Swimmingdancer
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2012
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My kratom story: Using kratom and ayahuasca to help get off methadone: (any advice would be appreciated)
Containing lots of questions about methadone and kratom. Sorry if some of my questions have already been addressed somewhere earlier in this thread, the thread's is getting super-long and it's hard to read through the whole thing. I did try to scan through most of it though.
I have recently started taking kratom to help with methadone withdrawal symptoms, as I'd read that it was effective for helping with opiate WDs. I can't really tell whether it's doing anything. I certainly don't feel an opiate-like high from it or anything like that. I have been trying to taper my methadone dose with the (frightening) goal of getting off it completely someday.
Some back-story: I haven't used heroin or other opiates for years now and the only time I crave it is when I am going through severe withdrawal symptoms. I have been on methadone for about 10 years. I initially started on a dose of 100mg/day of methadone, still using heroin on top of that, and eventually stabilized and was able to get down to 60mg/day, where my progress stalled for a long time. Eventually I quit using dope, then got down to 50mg a day. I take my methadone twice a day, at that point it was 25mg each time, as I am one of those unlucky "quick metabolizers" for whom withdrawal comes on much faster than it does for some people. The longer I was on methadone and the lower my dose the less time it was able to keep me un-sick. At 25mg I would feel a tiny bit sick all the time, but the methadone would last for about 10hrs before I really started noticing moderate withdrawals. I stayed there for a long time, then recently dropped down to 18mg 2x/day (36mg/day). I then spent a couple days using ayahuasca, which I'd heard was very helpful with opiate addictions, and only took about 10mg of methadone 2x/day (20mg/day), but after that I went back up to 12mg 2x/day (24mg/day), which is where I've been for about a week now. I feel mild withdrawals almost all the time and moderate withdrawals usually begin maybe about 8 hrs after taking my methadone. By "mild" WDs, I mean depression, lack of energy, difficulty sleeping, chills, sweating, aches and pains, etc. And by "moderate WDs" I mean nausea, diarrhea, runny nose, worse aches and pains, especially pain that feels like it's coming from my bones, nightmares, worse sweating, worse chills, creepy skin sensations, worse depression, slight anxiety, some mild heart pains or erratic heartbeat, difficulty eating much. That may sound bad, but it's still to the milder side of WDs for me: I still have been able to stave off what I would call "severe" WDs, which for me include all the above to a much greater degree, plus unbearable heart pain/altered heartbeat, horrible choking, coughing/difficulty breathing, severe RLS, unbearable skin sensations, extreme depression and suicidal feelings, severe pain, total inability to sleep, high jittery anxiety, and inability to do pretty much anything other than lie there wanting to die.
It is amazing to me that I've been able to get my methadone dose down this low and that I am able to handle feeling any WDs without running out and using dope, this is a huge accomplishment for me. However, I feel sad and so unmotivated to do anything other than watch movies or surf the internet to distract me from how I'm feeling, so I'm not sure how much longer of this I can handle. It's so frustrating and is tempting to just raise my methadone dose back up. Should the methadone theoretically stabilize at some point where I will stop experiencing as many WD symptoms at my current dose? If so, when? in 3 weeks or something? Should I consider taking it 3 times a day instead of 2? (I'm worried that in order to do that comfortably I'd have to raise my dose again).
So, I've been taking kratom several times throughout the day but I can't really tell whether it's doing anything. I've been taking about 5g or more at a time using the "wash and toss" method (taking a sip of juice, pouring the powder into my mouth, swallowing, taking another sip of juice). I am too lazy to make a tea as it sounds like the main reason people make a tea out of it is to improve the taste and texture, neither of which really bother me. Is it going to affect me more if I make a tea out of it? Should I be taking a lot more kratom? Is it possible I just have really shitty quality kratom?
I suppose I could do a test by not taking my methadone, waiting until I have noticeable moderate to severe WDs and then taking the kratom and seeing if I feel any better, but that doesn't sound like a fun experiment to me. My plan was to keep lowering my methadone dose gradually while alleviating WD symptoms with the kratom, but if the kratom isn't helping at all I may need a new plan.
