DOSE:

1.5 tsp

oral

Kratom

(ground / crushed)

BODY WEIGHT:

117 lb

I tried kratom for the first time after doing some extensive research on natural alternatives to Rx painkillers as well as an answer to severe anxiety and depression (I have exogenic, non-chemical depression, which might make a difference for my experience of the plant).

A bit of back-story - I'm an an ex-dancer/martial artist who suffered a spinal injury several years ago; right around the same time I fell ill with a chronic pain illness. I experience some level of pain, from mild to severe, on a daily basis and have for several years. I don't want to take heavy pain-killers anymore because of the detrimental long-term effects. I've been on vicodin, which is, of course, quite effective but also highly addictive, not to mention the tolerance one builds over time. I've also used tramadol, which is quite effective but terribly expensive. I've never had trouble putting it down when I didn't need it, so I luckily was able to avoid the addiction - but there are periods when I have to take something for pain every day for weeks at a time, and tolerance is a problem.

I'm also dealing with the death of my young son, which has left me depressed, anxious, and with some PTSD symptoms like trouble concentrating and irritability as well as insomnia.

I received several different strains of kratom from a reliable vendor, and as I had a long day with a lot of work ahead of me that requires creativity and a lot of concentration I went with the white-vein variety.

I'd heard about the horrible taste, but as an Herbalist-in-training, I've eaten the vilest things you can imagine and so wasn't surprised that I found the taste not nearly as bad as rumoured. I put 1 1/2 teaspoon's worth of powder into a banana-chocolate protein smoothie, and could barely taste it at all.

After about 1/2 hour, the moderate all-over body pain I was feeling as well as the fairly severe endometriosis cramps were gone. I mean, completely. I also felt a very subtle, non-speedy but very real increase in energy. I was able to finish up an incredible amount of work without stopping for a break, took a walk, and worked on a new project. I work in an artistic field and I found this didn't interfere at all with my need to think creatively. I also felt a bit of euphoria - nothing that would make functioning difficult - it was extremely pleasant.

I felt my mood quite improved - it sort of put my head in a space where I wasn't crippled by my grief for my son (it was just his birthday and soon the anniversary of his death - a very tough time of year for me), but instead I was able to experience it from a different place. After 3 years, it was almost as if I could step back a bit and breathe for the first time. I felt a huge relief from my usual ever-present anxiety, which might have been part of it. Anti-depressants don't work this well, which is why I didn't stay on them for more than a few months. It would be interesting to know why it affected me emotionally in this way...

I guess I could compare the effects of kratom to a really good night's sleep and mild euphoria as well as pain relief - and that mild buzzy feeling one gets with vicodin, which always had the side effect of lifting my mood and easing my anxiety as well. My pain was GONE. I felt GOOD for the first time in a long time. I felt *normal* again. The way I used to feel before I got injured/ill and lost my son. And as I mentioned, I experienced the grief in a different way on this stuff - I feel like it could help me with my healing process; it doesn't make grief disappear, obviously, but it helped me to feel more able to cope somehow.

Because such a small dose had such an extreme effect on me, I feel like I've really stumbled onto something amazing here. It sort of killed three birds with one stone - pain, anxiety and depression relief with the added boost of focused concentration and energy. Since then, I've had small doses every day for three days - and will use it to carry me through this chronic-pain flare-up.

I will have to see how I do with long-term use. I suspect not using it every day and keeping doses small would be beneficial to not building too much of a tolerance - I also read that switching the different strains can help with that too.

Although I can see how using a bigger dose could make one quite euphoric, my interest in it is medical/spiritual and not recreational. I also noted since my first use, it does make me nauseous if I take it more than one time in a day. It fades, but it's obvious that taking too much would make me too sick for abuse to be a temptation.

Really excellent experience, overall.

Exp Year: 2013	ExpID: 100416
Gender: Female
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Mar 25, 2018	Views: 4,046
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Kratom (203) : Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Medical Use (47), Not Applicable (38)