my feet during PAWS. Hawthorne berry tincture, california poppy, pedicularis canadensis, milky oat seed.

I am telling my therapist today. A little nervous, but she's amazing and I know it's something I need to deal with in therapy. Addiction is so much more than just being physically hooked on something. It goes so deep.

In other news, the kava before bed has been great and really helped with cravings. I only used half my usual dose yesterday and today nothing at all so far and I feel pretty ok, in spite of some minor withdrawal symptoms. I just feel slightly under the weather.
 
The B***h Kratom

Have been on Kratom on /off for 1-1/2 year. Tired of hassle w/ toss and wash, so simplified things by going w/ Full Spectrum Tincture (This is the part of the movie where they play the foreboding music to foreshadow the coming train wreck.)

In short time, worked up to dosing 20 drops during day, and 5 drops at bed to sleep thru the night. Took stock of situation after a moment of clarity, that I no longer felt the energy that flowed through me when I first engaged this botanical Siren.

I decided to disengage abruptly. Left it at my office (I'm General Contractor and have a small office by myself) leaving for the weekend and figured I'd ride out the weekend and be ready to go come Monday.

I did not dose before leaving Friday PM. Needless to say about 2 AM, the train came off the tracks. Left the bedroom (as to not wake the wife) and spent the rest of the night in the guest room. The chills, sweats and brain freak began in earnest. At 7 AM left note for wife (some BS about checking on a job) and drove directly to the loving arms of my Enchantress. After dosing, sat in chair waiting for the near instant relief that would come, and mulling over the horror of realizing the f***ing Servant had become the Master.

Quick history: Never had any previous opiate addiction, but always enjoyed the occasional Narco script that came with dental work or whatever. Had discovered Kratom after deciding to stop drinking and had read that Kratom was a great ally to have during initial cessation of alcohol ( This proved to be utterly true, stopped six months ago a never looked back).

Now that the worm had turned, I immediately started investigating how I was going to solve this mess. Found BL during research and read every thread about Kratom WD. After a week, devised this plan:

Found a base line dose, that I took every six hours, that kept me level. Ended up starting around eight drops per dose. Every four days lowered dose by one drop. Got down to one drop, every six hours. Then took the extra step of diluting in water in a measured container, to where I actually was dosing ½, then ¼ drop every six hrs. Then jumped one weekend.

During my taper, the initial drop in each dose would cause minor WD symptoms for a couple days, but nothing even CLOSE to cold turkey. Would take Phenibut for a couple days and Zolpidem @ night with some Benadryl for sleep.

The jump weekend, even at that low of dose, raised the intensity, but nowhere near some of the stories read here. Couple of weeks later, feel fine. Lucky I guess, there was no overwhelming mental fallout.

In conclusion: This plan definitely worked for me. It goes without saying, you have to mentally prepare yourself for the drawn out taper schedule, and if you have a weak moment and go off the dose schedule, you're just adding time to your sentence.

Went to office following week and threw that wretched bitch into the garbage. And so my love affair ended. Good f***ing riddance.

Peace.
 
Congrats! It's nice to hear someone who had an ok experience with tapering off the full spectrum. My bag is lasting me longer then I thought it would and I haven't had the guts to toss it and end the ride. It's really becoming a matter of days though. I haven't reduced my dose by much still, but I have done a few days (not consecutive) where I didn't take any and I didn't feel great but wasn't in true withdrawal other than being sweaty. But I realized skipping days is just gonna draw it out longer if I don't make the commitment to jump off. So I'm still plugging along. I'm shocked that once lasted me about 5 days has lasted me 4 weeks though.

I am a little frustrated with myself for this lasting as long as it has, expected to be done a week ago, but pretty soon I won't have a choice, it'll be gone.
 
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