Misc Should I get off kratom cold turkey?

[GetMeOutOfThisCRAP]

I don't even benefit from my use anymore. Maybe 20% of the time if not less I catch a pleasant buzz, but at this point it's like suboxone and holds me from sickness. It used to be an anti-depressant but now it's a waste of money. I'm planning to withdraw hardcore for summer. The problem is the restless legs which are relentless with this one.

My use has definitely escalated to about 10-15 grams daily and increasing. I know that's not the sign of a heavy user but trust me the withdrawal symptoms are quite appalling. Since the half life relatively short, should I just cold turkey it? I know this is such a frivolous concern but I don't want to get fat after I quit as it did suppress my appetite a little bit too

Anyone who has gone through kratom withdrawal please tell me what way you think is best to handle it/tapering down is indeed an option. I'll have time to feel like crap without many obligations set out but I don't want to be in agony for a long time if I can get off it and feel better in a week. My use has been approximately 2 years now daily though... I'm pretty scared lol. Restless legs restless legs etc.. I do have adderall in my arsenal but I don't know if that would make things worse while kicking. Although for sure I cannot stop sleeping during wd. Quite frankly I've never gotten past day 3 because it is a mentally dark place. I've gotten past opioid withdrawals but this is very different and actually in my opinion worse.

 

[nuttynutskin]

Can always give it a shot and if it's too much taper down.

 

[EphemeralOutlet141]

I am writing this from kratom wd myself. I plan to use pregabalin to smooth out some of the restlessness and blinding mental anguish, very sparingly though. I'm with you on this almost being worse man, I can feel it in my bones. It's rough mentally in a bad way.

I've been tapering pretty well and sticking to 3 doses a day, I can tell it's working at least a little bit as my doses get a little stronger.

 

[burn out]

I just quit kratom about 10 months after a long daily dependancy. I wouldn't recommend quitting cold turkey, just taper a bit first and then stop. A good way to taper kratom is maybe cut your dose in half, then when you feel wd take the other half of your regular dose. If you keep at this, always waiting till you feel bad before you dose, you will soon level out on only half your dose!

Once you taper a bit, my next tip is to get some codeine like tylenol 3 and then just stop taking kratom and take the codeine for a few days in low doses. It will take away most of the kratom withdrawal symptoms and if you only take it for a few days you won't develop any codeine dependency. One you stop the codeine, the acute kratom withdrawal will be over and you will go straight into PAWS.

PAWS is actually the hardest part because it can last a long time. It took a few months for it to go away for me. It wasn't that bad in retrospect, but when you're at like day 46 off kratom and you still feel like crap it can feel very tough because you don't know when or if you will ever feel better. That's really what makes it hard. If you could have a guarantee that by day X you would be totally better, it would be easy because the symptoms themselves are not super intense but you do just kind of feel like crap, depressed, low energy, etc. The key is just ignore those feelings and tell yourself you will re-evaluate in September (or whatever a few months from then is).

Honestly overall it was not that bad compared to other drugs I've had to quit. I was able to work throughout almost the whole withdrawal. I took advantage of some time off I had for another reason during the first week I quit and then was able to make it until the 4th of July weekend when I had five days off. After that I just worked through it and some time in the fall the PAWS went away.

One thing I forgot to mention is that there is some herb, black seed oil, that supposedly helps. I lack personal experience with it.

 

[GetMeOutOfThisCRAP]

I just quit kratom about 10 months after a long daily dependancy. I wouldn't recommend quitting cold turkey, just taper a bit first and then stop. A good way to taper kratom is maybe cut your dose in half, then when you feel wd take the other half of your regular dose. If you keep at this, always waiting till you feel bad before you dose, you will soon level out on only half your dose!

Once you taper a bit, my next tip is to get some codeine like tylenol 3 and then just stop taking kratom and take the codeine for a few days in low doses. It will take away most of the kratom withdrawal symptoms and if you only take it for a few days you won't develop any codeine dependency. One you stop the codeine, the acute kratom withdrawal will be over and you will go straight into PAWS.

PAWS is actually the hardest part because it can last a long time. It took a few months for it to go away for me. It wasn't that bad in retrospect, but when you're at like day 46 off kratom and you still feel like crap it can feel very tough because you don't know when or if you will ever feel better. That's really what makes it hard. If you could have a guarantee that by day X you would be totally better, it would be easy because the symptoms themselves are not super intense but you do just kind of feel like crap, depressed, low energy, etc. The key is just ignore those feelings and tell yourself you will re-evaluate in September (or whatever a few months from then is).

Honestly overall it was not that bad compared to other drugs I've had to quit. I was able to work throughout almost the whole withdrawal. I took advantage of some time off I had for another reason during the first week I quit and then was able to make it until the 4th of July weekend when I had five days off. After that I just worked through it and some time in the fall the PAWS went away.

One thing I forgot to mention is that there is some herb, black seed oil, that supposedly helps. I lack personal experience with it.

I did not think kratom would have PAWs per say becaues it doesn't seem like the brain becomes dependent on it for mood stability like real opies. Well that sucks. Can I ask how long your use was for/the amounts you were using?

