DOSE:

20 g

oral

Kratom

(tea)

BODY WEIGHT:

270 lb

I was a heavy opiate user for about 6 years, taking regular doses as high as 500mg of morphine per day. I went into withdrawals on a regular basis. I'd feel little sick 8 hours after the last dose. By the 24 hour mark, I was feeling pretty bad. By the second day, I was a total mess.

'The most terrible flu ever' doesn't quite capture it. Buckets of cold sweat. My guts churned and squeezed painfully. The diarrhea was terrible and constant. All senses were amplified: sound was oppressive, light hurt. I laid in bed with my fingers splayed because I couldn't stand the feeling of them touching together. There was a near-complete loss of energy. I was incapable of doing the simplest thing.

Years after my final kick, and now I'm sipping Kratom tea. My regular dose is about a heaping half-cup full, about 20 grams worth, steeped in boiling water for 45 minutes. One in the morning, and sometimes a second in the evening.

After a year of this dosage, I decided to stop. I was a little scared, remembering my opiate kicking experiences. So I set aside a whole weekend to sweat it out. Last dose came Friday morning.

By Saturday morning, I felt a little under the weather. Not sniffles or anything, just mild disquiet, almost malaise. I was able to go downstairs and make coffee. Then breakfast. Then make phone calls. I watched some TV, went out for a walk, worked in the woodshop. I couldn't tell if the malaise got worse during the day. I went to bed worried that the next day it would really hit me.

Sunday comes, and things are pretty much the same. I feel a little slow, but not much different than yesterday. I do a crossword. I do laundry. I sweep out the garage, taking little breaks now and again to sit down.

By Monday, I was back at work. The malaise was nearly gone. No sniffles, no diarrhea, no outward signs that I'd just stopped taking heavy doses of a drug that some governments put in the same class as heroin.

By Tuesday, there are no symptoms at all. A week passes. A month. Nothing lingers.

I've now done this 2-3 times, with similar experience each time.

In my experience, Kratom withdrawal really doesn't compare to opiate withdrawal. The effects were so subtle as to almost go unnoticed. I have more troubles when I catch a slight cold.

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 89029
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 41
Published: Jan 23, 2014	Views: 4,145
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Kratom (203) : Various (28), Addiction & Habituation (10)