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Despression/Anxiety from Kratom Withdrawal

whiteroom67

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 5, 2014
Messages
337
I'm on Day 4, physical effects have mostly gone, just some chills and restlessness that seem to come and go... I have gotten to day 6 or 7 in the past before giving in and taking more Kratom. Prevented that for myself this time by having my brother hide all my remaining Kratom (except for ONE "emergency" dose in my pocket at all times - which gives me the feeling of having the choice of taking once or twice if I REALLY needed to, but am resisting). I have some gabapentin and Wellbutrin that I just started for the PAWS which for Kratom I hear can last for weeks... is this a good idea using these meds or am I delaying the inevitable with them? The Gabapentin I have used in the past... didn't seem to work this time... more sleepiness and less withdrawal suppression, but like I said I'm on day 4 and most physical symptoms are gone anyway, but the Wellbutrin I just started today for the moderate-severe depression/lack of motivation that seems to come and go... and... it really seems to work! For the depression/lack of motivation at least... BUT it also seems to exacerbate the anxiety a bit, although I haven't taken any gabapentin yet today... is this alright to do? Or again, am I just delaying the inevitable by still having to experience the PAWS symptoms after stopping these meds maybe a week or so from now... I am still wondering whether to even continue the Wellbutrin... I just don't know what the best option is. Either way, I don't want to stay on either of these meds permanently, and certainly don't want to go back to using Kratom... let alone experience withdrawals from either of these meds either.
 
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I recommend ditching the emergency dose... that kind of thinking allows you an out, and at least for me, I always end up taking it. Plus if you take it just once in or just out of withdrawal, it will set you back days.

The wellbutrin, I can't say for sure, I have never had it. I think the gabapentin is fine to mask withdrawal, as you will not be set back afterwards.
 
Yeah because Wellbutrin is a selective dopamine reuptake inhibitor... And Im not really aure what that horrible apathetic depression has to do with after Kratom withdrawal, but Im sure dopamine has something to do with it. Thats why Im wondering whether it's counterproductive or not
 
I've been doing the Kratom dance for several years now, ranging from using occasionally up to binges lasting several months to a year or more. I unfortunately have had my fair share of withdrawals from harder opiates as well and some of this is gleaned from those experiences as well. Using Kratom for long enough periods of time in high enough doses will give you withdrawal very reminiscent to that of the hardest opiates, despite peoples tendency to downplay Kratom withdrawal or scoff at it saying it doesn’t even compare to such and such opiate withdrawal… well, everyone is different, but for me personally it certainly ranks up there with the best of opiates. The good news is, the duration of withdrawal symptoms and PAWS is usually far less. 3-5 days for withdrawal on average and about 2 weeks after that for PAWS is usually what I experience.

The (UC) following a listed item will indicate to use sparingly, or to use with caution as they have their own addictive qualities and possibility for withdrawal as well. After going through Kratom withdrawals the last thing you want to have to do is withdraw from something else, so please be careful with these ones. I only list them because they are, unfortunately, some of the most helpful.

Anyway, that being said, this following regimen is one I have tinkered with for years and seems to work pretty effectively, for me at least. You may need to play with the dosage or avoid certain substances as everyone reacts and metabolizes differently. As always, use extreme caution and start at the lowest dosage indicated for these products if you have never used them, or used them in combination. Be careful.

Taper
Taper off. Reduce your dosage as much as you can while feeling comfortable, over the period a week or two. You will feel some discomfort – but the goal here isn’t to get high keep that in mind - It’s to take as little as you can, but still be able to function. As you taper you can start to introduce the items listed below as needed, based on symptoms, to ease any discomfort. Psychologically, it seems to reduce some of my anxiety if I have a small supply left when I stop dosing. For some reason knowing it’s there if I need it makes it easier for me. But to do the above you need to exercise a lot of self-control. If you don’t think you can, taper off to the best of your ability and use up or throw out what you have left - or just dump it and go cold turkey.

I’ll start with the ones that actually don’t involve taking more substances, but doing something. There is science behind all of these, but this is already getting too lengthy. If you don’t believe me, do the research!

