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Opioids How addictive is kratom?

nancy145

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
529
I have a problem that I'm currently prescribed Adderall to treat. However, yesterday I tried kratom for the first time, for recreational purposes. For whatever reason, kratom helped with my problem just as much as Adderall would. What I'm wondering is how addictive and dangerous is kratom? Is it better to be taking than Adderall? Can someone give a couple drugs to compare kratom to in terms of addictiveness? Are there any significant dangers other than addictiveness? Thanks
 
Hey Nancy
Well, like most things that make you feel good, if you continue to take it for a long(r) period of time then yea it will become habit forming, and just like pills if you don't have it then it will make you feel like shit.
That being said, if you took it just one time, and didn't experience any negative effects then I wouldn't worry to much. It's nothing like crack/heroin or meth(as for addictiveness goes).

The only drawback with Kratom is if you take to much then it will make you feel nauseated. That's pretty much the only drawback.
 
But when it comes to addictiveness, is it somewhere around like caffeine and nicotine? Or more like Adderall? Somewhere in between? I kinda wanna know specifics because I have to talk to my doctor about it and he doesn't know what it is so I need to know what I'm talking about
 
Some people report kratom being so light in effect that it's almost unnoticeable, while others experience typical opioid effects and all the addiction that comes with it.

How it effects you is for you to figure out. I would say that if you're immediately taken in by it's adderall-like ability to solve problems in your life, it's probably best not to underestimate it.

Regular use may result in withdrawal effects which are probably more physical than Adderall.
 
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I kinda wanna know specifics
That may be a little difficult, IMO.
Sorry don't wanna be deb-down but as I like to say: It has a lot to do with how one can handle not using. Like... will one be OK if only used as needed as opposed to recreational dosing. This is geared more for heavier "drugs" but can also apply to kratom I suppose.
I use kratom daily for a couple or three years and if I do not have; i certainly have mood swings, restlessness, aches/pains, depression and the like as one would expect from a "heavier" opioid but it is way more forgiving, IME. However: I do what I can to keep dosage low (2-3g a few times a day) and this all started at .5-1g doses 3 times a day a couple years ago.
Let's say if I do not have I can still function closer to base level without kratom as opposed to say 10mg oxy 3-4mg a day for two+ years upon cessation. We will all have different experiences with this so any of the above info may not apply to and or all reading.
Best and stay safe,
Ptah
 
Thanks. Also, I would be using it under the guidance of my parents and doctor so I can't really increase the dose over time, if I were to stay at the same dose would I build up a tolerance to the point where it would stop working? Im not sure what dose I'd be taking yet, I'll add it in when I figure it out.
 
Thanks. Also, I would be using it under the guidance of my parents and doctor so I can't really increase the dose over time, if I were to stay at the same dose would I build up a tolerance to the point where it would stop working? Im not sure what dose I'd be taking yet, I'll add it in when I figure it out.

Neither addy nor kratom are safe. If I had to choose I's choose kratom but only for short period of time
 
That may be a little difficult, IMO.
Sorry don't wanna be deb-down but as I like to say: It has a lot to do with how one can handle not using. Like... will one be OK if only used as needed as opposed to recreational dosing. This is geared more for heavier "drugs" but can also apply to kratom I suppose.
I use kratom daily for a couple or three years and if I do not have; i certainly have mood swings, restlessness, aches/pains, depression and the like as one would expect from a "heavier" opioid but it is way more forgiving, IME. However: I do what I can to keep dosage low (2-3g a few times a day) and this all started at .5-1g doses 3 times a day a couple years ago.
Let's say if I do not have I can still function closer to base level without kratom as opposed to say 10mg oxy 3-4mg a day for two+ years upon cessation. We will all have different experiences with this so any of the above info may not apply to and or all reading.
Best and stay safe,
Ptah

What are you going to do once you reach tolerance on kratom? Don't you think your depression and restlessness will return with vengeance? I suggest you look at taper and treat your depression properly.
 
It's mildly addictive.... I have an extremely addictive personality myself, and certainly do have some level of addiction to kratom... but compared to other more addictive drugs it's nothing.

