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Quitting high dose Kratom habit via taper

Scrillion

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 8, 2017
Messages
216
Hi everyone, I've been taking Kratom off and on for about a year. There were a couple months when I didn't take any, but I've been taking 40-60 grams a day for about 3 1/2 weeks. Over the last year I went cold turkey a handful of times and just toughed out the withdrawals. Each time I've withdrawn the withdrawals have gotten worse and longer. Long story short I tried to cold turkey about a month ago and the withdrawals were fucking excruciating for 6 days and on the 6th day I couldn't stand the agony any more so I caved and started taking it again. I'm now in a recovery program and I'm determined to get off this shit forever so I started tapering. Today is day 1. I took about 45 grams today. I'm going to try to take about 30 tomorrow which I think will be fine. I expect it to get a little rough when I get to 20 or less. When I get low enough to feel the withdrawals I will stabilize for a few days then continue my dose decreases. I'm starting this thread to keep track of my progress, share my experience with others, and hopefully get some tips, advice, and encouragement from you all. I'll keep the thread updated. If you've done a Kratom taper please feel feee to share your experience here as well as any tips or advice. Wish me luck. Thanks!!!
 
Tip - The easiest way to taper kratom is take lower doses more frequently. What I mean is let's say I normally take 8 grams every 5 hours. To taper that I'd take 4 grams, which is a 50% reduction. What usually happens then is you will suddenly notice yourself going into withdrawals sooner than normal. Then you take can take another 4 grams. Before long you won't need to take that other 4 grams so quickly, you'll be right down to 4 grams every five hours.
 
Short acting opioids are notoriously difficult to taper. It is definitely worth trying and I have read from people to do it.

Any chance you can get some comfort meds to help with your process?
 
Short acting opioids are notoriously difficult to taper. It is definitely worth trying and I have read from people to do it.

Any chance you can get some comfort meds to help with your process?

What would you consider comfort meds to get off of kratom? Clonidine and stuff like that? I don’t know where to source that, otherwise I’d look into it.

The reason I’m asking because I consider kratom to be a comfort med to get me through hydro/oxy withdraws. I still have the ultimate goal to quit everything. But I need a comfort med to get off the comfort med. lol.
 
Comfort medication refers both to the substance AND how it is used. But anyways, I’m thinking clonidine, gabapentin and diazepam for a week.

I think we have some kratom taper/detox success stories in the SL directory. Perhaps you can check that out.
 
Thanks for the replies. I can't take benzos as I've taken them too much in the past and they throw my body into horrible withdrawals as soon as they wear off. My Dr gave me clonidine to help get off Kratom a few months ago and it didn't really help. I'm definitely going to try burn-outs advice and take smaller doses more regularly. Thanks for that.

I wake up in withdrawals in the morning, but that's ok. I figure I'm making a little progress that way. I was taking 25 grams when I woke up for the last few weeks. Yesterday and today I took 10 in the morning and it took the withdrawals away. Tomorrow I'm going to try 7.5 when I get up. I think that will be enough to allow me to function. So today I will take burn-outs advice and wait until I feel the withdrawals to redose. I think I'll try 7.5. My goal is to try to keep it to 30 grams or less today. I'll update at the end of the day to report on how that went.

I must say that I am very encouraged by the small amount of progress I've had in just the last 30 or so hours. I greatly appreciate your replies and insight as well. I need that support so thanks to all for your posts. Depending on how things go, once I get down to ~10 or maybe even ~15 grams I may just bite the bullet and jump at that point. I've cold turkied off that amount before and was through it in 2-5 days. I just don't have the strength to bear 10+ days of excruciating pain, which is what I think would happen if I jumped now. Plus I need to be able to attend my recovery program and work, which I was uncapable off when I tried to jump 3 1/2 weeks ago. That shit was BRUTAL.

Again, many thanks to all who have posted and if you are struggling with Kratom or any addiction my heart goes out to you and I wish you luck. I've been through the ringer with many substances (alcohol, benzos, even fucking antihistamines if you can believe that-I took them for too long and had withdrawals) but Kratom has been one of the hardest to kick for me, other than benzos. I went through cold turkey Klonopin withdrawal a few years ago and it was the most traumatizing and painful experience of my life. It gave me mild PTSD it was so bad. I was taking 8 mg a day when I jumped. Don't do that if you are on benzos. You can die from it.

I'll update at the end of the day.
 
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OP,

I’m a daily kratom user and have been for over a year. I take 30-40 grams a day, and have, naturally, run into withdrawal scenarios many times. In fact, it’s to the point now where withdrawal symptoms start to surface after about 9-10 hours. If I don’t dose in the evening, I get horrendous cold sweats at night. I almost always wake up with minor symptoms.

I used to find gabapentin would all but eliminate the withdrawal symptoms. Not the case anymore. Benzos, of course, knock kratom withdrawal completely out. Since your addiction to this point is pretty short in duration, gabapentin would probably help you a lot, without the negatives that come with benzos. Clonidine will also help with the insomnia that comes with kratom withdrawal (one of the worst aspects of it IMO).

That said, kratom withdrawal is rather manageable when compared to true opioid withdrawal, and especially benzo withdrawal. The few times I’ve rode it through, it’s all but gone by the third day. Not fun by any stretch of the imagination, but life goes on.
 
Thanks for the insight and advice. Unfortunately I tried to ride out cold turkey about 4 weeks ago and on the 6th day I was still in agony. I hadn't improved at all on day 6. That's why I'm trying to taper.

Today I took 45 again. Ugh. So tomorrow I'm gonna try again to keep it under 30. Will update at the end of the day.
 
