I used 2 strains, both in powder form. "bali" and "borneo white". the borneo white was the one I used the night before becoming sick, but it's important to note that intrahepatic cholestasis as with many drug induced liver conditions can take several days to show symptoms. It's just as likely that it was the bali i used 4 days earlier as it was the borneo white the night before, but whichever dose initiated the hepatic damage was likely exacerbated by any subsequent doses.
it seemed like the borneo white was considerably stronger, I took about a third less of it for the same effect. this could be because my liver function was compromised by the time I took it though.
obviously there's a correlation with both of us having 'borneo white'... but as someone pointed out before, correlation does not equal causation... but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's from the same distributor since Whizz is in the UK and I'm in the Netherlands... though it still doesn't explain the countless other stories reporting near-identical issues with different strains in different countries in different years.... also, again, contamination seems an unlikely culprit since nothing strange was reported by the hospital laboratory to which I gave samples of both strains.. nor was any contamination reported in the GC/MS test on the kratom in the
german study (pdf).
re: method of ingestion - I boiled it thoroughly for at least 20 mins to reduce the fluid content. mixed with sugar and lemon juice.
the hospital tested copious amounts of my blood/urine/stool. there was no mention of bacterial/parasitic infection and my blood panel did not register for any unusual heavy metals or any other type of poisoning. just mitragynine and ridiculously elevated liver enzymes. mitragynine was still detected in my bloodstream many days after ingestion, though the rate gradually fell - presumably because my damaged liver could not metabolise it at a normal rate. my liver enzymes correlated closely with detectable mitragynine in the bloodstream, but this could mean a number of things.
It's worth noting that both powders seemed very hydrophobic, the borneo white moreso.... but I think this is just a general property of kratom powder.
emkee I'm not a doctor... but it seems kinda futile to 'preload' with 'liver protectors' when both the cause of the toxic reaction and the metabolic mechanism of the substance are totally unknown. I don't even know if there's anything you could take that would even protect your liver in that sense... but obviously the simplest solution to avoid poisoning is to refrain from ingesting poison.
