^YES I can confirm this. And that Kratom withdrawal is horrible. In fact, I was so surprised by how bad the withdrawal was, that I forgot quitting and went back to IV heroin. I was also amazed when I found that one bag of dope didn't get me high (Kratom straight for ~6months, no heroin in a year if I recall. )
Of course, when I kicked that heroin habit some time later, it too was horrible. I would describe it as being more horrible. But more horrible does not make plain old horrible any easier. Terrible analogy, but getting shot by a .45 ACP would be more horrible than a .22 pistol cartridge. Might be hard to be consoled by this true fact when you have a .22 lodged against your ribs.
A better analogy would be when I am too hot or cold. When I am too cold, I always debate which is worse. This leads me to conclude that being too cold is worse. Then when I am too hot, I come to the opposite conclusion. Something that sucks is not negated by things that suck more! In fact I would argue that my first every kick (tramadol) was worse than kicking IV heroin in jail. First time always sucks and leaves a lasting impression.
Or like how your first bump of coke is infinity better than your massive 1000'th line. It's more subjective than objective.
EDIT: woops I forgot my point. My point is that I always seem to conclude that different symptoms are worse and better, and will often contradict what I said the previous kick.... "AHHH these stomach cramps!! I would trade this for the kicks in a second!" 14 days later... "AHH I Can't get 30 min of sleep because of these damn kicks!! I would trade this for the cramps in a second!" True story.
How long have you been using kratom? How often do you use? What's your usual dose?
Also, same exact questions for your heroin/opiate usage: When did you start, how long, how much and how often?
I ask because I'm starting to think that folks who have experienced opiate withdrawals in the past will experience much harsher kratom withdrawals. Personally, I've only been moderately addicted to poppy pods, only was addicted for about half a year, and wasn't using every single day the whole time. I also never became addicted to any synthetic/street opiates despite occasional usage of pharms. Point being, I've never gone through SERIOUS withdrawals, the worst I've ever had were fatigue, cold sweats, insomnia, RLS, basically I felt as if I was fighting off the flu but never actually came down with it, lasted about a week, and that was that. My body has never experienced an intense, debilitating withdrawal, so it doesn't know what to expect from one. If your body has already experienced a horrid opiate withdrawal from an IV heroin habit, and you start withdrawing from kratom, your body may subconsciously think "Oh no!! Not this again!!!" thinking it's about to go into a heroin-like withdrawal, and go into freak-out/defense mode as a result.
I am not by any means saying that your withdrawals are "all on your head",
I'm definitely not saying that, however I am saying that part of it might be your subconscious or your body's defense mechanism, kind of in the same way you might feel after getting behind the wheel of a car for the first time a few months after suffering a severe car accident...you will be anxious as fuck, probably shaking, sweating, etc.., because your body/brain remember what happened last time it was in this position. If you're expecting the withdrawals to be awful, they probably will be. Using myself as an example, I've been using kratom way, way more often than I should for the past few months, and I check myself every so often, I let supply run out and force a break for a few days while I wait for the new shipment. These days without kratom are never that bad, with the absolute worst symptom simply being CRAAAAAAVING some of that delicious liquid baby-diarrhea cocktail. I might be a tad unmotivated, slightly depressed or just not very enthusiastic, at the ABSOLUTE WORST I might get some minor cold sweats and insomnia, but even the worst of the worst symptoms disappear after a mere day. Within two days I'm sailing straight as an arrow. Then when my order of kratom gets here....HOLY wow I can't see heroin being much better than kratom on those days....