Toothpastedog and truenamebrand both gave excellent suggestions....though apparently the diazepam is out of picture, they both hit bullseye with gabapentin. At least give it a try. And even though clonidine failed you in the past, at least give it a shot in conjunction with the gabapentin.

Good luck OP, you got this shit and the Bluelight community is behind you.

-PA
 
Let us know how this works for you. I'm a daily kratom user as well, I've been slowly working up to 12-18 grams a day over the past couple months.

Today is the first day I've woken up to some withdrawal symptoms. I noticed myself yawning a lot at about 8am which is my first indication of withdrawal but i shook it off. By 10am I was getting cold sweats so I had to dose.

I'm gonna try to work my way down slowly, I take my doses 2-3 times a day in 6 gram increments. I'm gonna try to lower that by at least half gram per dose each day until I'm at a lower dose.

Good luck with your taper, I hope you can kick it for good.
 
I'm having a tough time sticking to my taper. I'm going to regroup tomorrow and try again. I'm scared shitless of this situation and am very frustrated at the moment. If I can't get a handle on this by tapering in the next few days I might just bite the bullet, go to a family members house, give them my wallet and my keys, and ride out the withdrawals cold turkey at their house. I fucking hate being like this and I want to be healthy and sober more than anything in the world. I'll update again tomorrow night. Thanks to all who have posted.
 
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I've noticed that I get frustrated and struggle to stick to my taper when I haven't had enough to eat. My appetite isn't very strong a lot of the time because of this stupid drug so I forget to eat regularly. So...tomorrow I'm going to try a better eating schedule. Hopefully that will help me stick to the taper a little better. Ugh. Did I mention I hate this shit? Haha! I just ate dinner, which was my first normal meal of the day (I had small snacks throughout the day though), and I'm feeling a little better about this situation. Respect to all who have battled these demons known as physical dependence and addiction.
 
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It might be better to do a slower taper. I think your trying to drop too fast and then getting frustrated. I'm sure not eating properly wasn't helping, as you suggested, but I think dropping too fast isn't doing you any favors.

Try working out a plan that incorporates steady drops with adequate time in between drops to allow your yourself to stabilize properly. If done correctly tapering can be fairly easy until the very end of the taper.

For example you could drop by like 10% and barely notice it. Give yourself at least 3 days or even a week to stabilize before dropping again.
 
Yes, that has been my plan. I'm finding that I'm struggling to have enough discipline to not take more than the amount needed for the taper. The last couple days I've ended up taking extra doses even though I wasn't having withdrawal symptoms. It's my addict mind that's been in control. So I'm going to try real fucking hard to not let that happen tomorrow. I'll update at the end of the day. I sure hope I can do it. Thanks for your post MDVP. I do appreciate it.
 
Ok, so my Kratom supply is a little low right now and I might not be able to acquire more for two days. The good news is that I have just enough to take according to my taper plan tomorrow and the following morning. Meaning I won't be able to abuse it for a couple days. That might be just what I need to get this taper on track. ?
 
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Something that helps me while tapering:

I stay busy out of the house. I try to keep my schedule booked from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed.

Each night I measure out exactly how much I plan to use the next day. I place my doses in "parachutes" basically I put them on a square of toilet paper then fold it up. I can usually comfortably get a tsp folded this way... You can even manage to get a tbsp this way but it's fairly bulky a prone to busting or accidentally folding open.

Anywho, I place these folded up doses in a tin and take them with me for the day. They are quick and easy to swallow with water or whatever.

But I'm forced to stick to my taper because I left the house with exactly the amount of doses I intended to take for the day. Helps me immensely, otherwise if I stay at home with my bag of Kratom I'm much more likely to cave and take more. Staying busy also helps to distract me from any minor withdrawals I might be experiencing.

Ok, so my Kratom supply is a little low right now and I might no be able to acquire more for two days. The good news is that I have just enough to take according to my taper plan tomorrow and the following morning. Meaning I won't be able to abuse it for a couple days. That might be just what I need to get this taper on track. ?

I always find it easier to ration when I'm running low.

Good luck, keep us updated if you wish.
 
Good idea. Thanks for that tip. I think I'll do that going forward.

So far I'm off to a good start today. Dosed 7.5 when I got up, which is enough to keep the withdrawals at bay.

I'll update tonight with how the rest of the day went.
 
I've been buying powdered leaf by the ounce which is difficult to take at certain times, like when I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. So I decided I'm going to buy some capsules so I can can easily take a couple grams in the middle of the night. This should help make the mornings a little easier during the taper. The mornings have been very difficult as I wake up in withdrawals and have to wait a good hour until my morning dose kicks in until I'm able to do anything productive. The morning withdrawals have also been a time when I feel very hopeless and like I can't accomplish this task so I'm looking forward to not feeling so shitty. I think it will help my overall mindset and my resolve to keep tapering and not take more than needed. Feeling very encouraged right now. Will report back in 24 hours with tomorrows results. ??
 
Good news today so far. I broke down and fessed up to my family about my Kratom situation. I'm very lucky in that they are understanding and supportive of the situation and have agreed to hold on to the Kratom for me and distribute my measured doses to me. This will help me incredibly. I won't be able to cheat and I have someone to be accountable to. As I said in my last post I'm going to purchase some capsules so I can easily take a small dose when I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night thereby holding off at least some of the morning withdrawals. I feel very very encouraged and better equipped for success. Will update again soon. Thanks to all who have posted and I hope this thread is helpful to others who are in a similar situation. ??
 
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