Excersize.
I know this is the last thing you’ll want to do, with little no energy and feeling like overall hell… but force yourself to do it. The benefits will be obvious. Don’t under estimate the power of this one. Usually with the regimen I will list below, I feel good enough at least to get a little in. Push yourself to do this.

Cold Showers – At least twice a day
I know this is another hard one when your temperature feels as out of whack as it will when in withdrawal but again, don’t underestimate this. Try it for at least one day, no matter how uncomfortable, this always improves my mood and actually helps with the cold sweats/feverish feelings quite a lot. It seems to actually help my body regulate temperature or the perception of temperature more effectively.

Nutrition
Eat balanced and healthy (small) meals as often as you can. I know your appetite will be close to nothing and whatever you eat might come out one end or the other pretty soon, but it’s important to try to force some food down. Avoid greasy foods – they will just add to the inability to keep food IN your stomach. The substances I’m going to list below might also help recover your appetite and keep some of the food down, it does for me at least.

Here comes the list of what to take, I don’t usually take all of these at once – I address the symptoms as they come and go and treat as needed. It’s also impossible to really prescribe a regimen that works for everyone as we all react so differently, and have different symptoms during withdrawal.

Phenibut 2-3g (UC)
This helps the body and mind. It improves your mood and seriously helps with the restlessness, sleep, anxiety and depression. Helps with body aches and pains. Also seems to help with my appetite, I’m not sure why I can’t really find any science to back that up. This is probably one of the most helpful ones for me. Don’t overdo it though.

Xanax - as needed, I usually take .5 at a time (UC)
Helps with getting to sleep and also with any anxiety the Phenibut doesn’t eliminate or in rotation with the Phenibut in order to avoid tolerance/withdrawals to either substance.

Lyrica -75-150mg (UC)
Helps with sleep, anxiety and body aches and pains – pretty significantly for aches and pains. Take in conjunction with Naproxen or Ibuprofen and it usually almost completely eliminates those symptoms.

Kava – 250-500mg (UC) – Tolerance builds up EXTREMELY fast
It’s very helpful for sleep and anxiety, and restlessness.

Note: Rotate with all of the above, they all treat similar symptoms but have tolerance build up, addiction potential and/or withdrawal symptoms of their own, so use these in rotation as needed. The Phenibut seems to be the most helpful but try not to take any of these for more than 3 days in a row.

Loperamide – about 50mg is the sweet spot for me
Helps with many of the body symptoms, most importantly the diarrhea and upset stomach. Usually when I take 50+mg I’ll even get some of my appetite back. It doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier so it won’t help with any of the mental symptoms but this one is very effective for the body related symptoms.

Inositol/Choline 500-1000mg
Seems to give me a bit of energy and helps with the mental fog. Clears up the cobwebs a little.

Noopept 10-30mg
Same as above. Gives you back a little mental clarity and some energy. Also makes it a bit easier to get some exercise in.

Multivitamin
Anything you can do to help your body, will help you.

Vitamin B Complex
Helps with energy and depression.

5-HTP – Anywhere from 1-300mg
Helps significantly with depression, but be careful with the dosage because it can cause nausea with is the last thing you want to give yourself more of.

L-Theanine
Helps with anxiety and seems to make it a little easier to relax.

L-Tyrosine and Mucuna Pruriens
Helps produce some much-needed dopamine. Will help with the feelings of boredom and depression.

Omega -3 fatty acids
Helps regain some focus and concentration.

Several of these supplements and vitamins I already take on a daily basis but it’s extra important during withdrawals.

Anyway, this helps me significantly. It usually eliminates many of the symptoms and makes it much more bearable. If done right, I’m fully functional. Not at my best, but I can still go to work and handle day-to-day life. I sincerely hope this helps you get through your withdrawals – This has been years of experimentation and I hope that my experience can help you get through yours. Always remember to keep in mind the reason you wanted to quit in the first place and that the state you are in is only temporary. It will get better day-by-day. Try not to think too far ahead as in “ugh I have another week of this shite to go through”. Take it one day at a time.

Good luck to all of you going through this. I hope this helps you achieve your goals.
 