Containing lots of questions about methadone and kratom. Sorry if some of my questions have already been addressed somewhere earlier in this thread, the thread's is getting super-long and it's hard to read through the whole thing. I did try to scan through most of it though.
I have recently started taking kratom to help with methadone withdrawal symptoms, as I'd read that it was effective for helping with opiate WDs. I can't really tell whether it's doing anything. I certainly don't feel an opiate-like high from it or anything like that. I have been trying to taper my methadone dose with the (frightening) goal of getting off it completely someday.
Some back-story: I haven't used heroin or other opiates for years now and the only time I crave it is when I am going through severe withdrawal symptoms. I have been on methadone for about 10 years. I initially started on a dose of 100mg/day of methadone, still using heroin on top of that, and eventually stabilized and was able to get down to 60mg/day, where my progress stalled for a long time. Eventually I quit using dope, then got down to 50mg a day. I take my methadone twice a day, at that point it was 25mg each time, as I am one of those unlucky "quick metabolizers" for whom withdrawal comes on much faster than it does for some people. The longer I was on methadone and the lower my dose the less time it was able to keep me un-sick. At 25mg I would feel a tiny bit sick all the time, but the methadone would last for about 10hrs before I really started noticing moderate withdrawals. I stayed there for a long time, then recently dropped down to 18mg 2x/day (36mg/day). I then spent a couple days using ayahuasca, which I'd heard was very helpful with opiate addictions, and only took about 10mg of methadone 2x/day (20mg/day), but after that I went back up to 12mg 2x/day (24mg/day), which is where I've been for about a week now. I feel mild withdrawals almost all the time and moderate withdrawals usually begin maybe about 8 hrs after taking my methadone. By "mild" WDs, I mean depression, lack of energy, difficulty sleeping, chills, sweating, aches and pains, etc. And by "moderate WDs" I mean nausea, diarrhea, runny nose, worse aches and pains, especially pain that feels like it's coming from my bones, nightmares, worse sweating, worse chills, creepy skin sensations, worse depression, slight anxiety, some mild heart pains or erratic heartbeat, difficulty eating much. That may sound bad, but it's still to the milder side of WDs for me: I still have been able to stave off what I would call "severe" WDs, which for me include all the above to a much greater degree, plus unbearable heart pain/altered heartbeat, horrible choking, coughing/difficulty breathing, severe RLS, unbearable skin sensations, extreme depression and suicidal feelings, severe pain, total inability to sleep, high jittery anxiety, and inability to do pretty much anything other than lie there wanting to die.
It is amazing to me that I've been able to get my methadone dose down this low and that I am able to handle feeling any WDs without running out and using dope, this is a huge accomplishment for me. However, I feel sad and so unmotivated to do anything other than watch movies or surf the internet to distract me from how I'm feeling, so I'm not sure how much longer of this I can handle. It's so frustrating and is tempting to just raise my methadone dose back up. Should the methadone theoretically stabilize at some point where I will stop experiencing as many WD symptoms at my current dose? If so, when? in 3 weeks or something? Should I consider taking it 3 times a day instead of 2? (I'm worried that in order to do that comfortably I'd have to raise my dose again).
So, I've been taking kratom several times throughout the day but I can't really tell whether it's doing anything. I've been taking about 5g or more at a time using the "wash and toss" method (taking a sip of juice, pouring the powder into my mouth, swallowing, taking another sip of juice). I am too lazy to make a tea as it sounds like the main reason people make a tea out of it is to improve the taste and texture, neither of which really bother me. Is it going to affect me more if I make a tea out of it? Should I be taking a lot more kratom? Is it possible I just have really shitty quality kratom?
I suppose I could do a test by not taking my methadone, waiting until I have noticeable moderate to severe WDs and then taking the kratom and seeing if I feel any better, but that doesn't sound like a fun experiment to me. My plan was to keep lowering my methadone dose gradually while alleviating WD symptoms with the kratom, but if the kratom isn't helping at all I may need a new plan.
