Looking forward to your journal! I've learned so much from you on how to deal with this, for lack of a better term, disease over this short time I've come to know you. I have no doubts that you have saved some people's lives along the way. So if that's not good karma, I don't know what is. DXM is one area where I can't quite get on board with you. To me that stuff feels toxic. Maybe it's just my body chemistry. Hope your kratom taper is going well. Enjoy your down time from your obligations.
Yes, I actually have VERY mixed feelings about DXM. Short term, for withdrawal, as long as someone doesn't have serious health issues (so their liver, kidneys, etc work fine), DXM doesn't seem to be problematic at moderate doses. But long term, boy that is not fun. If used chronically at high doses it will eventually cause serious, life threatening harm. So it's not something I normally recommend, and not something I take lightly.
That said, I'd be disingenuous if I didn't mention it's potential benefit. When I discovered how it can be used to treat acute withdrawal, it was one of those life changing realization. It's what got me to fall in love with neuroscience and pharmacology. It's strong medicine, and use improperly can be very dangerous, but when used judiciously its use has the potential for great benefit. Costs and benefits, in other words.
And thank you for what you wrote, that really touched me. As one of my mindfulness friends has told me, I don't really have a choice in the work I do for BL - it's more like something I was meant for or something. I forget how he put it, but to me the work I do for this community is work I do for my own growth and development.
It's like how teachers learn more from their students than book learning. Thank you for being one of the healthier members of our community FLA - your growth is your own, but your mature and respectable character comes through loud and clear.
I'm thinking about going to bed. The first day of kratom detox was a breeze. Gabapentin and CBD for the win. I think some trazadone and melatonin will be enough tonight for sleep. Looking forward to tomorrow, as I haven't really unpacked or gotten settled in. After I do that I'm going to sit down and organize my notes from today's experience of detox and start my long awaited journal. I've never really had my own recovery journal despite my long term involvement in SL, so I'm excited for that.