Great post, I have used many of those things too. I was a kratom addict for 7 years, from 2003 to 2010, and on and off since then too, when I started no one I ever met knew what it was until I introduced them to it, I wrote the first Erowid report on it. My use increased over the years until I was using 8-12 gram doses 3-5 times a day, which was the whole second half of my usage. In some ways, at that level, kratom withdrawals are the worst of any opiate I have tried (and I have been addicted to heroin and poppy tea also, very heavily on poppy tea). Overall heroin was the worst withdrawal, but kratom produces the highest level of anxiety (not of depression) and worst of all, for me, is the restlessness. NOTHING in life makes me as restless as withdrawing from kratom. All opiates produce restless legs in withdrawal that makes sleep difficult, but kratom produces it all day long and of course worst at night, but it makes me SO restless I also get restless arms. Having uncontrollably thrashing legs AND arms when trying to sleep is, for me, hell on earth. Fortunately, as the above poster said, kratom withdrawal is the shortest of any opiate for me. I always took me either 4 or 5 days to end acute withdrawal, and then a week of feeling shaky, and then I'm fine. Of course I only actually got through that once, because by day 4 I am almost literally driven crazy by the restlessness and lack of sleep.

The best thing for any opiate withdrawal (aside from ibogaine which is a whole other thing with a huge amount of commitment) is loperamide, for me. 40-50mg will nearly eliminate the restlessness and other physical symptoms. Of course if you use it too many days in a row it produces some of its own physical withdrawal, but if you start using it when you start withdrawing and stop when you're done, you should be fine there.

I use kava tincture pretty heavily throughout the day and especially at night. L-tryptophan helps with relaxation and sleep quite a bit. Phenibut helps a lot with mood. Back when I had only ever been addicted to kratom, it also removed most of the withdrawal, but for some reason once I crossed into poppy tea, kratom withdrawal was never the same again, it took on characteristics of stronger opiates and phenibut stopped helping too much.

Personally for me, I am relaxed and helped by hot showers, not cold. When I've withdrawn I've always taken a long, hot shower right before bed, and usually I can sleep at least for a bit.

Exercise and proper diet have been totally key to me now that I have quit opiates successfully. Post-ibogaine, I began doing both of these and every day now I am happy and mostly content, even though I still feel a bit shaky, and no serious cravings at all, even once. Of course ibogaine has a lot to do with that, it seems to have rewired my brain to live healthy.

I know you and I have talked about this stuff a lot, just posting it here for the benefit of the forum. :)
 
True, great posts guys, thanks. I did ditch that emergency dose of Kratom like you suggested Xorkoth (it was only like $3 worth anyway, and my brother has probably close to a combined half kilo of various strains hidden somewhere for when we want to use - more intelligently - after I'm completely through all of this, including the PAWS), and today I'm on day 6 free of Kratom. Also on day 4 of Wellbutrin which seems to have cured the lack of motivation and depression... actually into overdrive a bit, to the point of actually slightly increasing anxiety (since it's a dopamine reuptake-inhibitor - apparently similar to cocaine, but without the euphoric rush, and crash. It also apparently inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine as well). That's why I'm hoping taking the Wellbutrin isn't just delaying the PAWS symptoms like depression, just like Kratom only delayed the effects of the oxy withdrawal. I'm past the restlessness stage though mostly... I'll only get it slightly here or there at this point. So the anxiousness is being dealt with on its own. I don't plan on being on the Wellbutrin long-term though, maybe a couple more days... maybe longer, I don't know - only until I feel like I would be mostly normal and well without it - I'll see how I feel. In the past, like I said the longest I really ever went without Kratom since starting was 6 days or so, and only still felt some extra social anxiety at that point, including sweats (related to the anxiety I think) - but my Kratom use at that time wasn't directly connected to oxy use either, so now it's a little different. The one exception was when I went on a week-long Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador, where I stopped using Kratom only a couple of days before I left, so I made it about 9 or 10 days clean maybe. When I got back I felt pretty much completely normal opiate/Kratom withdrawal wise (though I felt really weird and uncomfortable from the hangover of a HARD Ayahuasca trip the day before, which is actually what made me want to use Kratom when I got back. Other than that, I had no inherent desire.