Honestly some days I even forget to take my kratom and have no problem quitting. If you keep your consumption under 10g/day it's not a big deal to quit at all. I find weed much more addictive.
 
Well here I am after 2 years of daily use... so it's not addicting at all!

JK. It's not going to become a habit like heroin where you just sit in a garage 24/7 shooting up constantly until the end of time. But I do take it the moment my eyes open every morning. I've withdrawn from horrible doses of opioids but something about my two years of frequent kratom use makes me become the biggest coward. Let me tell you it's otherworldly pain. I'd rather go through Benzo withdrawal or 150 mgs of oxycodone cut off cold turkey. Kratom withdrawal after my use is OBSCENELY bad. I have yet to kick kratom--because it is that bad lol. If you're a daily kratom user and drag your feet getting off it, you can consider the withdrawal to be worse than true opiate withdrawal. It's mentally the worst thing I can think of.. Still I'd rather be immensely addicted the kratom than meth that's a given. It's really only 5 days of sickness but those 5 days are not worth being alive for.

Anyway other than the cost and frequency I must use to escape the otherworldly sickness I find it to be a very benign addiction. I have more of an issue with other substances personally. It's not hedonistic enough of a buzz to overwhelm your life with problems. I've never noticed any negative consequences of my use whatsoever. I stand by kratom being a very mild substance but the cost for daily use is definitely a lot.

PS: I gobble adderall like candy. I know that it's shameful.. but I find adderall to be so much more addictive than kratom.
 
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The issue with kratom for me was that I replaced opiates with it. Got down to 8g a day, 4x a day x2mg. Posted a thread on here. Some mod was like "oh you can just cold turkey, you won't feel thing. No big deal." Well, that mod was wrong. Very wrong. Certainly it was not as bad as heroin or oxycodone withdrawal, but it fucking sucked. It was much more of a mental anxietal arousal state. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather prefer an opiate withdrawal over kratom withdrawal. Just a constant, low wave unpleasant anxiety... for much longer than a typical acute phase opiate withdrawal.

Now this might've been because I replaced opiates with Kratom. So if your neurons are virgins when it comes to opiates, but you develop a kratom addiction, well, it might be different. But I'm very careful with kratom these days. It's not that jumping off 8G a day was intolerable, but it was just agonizing in terms of your brain feeling stressed out. On edge, insomnia for weeks, feels like no progress is made.

I was getting high quality kratom from smiley hippopotamus, so definitley a lot better than this gas station junk that lot of people on here seem to have no qualms taking. I would never ever buy shit from a local store. Ever heard of the Citarum river? Yeah, you don't want your kratom plants drinking water from that shithole. And that's exactly the type of kratom in gas stations- weak and polluted. Anyway, i'm on a tangent.

Moral of the story: Taper, taper, taper. Buy a scale that goes to the thousandths and lower your dose by a tenth of a gram a day. Stretch out your doses too. See if you can go an extra hour. Anyway, there's my 2 cents.
 
The issue with kratom for me was that I replaced opiates with it. Got down to 8g a day, 4x a day x2mg. Posted a thread on here. Some mod was like "oh you can just cold turkey, you won't feel thing. No big deal." Well, that mod was wrong. Very wrong. Certainly it was not as bad as heroin or oxycodone withdrawal, but it fucking sucked. It was much more of a mental anxietal arousal state. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather prefer an opiate withdrawal over kratom withdrawal. Just a constant, low wave unpleasant anxiety... for much longer than a typical acute phase opiate withdrawal.

Now this might've been because I replaced opiates with Kratom. So if your neurons are virgins when it comes to opiates, but you develop a kratom addiction, well, it might be different. But I'm very careful with kratom these days. It's not that jumping off 8G a day was intolerable, but it was just agonizing in terms of your brain feeling stressed out. On edge, insomnia for weeks, feels like no progress is made.

I was getting high quality kratom from smiley hippopotamus, so definitley a lot better than this gas station junk that lot of people on here seem to have no qualms taking. I would never ever buy shit from a local store. Ever heard of the Citarum river? Yeah, you don't want your kratom plants drinking water from that shithole. And that's exactly the type of kratom in gas stations- weak and polluted. Anyway, i'm on a tangent.

