Kratom Withdrawal - Brain Tumor Diagnosis
I was recently diagnosed at 34 with a grade 2 oligodendroglioma brain tumor - had a grand mal seizure (first time) followed by MRI, etc... I was absolutely dumbfounded by what the heck just happened. Prior to this I did have fatigue / cognitive decline / felt weird (no idea it was a tumor!) but nothing major - which I self-medicated using modafinil, racetams (funny Keppra is a racetam, found out after I was prescribed recently) alcohol and kratom. I was also addicted to tobacco.
I read the prognosis statistics for this tumor (10-20 years) and could care less, I am not dying. Yes, I will not accept that there is nothing I can do.
After 93+% resection surgery of the tumor and three days in the hospital, I quit smoking (1 1/2 packs/ per day for 13 years), kratom (8-12 grams each night for 4 years), and alcohol (4-5 beers weeknights and 8-12 weekends for 10 plus years) immediately. I also stopped 1 year of modafinil everyday (no wd). Before the surgery and while in the hospital I took prescribed Atavan (benzos) 1-2mg/day for 3 weeks (while I was taking kratom, alcohol, and smoking), I was a mess with the diagnosis. Atavan 3 weeks didn’t help my experience.
Each one had wonderful withdrawals, lol. Kratom restless legs was unbearable! So freaking annoying and no damn sleep! Couple that with alcohol restlessness and I was a nightmare for 15 days, simply no sleep. I thought a harmless plant wouldn't have such terrible symptoms. One weird thing is you could care less about taking the kratom, I had no cravings for it. Do NOT take benedry, RLS gets worst. Do not take nyquil, RLS terrible! Exercise made RLS much better but I couldn’t because of surgery (did a bit anyways). Eat stupid healthy, this helps huge, I juiced organic foods, kale, beets, carrots, bannas, apple, pineapples etc… Out of all addictions I think cigarettes where the worst but hard to tell because I didn’t know which WD was which. I did use the patch, take it off at night for RLS, I found out later it helps. I would take nothing after 4 days besides OTC (which was worthless) as I did not want to come out addicted to ANYTHING. Tapers do not work for me, I just keep going. The first 5 days I hated all forms of everything, no joy what so ever. Worst depression ever, just suffered though it. Keep the faith, it DOES pass.
I never had an opioid addiction (beside kratom, partial opioid) and they gave me hydromorphine which I think made the WD prolonged. Took for 4 days after surgery, they also gave it to me in the hospital, so 7 days total. While it was the toughest thing I have ever done, keep in mind I just had brain surgery, I did it none the less. I was awake during brain surgery and it was terrible, however these WD were easily on par. Plus I has 10 massive stitches that I couldn’t sleep on. It has been over 31 days now. The first 7-10 days I did not sleep at all (3 hours max per night). It made me feel good that the addictions that I hated so much where very likely a self-medication from the side effects of the tumor.
Since surgery I feel 100% clearer without the dreaded brain fog / anxiety. This in and off itself makes me care less about drugs. I have ZERO addictions, it’s the weirdest feeling ever, AWESOME. Still frustrated as hell but whatever.
I hope this helps other, if I can do this, than you can.
My doctor would not give a prognosis. Worst case it comes back in 5-10 years, best case my doctor has seen 20+ years no re-occurrence. While grade 2 in benign it will eventually become cancer. When, who knows. I have resided myself to if it comes back, I will deal with it then.
Eat mostly a ketogenic diet and exercise 1-2 hours per day. I also take CBD-oil and use the entire cannabis plant oil (eating only), which I would not recommend (need to make the government happy). Luckily it is legal where I am from. Considering CBD oil reduces seizures and has very little to no side effects (has no THC, what makes you high) it’s the least of my concerns. I never liked cannabis (paranoia) since I was a kid but whiling to try anything. Google "brain tumor cannabis", many interesting articles. I am 12 out of 100,000 that has a brain tumor, ugh.
God bless, hope this helps those in recovery. Dying with addictions not something I would like to do (see near-death experiences). Although I plan on living a full life with my wife and kids, no longer up to me, its up to God. I don’t want to be a slave to anything.