Anyway, having combined the Wellbutrin along with switching and swapping Phenibut and Valium every few days like you said does help with the anxiety the Wellbutrin tends to produce. Like I said, I'm not planning on staying on Wellbutrin long-term - I may even be joining the Peace Corps within the next year or so, and don't want to be dependent on ANYTHING at that time, for obvious reasons. Everything else you mentioned Anonymous, I pretty much have already been doing. The L-Tyrosine seemed to work better in the past, and doesn't seem to do much anymore, though I'm still taking it now anyway. Ever since that crappy LSD trip awhile back, it seems dealing with opiate withdrawal is harder than it used to, unless withdrawal is just getting harder on its own, which I've heard too - or it could just be the first time of Kratom withdrawal being directly connected with oxy use.
 
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Withdrawal gets harder the more time goes by that you're addicted... the more total time. Every time you pick back up your opiate addiction, you immediately pick up where you left off. That's why when I'd be an opiate addict for 7 years, I quit cold turkey from poppy tea every day and dealt with it for 2 and a half weeks plus a couple of months of PAWS. But this time, I couldn't do it and used ibogaine. Because when I started again after that time I quit, it was just as bad as when I stopped.

Also note that, since I first got addicted to kratom, EVERY SINGLE TIME I have allowed myself use an opiate "responsibly, just once", it has led back to full-blown addiction. Maybe that's just me but I would think carefully about using kratom in the future.
 
Definitely true about withdrawal picking up where you left off. Yeah Kratom never directly led me back to doing opiates themselves, and I never even had a problem with it until I went back on oxy, and I had been addicted to oxy plenty of times on and off before being introduced to Kratom, so I'm just letting some time pass with my brother in charge of keeping it secretly hidden before he starts letting me control my doses.
 
I did some kratom over the weekend. I did around 8g in one dose after taking 8.5 months off from opiates. And I got freakin' rocked by this dose. It was the first time I ever felt kratom be truly comparable to real opiates. With that said, after just one dose, I feel WD in the following days. I've got restless legs, my stomach is messed up, I have heightened anxiety, my body is all dried out, life has taken on that hollow empty tone. I even got 36 hours of pinned eyes, inability to urinate, etc. I think the reason why I was able to get away with using kratom in the past recreationally (despite being a recurring heroin addict) is because I wasn't getting good kratom. After this weekend, it's been hammered into my head that even one time with kratom can lead to the opiate mindset again. Kratom is sufficient to wake the sleeping dragon. Of course being aware of this all, well that's the easy part. Staying away from the local supplier that I now know sells amazing kratom will be the battle.
 
Yeah I get withdrawal from one dose of kratom too, or one dose of poppy tea. That's why never again. :)
 
^Good to note... the thing with me and Kratom though is I was never a fan of high-dose Kratom. Normally I would never go over the 5 gram dose, more or less. I liked that fine line... that perfect "on-the-line" dose of being half-stimulant, half-sedative. Too high of a dose and I get dizzy and nauseous and sick and shit, despite having a previous oxy tolerance... of course I never got up to the hundreds of mgs a day range... the highest I ever went was 120 mg of oxy in a day, and that was spread out, at least a little. After taking an extended break from oxy, I can do my first "relapse dose" at around 30 mgs and get a great buzz (keep going though and my tolerance will wuickly shoot right back up from there), so while my opiate tolerance is certainly higher than normal, it's not as high as many others I know. So maybe that's why I can, at least for now, get away with more than just one usage and not get withdrawal... yet (and hopefully never); and like I said Kratom is a low to moderate dose substance for me anyway. I will most likely be trying Kratom again with my brother at some point after the next week or 2, and I will see what happens.

I never want to do oxy or other hard opiates again though for as long as I can help it. I am really looking forward to my Iboga trip when I can pull it off. I really need to do a low-moderate dose candyflip too, preferably before the Iboga...