Moral of the story: Taper, taper, taper. Buy a scale that goes to the thousandths and lower your dose by a tenth of a gram a day. Stretch out your doses too. See if you can go an extra hour. Anyway, there's my 2 cents.

I totally agree! I've gone through opioid withdrawal a few times and yeah I complained and moped around until it went away.. but the point is that I was able to handle them.

Kratom withdrawal is a different beast and one of these days I'll kick it--but I am avoiding that day for as long as I can lol. One symptom of opiate withdrawal is enhanced sensitivity to pain and random body aches. Personally that only happens to me during kratom withdrawal. I ache everywhere and my legs and arms are spazzing about. As long as you avoid daily use you'd be fine though.
 
For me instead of asking how addictive something is I ask how soul sucking is it? I mean tobacco is one of the most addictive subtances around. People have lungs removed and keep smoking. But they can still be in control of the other areas of their life. However most junkies either recover or die. Same with alcoholics. Yet being addictive to caffeine is as bad as any other addiction but you keep your soul. So the question is how much does it disrupt your being. Most control kratom. It is not a skid row go to rehab thing (IMO) where as alcohol usually is. Now as I typer that the next person to post will have had a big struggle with it but hey. :)

For context I have taken kratom breaks successfully but never made it 2-3 days trying to give up my morning coffee. However I have been drinking coffee every morning for 45 years. Neither of those things alters the real me at all though.

Kratom is like anything else. And saying it is only as addictive as nicotine may be correct, yet that addiction takes people so I would say it is pretty strong. To me there is no meter on how addictive things are. Even simple addictions grab people. It is an individual thing. Mildy addictive for some and strongly for others and that goes with anything. Ask how much any substance alters who you really are.

I will say if you use kratom to come off suboxone or heavier opiates and then stop kratom the withdrawal is stronger than starting kratom as a virgin. I proved that a few times. It seems to hold over a lot of the original withdrawal where as it was ligher and quicker when no opiates at all were involved.
 
Its lowkey more addictive than it seems.

Was kind of annoying to give up but like less so than traditional opiods. More like quitting tobacco smoking.

It's a lot of mental fuckery after quitting.

Although I gotta say the restlessness and mood swings were worse with kratom when kicking than with oxy or hydro. Less flu like symptoms tho.
 
When I've used Kratom I've used it daily for about a month at a time. If I were using any other opiate (codeine,dhc,morphine,oxy, etc) I would've suffered way worse.
Honestly I barely noticed any withdrawal from a month's use of Kratom.
 
Also I agree with you Acidman the mental side effects are absolutely debilitating. It seems to cause more and more anxiety, negative thoughts, mental blunting, and depression the longer I stay on it.
 
If I became addicted to tramadol, how likely is it that I will become addicted to kratom? (Tramadol is supposedly the safest opioid on the market and with the lowest rate of abuse and dependence)
I don't consider myself to have an addictive personality. I quit nicotine cold turkey 5 years ago pretty easily btw.
 
i'm with acidman, falsified, get me outta this....

i've been at 70-100g a day for over a year now, and its pretty terrible.

i'd rather quit a 100mg oxy daily habit cold turkey for sure. the flu like sickness is similar, but the mental fuck and full body rls is an such absolute nightmare. i'd say its more physically painful then an oxy kick, but not quite as painful as a morphine kick... though ive never gone more then 12 hours since i started... but 12 hours without kratom is like 1.5 days without an opiate...

i could kick regular opiates around family, they know the deal.... but i wouldnt dare do it with kratom... i would be out of my mind, like a temporary insanity type of bad... i've gone to work through opiate withdrawl... however i would not be able to be around anyone at all if i had to kick kratom cold turkey... im pretty confident the kick would end in a hospital or jail.

i'd advise against it. all positive effects diminish to nothing at all after about a year. all junkies say that... i've said that while addicted to every opiate you can think of... but it is never more true then with kratom. you can dose and dose and you just get angrier at the ineffectiveness, then end up feeling like shit from too much.

the shit sucks, thats why its legal.
 
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