Opioids Ill, trying to detox and still a little strung out - what to do?

[furryfreek]

Basically, I came off of kratom six days ago, having been using it two or three times daily for about three months and slowly worked up to a total usage of about 20-25 grams per day. Thankfully, the withdrawal was only particularly bad for about two or three days, and even then I got off pretty lightly (just real bad chills and a grim mood) but the withdrawal has continued to linger since then. I'm pretty much fine now so long as I keep myself wrapped up warm, but I still get the chills and goose-skin a bit if I let myself get too cold. Now, I know addicts tend to have a tendency towards denial, but I'm pretty certain I managed to more or less avoid any psychological addiction and was using kratom throughout the last three months pretty much to just avoid physical withdrawal after a brief lapse in judgement/self-control. After getting into the situation of being physically dependant, I couldn't face the idea of dealing with withdrawal and work (which is pretty stressful) at the same time, so I decided to put it off until I had a decent amount of time off work. In retrospect I should have just got it over with ASAP, I'm sure it would have been far easier and there would be less risk of developing a permanent/long-term physical tolerance. Despite that though, I haven't had any cravings for kratom, not even during those first few days of withdrawal that were quite unpleasant.

Anyway, I've caught a cold now and I've found in the past that kratom can do a pretty good job of treating some of the symptoms of cold/flu and if this one gets much worse, I could do with something (besides a good ol' honey, lemon and whiskey concoction) to provide some relief. Now obviously, I don't want to compromise my detox and I'm not suggesting that I should take a recreational dose and actually get high; just two or three grams to help with the cold and temporarily reduce/remove with my lingering withdrawal symptoms. I have some co-codamol pills I could take instead and I'm pretty certain one or two of those wouldn't put a dent in my progress through withdrawal, but I don't really like them as they make me a bit groggy. Presumably, an equivalent dose of kratom wouldn't be much riskier than codeine+paracetamol.. Or maybe not. Maybe codeine would mostly hit different opioid receptors that are less angry at me and thus interact less with my withdrawal?

What do you guys think? would one or two modest doses of kratom pose a significant risk at this point? It's kind of a hypothetical question now as this cold isn't bad enough yet to warrant chemical assistance and it's not like I'm really craving kratom and using this cold as an excuse to use it again (.. or maybe I am? that's exactly the sort of trick nicotine withdrawal would play, but at a psychological level kratom seems pretty benign compared to nicotine.)

 

[black kat]

Codeine is considered a weak opiate,but isnt kratom even weaker?

I ask this cause it wouldnt make alot of sense to take a stronger opiate in order not to relapse back to a weaker one.

Idk,if you genuinely dont crave kratom,i guess a smallish dose wouldnt be the end of the world,as long as you realize where the flu symptoms end,and where "WD territory" begins..

 

[furryfreek]

I was under the impression that the actual alkaloids in kratom are somewhat stronger than morphine, let alone codeine, but are only present in very small concentrations (like 0.1% or something) in plain leaf compared to the concentration of opiates in poppy straw for example. So plain kratom leaf seems much weaker than most stuff on a weight by weight basis but if you had pure extracted kratom alkaloids, they would be stronger than any non-synthetic opiates, I think. I guess another thing that makes kratom seem weak is it's fairly narrow therapeutic index - the difference between a solid recreational dose and over dose is quite slim, and gets even narrower as tolerance builds, though in the event of OD kratom is less dangerous than most other opioids due to lack of respiratory depression (another reason to think it's "weak").

In any case, my cold has worsened somewhat to the point where it has almost been comparable to days one and two of withdrawal in terms of how rough I was feeling, and the lingering WD symptoms were becoming noticeable, even when wrapped up in four layers of clothing in a fairly well heated house. So I took a little gamble not long before seeing your reply and took about 2 grams of kratom (I don't have any scales on me, but it was about one heaped teaspoon's worth). It could just be placebo (though definitely a more effective one than the echinacea tablets which I've been taking and are themselves just placebo as far as I can tell) but I noticed some immediate relief for my congestion and sore throat, and now, as of T+00:40, I have no noticeable chills/goose-skin and the transient headaches I was having before seem to have subsided.