Things to do... things to do... lol
 
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I hope your iboga trip goes as well as mine, and that you come out happy to just never touch another opiate or kratom again. Because although I do have a friend who used to be quite addicted to IV heroin, and now can do oxy once in a while as long as he doesn't get more than one day's worth at a time, I just can't help but think you're setting yourself up for failure by allowing yourself to use kratom in the future. Maybe it's just because for me, if I use kratom once my cycle continues and I end up in a bad place, every single time that has happened, and I'm no longer naive enough to think I can ever be responsible with it. Either way I hope things turn out well for you with this. :)
 
Thanks, very much... my therapist said the SAME EXACT THING yesterday at our session when I told her about planning on trying to use Kratom again lol. But I never had the desire to use opiates because of my Kratom use in the past, my Kratom use never got bad until I started using Oxy again late last year for other, external reasons - completely unrelated to Kratom. But everyone seems to say the same thing, including you and my therapist. But my brother still has it hidden, and WILL keep it hidden from me, so I can't let myself go.

I plan to perform a little experiment on myself. After another week or 2 of staying away (I am already craving it much less than I was, but still think about it - despite being on Wellbutrin and Phenibut/Valium at the moment), when I no longer seem to think about it or crave it really, however long that may take, I will try using it once or twice with my brother, or before going out for a night, or whatever, and I will see how I feel the following days afterwards (he will still keep it hidden - for a 17 year old, I love his mature sense of this and his ability to understand my siuation and keep it from me).

...Anyway, if I find myself craving Kratom a lot after my experiment, and/or possibly craving other opiates, and seeing what you and my therapist say as truth, I will definitely heed your advices and stay away in the future. I know for a fact that one or two uses of Kratom, even if producing cravings for Kratom, will not cause me to immediately crave or go back to true opiates, so don't worry about that. For now at least, I know staying away from those is in my control (my craving for oxy and opiates seem to always come back harder in late fall, when it starts getting cold and people start hibernating inside - that's when I feel I will really need to watch out). But I honestly am not ready to throw in the towel yet when it comes to Kratom... not just yet. Opiates yes, definitely, but Kratom I feel I am not ready to stay away from forever yet. If I can use Kratom responsibly, without craving other opiates, like I was for a long time about a year ago, then I will be very happy with that. Maybe after my Iboga trip, I will feel differently and never need or want it again. That would be great too. But it will be awhile before my Iboga trip, as I need my own place first and need to plan the vacation time, find a sitter, etc (if I knew you personally, I feel I would trust you as my sitter more than anyone, even more than my brother, only because he knows very little about it - ideally I would have both you and my brother as sitters during the experience). But so we will see. Right now I drank a cup of Coca tea, on top of the Wellbutrin and Phenibut and I feel great with no need for Kratom. I will definitely keep you updated about my situation and what is going on.
 
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By the way, I figure I'll tell you a little bit about my brother... he is 17, turns 18 in December, going to be a senior in HS after this year.... my brother likes Kratom too, but only uses it maybe a couple times a month maximum. He is more into just pot, and occasional drinking - typical teenager, though he does admit to liking Kratom a lot. Potion 9 he tried once too and liked it (so do I). He has tried mushrooms a couple times, twice with me (one trip good (night), one trip "ehh" (day)... night trips seem better for both of us) and once with his friends... all pretty low dose trips though, about 1g more or less each time, acid once - a little more powerful, said it was a little overwhelming and a little too long... though he was throwing a party that night, and we also did it with his one friend who just wouldn't shut the fuck up the whole time lol; I told him he should try it at least one more time in a better situation before judging it... anyway ecstasy once (pure MDMA for sure - beautiful for me, underwhelming for him (I guess he has a high tolerance or something), ketamine once (whatever - but wasn't a K-hole dose... it was low/recreational... I tried a close to K-hole dose on my own once or twice though and whoa... total depersonalization and trips to other planets), DMT a couple of times (once a breakthrough... he felt his life change), Valium once (he said he saw the addictive potential for it), Codeine once (found nothing special about it, just made him tired and itchy), and ecstasy once (didn't feel much, he has a high tolerance I guess) - basically, almost everything once, just to try it, all of those times and experiments were with me except that one mushroom trip (he plans on trying Mescaline soon, if we can find it - he is interested - also Salvia, which we both plan on trying for the first time... but NOT smoking extract and getting retarded and delusional for 5 minutes, we have a tincture to hold under the tongue to experience it the REAL way, the traditional way... a moderate and controlled experience for an hour or 2... I'm excited to try this as well). He likes Kratom though, and partly because of that I warn him everyday about opiates, and benzos... - he has seen what I have gone through with opiates and vows to never touch true opiates - besides that one time trying codeine, which he said sucked anyway - other than his occasional Kratom use (short of needing opiates for surgery or something). So for now he's good - I just hope he doesn't get caught in the grips of addiction like I did... he is a different kind of person though... seems like he has a much less addictive personality... though I have gotten on his case for toking a little too often just because he's "bored". I'm an INFP... he is supposedly an ENTP... according to Myers-Briggs.
 
