Misc Gotu Kola and Opiate WD/PAWS?

[CitioKid]

Its been about three weeks since I've taken any opiates, and understandably I have no motivation to do anything. WD's suck, but that period when the WD'S slowly fade into PAWS I find almost equally as miserable as I can never tell if I'm still feeling sick or if my lethargy is "all in my head."

Anyhoo, I read a few promising reports about a rather unknown Indian herb called Gotu Kola and thought I'd give it a try. It's supposed to be a mild anxiolytic, anti-depressant and mood stabilizer. What interested me most was that one person mentioned it was used in Thailand for opium detoxification.

Not being one for placebos, I decided to buy a bottle at my nearest health food store with zero expectations. Each capsule claims to contain about 450mg of "certified" Gotu Kola. So I took six capsules and nothing happened.

That was two weeks ago. Yesterday, being the kind of guy I am, I decided to give it the old druggie try again. I took 12 capsules. Now here is where the awesome-ness begins. I actually felt it! And it felt good! Not in the "fuck I'm so happy oxy yum yum" type way, but exactly as I was told to expect.

I felt a moderate but very definite mood lift about 40mins after ingestion. No fatigue, no side effects, just an improved mood.

Unlike all my other PAWS saturated days, yesterday (and again today) I actually felt pretty okay. Not great, but at least time wasn't frozen in place all day like it has been.

It feels similar to lyrica, but without all the little extras that lyrica brings along (fucked up co-ordination, walking like you're that guy in the last scene in "Breathless", general feeling of intoxication).

Perhaps a miracle drug for the recovering addict? I don't know, but my sobriety suddenly seems 10x less daunting than it did three days ago, all thanks to my little Indian helper.

From what I've read, Gotu Kola's effects are reliable, long lasting and consistent, and the herb itself is a powerful anti-oxidant.

I imagine it may provide a huge help to people like myself who are suffering from PAWS.

 

[CitioKid]

*bump

has no one ever used gotu kola? I think it has immense implications for alleviating PAWS symptoms, so by god I hope someone else besides me has tried it...

 

[dcraver877]

i use it...is awesome for opiate withdrawals. makes me super focused and relaxed and i stop sweating a chill out. I hear it's good for the skin too (that would make sense since I end up glowing half the time a couple hours after taking it)

 

[CitioKid]

Exactly! Good to hear someone else has tried it.

It seems to alleviate about 80% of the PAWS induced depression and anxiety. I know most addicts like myself want 100% relief right away, and this stuff won't do that (I don't think...) but it certainly makes a very noticeable difference.

May I ask how much you take?

 

[MrRoot]

May I ask you what does it contain or are you people just happy to use it anyway without knowing whats in it?

 

[dcraver877]

it contains itself. gotu kola is an herb.

 

[RedRum OG]

^lol, think he meant like the active chemicals in it

after a quick google search (hint) i found that Triterpenoids in it are responsible for reducing anxiety and some of the other effects. i have never heard of this plant or Triterpenoids so start googling man

 

[pema]

What interested me most was that one person mentioned it was used in Thailand for opium detoxification.

I never heard of that. I have some really bad and deep and big wounds. Those wounds were healing really slowly. So someone adviced me to take Gotu Kola.
Before I did this, I informed me on this herb, of course.
You are talking about "Centella asiatica"? This is the only plant I know as "Gotu kola".

I read about usage in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Thailandic medicine.
It shall be good for wound healing. Shall have antibiotic and antimycotic properties. But I never found something that had to do with withdrawal or detoxification.

I took a lot of that stuff for my wounds. I think, it really helped. Wound healing was extremely slow and became better after I took those herb capsules.
But this is of course no prove. Maybe there is another reason for the better healing. I also didn't try to stop taking it for to see if wound healing will stop again.
Well. I took a lot of that stuff. It seems to help with wound healing but I never felt any mental change from that stuff.

Are you sure that it helped you? Maybe it was just placebo effect?

Please post some links to clinical studies or something else where it is said to help. I'm interessted in that although I believe it probably will be worthless for withdrawal or cravings.

 

[pema]

The herb "Centella asiatica" AKA Gotu Kola is somethimes called "Brahmi". The herb "Bacopa monnieri" is called "Brahmi", too.
This depends on the country. In some countries "Brahmi" is the one plant in others it's the other plant.
Maybe it was said that "Brahmi" could help for opium detoxification. And then the plants were muddled.

An in-vitro study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in 2002 found that bacopa extract appeared to ease morphine withdrawal symptoms in guinea pig ileum, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Bacopa could maybe help for detox. I remember that it is said to reduce opioid tolerance. But I took some Bacopa-capsules for some weeks and I did not realize a big change. But that's the same for every plant that is said be work as opioid potentiator. Nothing worked for me.

But maybe really Centalla was meant...
How shall the plant be used for detox? Which parts of the plant? Which amounts? Used as tea or what?
Any more information?
I started again to take Gotu Kola. Ground the plant (without roots) to fine powder and filled it in capsules. I wanted to try it.
I am on polamidon now and not in real withdrawal. I am tapering. But sometimes I do not take my polamidon and try some herbal remedies.
I took round 3g Gotu Kola in capsules over the day (1 gram in the morning, 1g in the evening and 1 before going to bed) since more than a week.
Maybe this is too short or the dose is too low. But when I woke up at night because I did not take my polamidon dose that day, I took another 2g Gotu Kola and I felt no change.

In what doses shall this work? I could not find any texts about using this plant for opiate detox in thailand.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I find that supps like this and ginsing (good quality) and certain green teas (hojicha) help a lot with PAWS. Healthy living, good sleeping and eating habits and exercise also go a loooong way to reducing PAWS. I also find noortropics, especially racetams such as piracetam, can help A LOT with PAWS