 

[burn out]

The brain absolutely does become dependent on it for mood stability, just not to the same degree as opiates. In some ways, it's like a milder version of opiate dependence and in other ways it's a different thing altogether.

I was using it for about 4-5 years in the amounts of 8 to 16 grams a day. Not everyone coming off it will necessarily get a bad case of PAWS, so you could potentially feel better a lot sooner than I did. Just be prepared for PAWS because it does happen to a number of kratom users. I was also using opiates before I got on kratom, so who knows what effect that may have had.

There's a reddit dedicated to quitting kratom and a lot of the discussion there is people struggling badly with PAWS, it scared me reading it when I was going through it but it ended up not being that bad. Of course that may also have something to do with the fact that my life has been a complete disaster and I already have major lasting mental problems from all sorts of other drugs so kratom PAWS was kind of a small fish for me to fry. However I can see how for someone who hasn't been through multiple life threatening addictions and isn't used to living with serious mental illness, it could feel pretty devastating for a while.

There were a few times when visiting the quitting kratom reddit was helpful, because I just needed to read about what I was going through but overall I had to severely limit my time there because most likely a lot of the worst cases end up posting there since people who had an easier time quitting kratom are probably far less likely to spend time posting on a quitting kratom reddit. For comparison sake you can read the quitting caffeine reddit and you will see what a difficult time a lot of people seem to be having with that.

 

[FuckinAcidMan]

I feel so much better off of the damn kratom. I'm happy it is no longer a concern for me to have to chug down that green sludge tea I would make every fuckin day.

 

[burn out]

yeah it's so much better not having to worry about it anymore. I used to wake up to pee at night and have to dose so I wouldn't wake up in withdrawal. I can't say I feel much better though, I mean I was suicidal on kratom and I'm suicidal off kratom but at least I don't have to think about kratom anymore. No more worrying about when I will get off and how bad it will be. I can't believe how I wasted my life on drugs they just make things worse lol.

 

[RV Mystery Journey]

Glad you got off burn out. Makes me want to stop after this batch. And to think I just decided only to use it as this new job which isn't even full-time.

This definitely shows me it can become a mood crutch with risk of pretty bad physical dependence.

I wish I could recommend something else that wouldn't put you at risk of daily use but with the suicidal thing I guess all I can say is try exercise and meditation?

Also wish you the best GetMeOut

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

I've been in the same boat as you, multiple times...

If you can take the time to CT then take that option. Kratom withdrawals are pretty bad with the RLS but if you think you can tough it out go for it. If you have the self control for it you also have the option of dosing just a little bit ~2grams before bed to help with sleep, I don't think this method will protract the withdrawals by a significant amount.

Kratom addiction certainly doesn't get any better. I get absolutely nothing from it these days, i've been on it for over 2 years straight (with one couple month stint of sobriety) and 4 years on and off. I'm at about 20 grams a day and no dose will get me even slightly buzzed, the greatest feeling I get from it is the relief of withdrawal symptoms.

PAWS was one of the main reasons I went back to it. Kratom without a doubt has PAWS, it is just like any other opiate. I've also had pretty bad depression, possibly bipolar, my entire life so it was harder for me to cope with the added weight of PAWS.

Good luck, kratom is a shit drug, get it out of your life.

 

[Bonch]

I’ve been on it for years. I got off it twice but stupidly got back on it pretty hard. I spent way too much on it. I have tapered down a bit but still use like 4 times a day.
For me herb helps a bit and gabapentin too. It’s nice to know i am not alone.You are Not alone.Just keep tapering down and keep trying.You can do it

 

[burn out]

Glad you got off burn out. Makes me want to stop after this batch. And to think I just decided only to use it as this new job which isn't even full-time.

This definitely shows me it can become a mood crutch with risk of pretty bad physical dependence.

I wish I could recommend something else that wouldn't put you at risk of daily use but with the suicidal thing I guess all I can say is try exercise and meditation?

Also wish you the best GetMeOut

I gets lot of exercise and meditation makes me far more suicidal. It's ok though, you don't need to suggest anything. I'm "over" life. Not interested in it anymore.

 

[sekio]

A taper is probably best, esp. if you are taking large or frequent doses.

Despite the fact it is accepted as a "safe" drug (it is not super potent & it is a natural product) by many people, there are certainly cases of people who end up habitually using it too. Kratom has been shown to be an opioid just like any other especially when it comes to habituation/tolerance/dependence. And you can definitely OD on it if you take enough and manage to keep it all down, or combine too many other sedatives. The latest studies show that mitragynine is a prodrug converted by your liver into 7-hydroxymitragynine, which is a very potent opioid. The closest analogy would be something like codeine - it has mild activity as an opioid but your body converts it to morphine. It could explain why different people get different effects from kratom, too - if your liver makes more 7-OH-M, you get more sedated.

This is why people can use it for pain, treatment of opioid dependency, & as a recreational drug... and it's also evidence that maybe opioids (the non-superpotent ones at least) do not need to be as restricted as they are nowadays.