Longhauler
Bluelighter
i suppose you treat tolerance differently than most then. i will just keep doubling the dose to get a lesser effect until i either run out of supplies or money, in which case, i take my tolerance breaks. I can take big breaks from opiates and within a few days be back to my former high doses. For me, i was high all day every day so long as i had drugs or money, i couldn't skip a day and definitely not a week; i'm sure tolerance flat lines at some point, i've never hit that point though.
i find kratom kind of similar to dextroamphetamine for some reason, just that smooth stimulation and focus. Kratom's effects are more subtle but definitely remind me more of a stimulant than an opiate, regardless of dose. Perhaps that's why it treats opiate cravings and PAWS so well.
I would guess that if you need to increase the dose, your breaks are simply not long enough for your complete metabolism of mitragynine & 7-hydroxymitragynine. It's a fact that we don't flush out various ''opiate'' molecules at the same rate: different folks get rid of various substances more or less rapidly than others, and the same person may metabolize the same substance at different rates at different times in his/her life, depending for example on the physical shape of the person, and the other substances inducing or inhibiting enzymes that he/she ingests along with a given substance. For example, if you smoke cigarettes you will metabolize caffeine much faster than a non-smoker, because tobacco induces the CYP1A2 enzyme for which caffeine is a substrate. Also, SJW (that I take almost every day, with periodic breaks) is a known inducer of CYP3A4, which is the substrate of many psychoactive drugs.. I'm not sure if mitragynine & 7-hydroxymitragynine are substrates of 3A4 (somebody knows? I tried to find scientific documents on this particular subject to no avail...), but I think it is... And as I mentioned before, rhodiola, another supplement that I regularly take, is known to induce opioid neuropeptides: the Russians, in particular, have done tests using morphine-dependent mice, and the mice who received the rhodiola had substantially less tolerance and wd symptoms than the mice not treated with rhodiola. I do believe that humans treated with rhodiola enjoy the same benefits. And Mirtazapine! another AD that I'm using periodically (and venlafaxine for that matter) are also known to upregulate the opioid neuropeptides.... Additionally, I regularly take threshold doses of dmx on my opioid-free days to further decrease tolerance to kratom. All these things, I believe, partly explain why I'm still able to avoid physical addiction to kratom after 6 years of recreational use.
BUT, as mentioned before, I always skip at least a day between doses, and once in a while up to a week; if I use every other day this week, I will use only once or twice the next, and every 2-3 months, I skip a full week. And don't forget that I control my kratom cravings very effectively with weed and pregabalin (which I RARELY consume on my opioid days): usually, a weed/pregabalin high is enough to completely satisfy me...
It takes a while to get to know your own body regarding its metabolic capacities.. Being an addict for most of your life helps in this process a lot I would say lol.
And yes, just like you, kratom for me acts more like a stimulant than a pure opiate: I never ever nod on kratom, but it never gave me the jitters and paranoia that usually accompany my speed experiences.
Over the years, I refined my methods and my pattern of use, and the knowledge of my own bodily functions increased. Still, I could bet that I would be badly addicted to any other opiate than kratom.. For me, it's crystal clear that if they stupidly ban the substance, they're gonna make it much more difficult for many people to live happily, while helping another big bunch to die using other ''opiates'' in North America.