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Sounds like you and your brother are good friends, that's awesome. My little brother is 23, and he's 7 and a half years younger than me, and he's my best friend, we've always been super close since he was born. He hasn't tripped yet but is interested, maybe he will and if he does he wants it to be with me. He's the same as you describe, in that he just doesn't have an addictive personality for drugs (he has a bit of a video game addiction though, by his own words). But he understands my situation well. He's actually the only person in my family I have told about the ibogaine yet, and he knew what it was so he supported it.

And yeah if you knew me you could do it at my house, I could work and not interrupt my life and you'd have a sitter. :) But alas, that's not the case. Actually if you came to Asheville I'd do it for you at my house, I just doubt you could do that, unless by some crazy coincidence you live nearby.
 
Yeaah nah... I live in NJ. I have a friend who lives in Asheville though who I graduated high school with... his name is Andy. He's an artist, and def a psychotropic connoisseur himself lol. Asheville is one of those places that looks really appealing to me to live though... good climate and really artsy libertarianish type place. It's one of the places in the US that I would def consider moving to but don't know what I would do for work.
 
Yeah it's an awesome place. Funny, I have a good friend Andy in Asheville but it's definitely not the same person since he's my age.
 
Yeah I'll be 29 in June, graduated in 2003, so I guess you're a little older.

But yeah it seems we have the same type of relationships with our brothers, which is pretty cool. What do you do for work?
 
I'm on Day 4, physical effects have mostly gone, just some chills and restlessness that seem to come and go... I have gotten to day 6 or 7 in the past before giving in and taking more Kratom. Prevented that for myself this time by having my brother hide all my remaining Kratom (except for ONE "emergency" dose in my pocket at all times - which gives me the feeling of having the choice of taking once or twice if I REALLY needed to, but am resisting). I have some gabapentin and Wellbutrin that I just started for the PAWS which for Kratom I hear can last for weeks... is this a good idea using these meds or am I delaying the inevitable with them? The Gabapentin I have used in the past... didn't seem to work this time... more sleepiness and less withdrawal suppression, but like I said I'm on day 4 and most physical symptoms are gone anyway, but the Wellbutrin I just started today for the moderate-severe depression/lack of motivation that seems to come and go... and... it really seems to work! For the depression/lack of motivation at least... BUT it also seems to exacerbate the anxiety a bit, although I haven't taken any gabapentin yet today... is this alright to do? Or again, am I just delaying the inevitable by still having to experience the PAWS symptoms after stopping these meds maybe a week or so from now... I am still wondering whether to even continue the Wellbutrin... I just don't know what the best option is. Either way, I don't want to stay on either of these meds permanently, and certainly don't want to go back to using Kratom... let alone experience withdrawals from either of these meds either.

Hiya Whiteroom67,

First of all well done on quitting and getting to day 4. It is important to remember, and to keep reiterating to yourself that the psychological aspect of withdrawal is normal and shall pass. It's not as easy as it sounds but if you would try to keep saying that to yourself - and find as much support and aftercare as you can. You have come to the right place. We are very supportive and understanding each. Most of us have been through addiction in some way or other whether that's opiates, alcohol, stims or whatever. We understand and we will try our best to support you through it. I apologise I have not read all of this thread yet. I just wanted to give you a supportive message and wish you the best of luck. It's brilliant to see the amount of supportive comment you have received on this thread.

Although it may seem extremely difficult right now, you CAN and WILL do this. You just have to have some belief in yourself and persevere.

Thinking of you and here if you need someone to talk to.

Evey
 
Thanks Eve. Tomorrow will be day 10. The Wellbutrin and alternating gabaergics help. Actually I stopped the gabaergics 2 days ago and will wait another couple days before using them again... if needed.

Thanks for the support, very much appreciated.
 
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