Question about Kratom and Suboxone
Hello Everyone –
A little about me. I am a 46 YO male who has never really had any significant issues w/ drugs until about 15 months ago when I discovered Kratom. Prior to Speciosa, I had been on therapeutic low-dose Adderall, and decided for a variety of reasons that it wasn’t healthy. Kratom presented an enticing alternative because it’s natural, and I found the stimulation as/more powerful than Adderall.
Fast forward to now, and I am addicted to Kratom, and have been a daily user for well over a year, w/ only very brief breaks. I’ve tried to taper or quit cold turkey, but no matter how I dice it, stopping it causes a mind-blowing fatigue, and an insomnia that exacerbates the exhaustion. Secondary symptom are intermittent restless legs and some moderate depression. My understanding is that withdrawals last anywhere from 3 days to 30 days, and then you’re back to normal. A slow Kratom taper is undesirable because it now makes me feel weird and anxious when I take it. So whether I do Kratom or not, I feel like shit, just in different ways.
If it were fall or winter, I would just quit CT and take the suffering. But I’m looking for a less painful alternative because I am a competitive mountain biker, and I have several pricey races I’ve pre-registered for (side note: Kratom is an amazing performance enhancer for athletics – it gave me legs of steel for like 3 hours). One is a charity race where others have donated $$, so it would be inexcusable to miss it and at least not give it a shot.
I talked to an addiction Dr. in my home town today, and she said she has treated several people for Kratom. Her recommendation is a roughly 2-week taper on Suboxone, adjusted for severity of addiction. I was instructed to taper as best I can leading up to the appointment, then abstain from Kratom for 24 hours (I’ll probably do longer because the real withdrawals start at ~ 48 hours for me). They’ll give me a dose of suboxone and observe my reaction. They’ll titrate up until they find a dose that makes me feel “normal”, and calculate dosage and taper schedule. They said the initial session will take about 4 hours all in. The thought of substituting one drug for another freaks me out, but the Dr. was very convincing that this would work based on past successes.
So now the questions:
On the other hand, for those of you unfamiliar w/ Kratom, this drug is no joke. I made an acquaintance on Reddit who said his withdrawals from Kratom were worse than those from OxyContin. So maybe this isn’t child’s play after all. I have no idea because I lack a point of refence with other drugs.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice you might have. Cheers, and good health to all.
Hello Everyone –
A little about me. I am a 46 YO male who has never really had any significant issues w/ drugs until about 15 months ago when I discovered Kratom. Prior to Speciosa, I had been on therapeutic low-dose Adderall, and decided for a variety of reasons that it wasn’t healthy. Kratom presented an enticing alternative because it’s natural, and I found the stimulation as/more powerful than Adderall.
Fast forward to now, and I am addicted to Kratom, and have been a daily user for well over a year, w/ only very brief breaks. I’ve tried to taper or quit cold turkey, but no matter how I dice it, stopping it causes a mind-blowing fatigue, and an insomnia that exacerbates the exhaustion. Secondary symptom are intermittent restless legs and some moderate depression. My understanding is that withdrawals last anywhere from 3 days to 30 days, and then you’re back to normal. A slow Kratom taper is undesirable because it now makes me feel weird and anxious when I take it. So whether I do Kratom or not, I feel like shit, just in different ways.
If it were fall or winter, I would just quit CT and take the suffering. But I’m looking for a less painful alternative because I am a competitive mountain biker, and I have several pricey races I’ve pre-registered for (side note: Kratom is an amazing performance enhancer for athletics – it gave me legs of steel for like 3 hours). One is a charity race where others have donated $$, so it would be inexcusable to miss it and at least not give it a shot.
I talked to an addiction Dr. in my home town today, and she said she has treated several people for Kratom. Her recommendation is a roughly 2-week taper on Suboxone, adjusted for severity of addiction. I was instructed to taper as best I can leading up to the appointment, then abstain from Kratom for 24 hours (I’ll probably do longer because the real withdrawals start at ~ 48 hours for me). They’ll give me a dose of suboxone and observe my reaction. They’ll titrate up until they find a dose that makes me feel “normal”, and calculate dosage and taper schedule. They said the initial session will take about 4 hours all in. The thought of substituting one drug for another freaks me out, but the Dr. was very convincing that this would work based on past successes.
So now the questions:
- What does suboxone feel like in therapeutic doses? Because my primary symptom is fatigue, I can’t handle anything that magnifies the exhaustion. A wee bit of stimulation would be welcome.
- Does anybody experience insomnia from therapeutic doses of Suboxone? Right now, my sleep/wake cycle is in the gutter, and having it get worse because of a new drug would be a disaster. Luckily, I’ll have some Ambien on hand in case things get too crazy.
- Any/all other thoughts/comments are welcome, including whether you think the whole plan is insane and I’m better off quitting CT and scrapping my race season. One thing I can tell you is I will not, under any circumstances, deviate from the taper schedule. I’d rather die than get addicted to another drug.
On the other hand, for those of you unfamiliar w/ Kratom, this drug is no joke. I made an acquaintance on Reddit who said his withdrawals from Kratom were worse than those from OxyContin. So maybe this isn’t child’s play after all. I have no idea because I lack a point of refence with other drugs.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice you might have. Cheers, and good health to all.