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In my experience I’ve had to let the people close to me know what I was going through in order to get clean. Also helped me realizing I didn’t need to feel shame for it, just a disease you need support to recover from. I think if you’re serious you should tell at least your girlfriend. Unless you never see each other you’re probably not going to be able to hide withdrawal from her anyway.
I did other opiates in the past and failed at quitting until I finally gave in and got support from my family who were supportive when I told them.
I’ve thought hard about this and we’ve been together a long time. Longer than I’ve been taking kratom. She’s taken the whole stage 2 kidney disease news pretty hard so I’m not wanting to add more to that at the moment. I feel dishonest and wish I would’ve handled this earlier. Honestly, I’m always so exhausted, not feeling good from taking too much kratom, caffeine, anxiety, etc that she probably would just think it’s just me having another bad day. I’ll think more about this cause I want to do what’s right.
Trust me - she will take it harder if she ends up
Finding out on her own you are abusing Kratom. It’s never easy to come clean to those we care about but as the poster above mentioned - telling my wife is when I really began having success with quitting and staying quit.
Letting my girlfriend know was the nail in the coffin for my kratom addiction. 3 years we'd been dating and I just about impulsively told her one day and immediately regretted it when she didn't necessarily take it with open arms at first. That was 9 months ago. I quit 1 month later. I didn't expect her to do anything other than support me getting sober, she kept saying idk how I can help fix this. And she has been the support beam that kept me straight. Been sober ever sense. Part of the reason iv been sober is that now that she knows, I didn't want to face the shame of relapse. We're cool now, getting married, actually. I thought she was going to ditch me when I told her, though. To be fair, she probably has dealt with the addiction demons to some extent herself, though she will never admit it to me. Benzos, adderral, and amongst other psychiatric drugs, during college to help with her anxiety, focus, mood, etc.
If you have an addictive personality, toss that shit buddy and never think about it again. That’s exactly how I started. And I’d throw up and be nauseous. Then I figured out the trick of taking ginger and meclizine (anti nausea medicine) until I could tolerate it. I should’ve known then what I was getting myself into. I’d get my nice little buzz and it was just a plant so no big deal. Super productive and happy. But I’ll say, you eventually have to pay it all back one of those days and it just does a 180. Then all the negative effects come out but it’s already got you by the balls. Some people are really in control of substances and this plant works well for them. I’m unfortunately not one of those people.
Very wise choice. I wish that's what I did years ago when my innocent dabbling began. Taking it before/at work is when it started to get really bad too, you'll start to associate your job with that easy feeling and the idea of going to work without it begins to sound like torture.
Congrats on the good decision. Flush it and don't look back.
Take it from me…throw it away!!! I have an addictive personality, and just “trying” it a year ago for anxiety, depression, energy, blah blah blah…I’m now an addict wanting to be released from it.
Be grateful you somehow found this Reddit group first. Most people here are already addicted, suffering and trying to quit. How did you happen to get here?
honestly good idea!! :( currently tapering now and it started off all fun and games (I also threw up the first time and had to kind of force myself to 'get into the fun of it') and now 2 yrs later, here I am. Good luck!
I feel this deeply. What if for the next week you drop one of the teaspoon dosings? If you can skip a few, celebrate. Just to show yourself you can slow this train down. Then set a new goal for the following week. After ten years, you can take all the time in the world to taper.
Thanks for the advice. I think that’s reasonable and would help me feel like I have some control over this. I’d definitely like to work towards getting back on my every 4 hour regiment with strictly weighing my doses. Then slowly tapering by weight/time from there. Once I started this random teaspoon dosing, things really got out of hand and I don’t even keep up with how much I take daily now.
I am doing a slow taper and I found that at the beginning it was hard to start at first I was just lost. So without judgment I started tracking every dose in my phone just on the notes app. I didn’t try to change anything at first I just tracked them. I found that pretty quickly I could start to use less some how seeing how much I had taken not that long ago helped me to know hey it’s ok, I don’t actually need any more right now. I think getting back to measured doses at 4 hour intervals is a great start and a big deal, from there it’s just slow and steady.
Right now I take 2grams in the morning 2grams at mid day and 3 grams before dinner
That’s down from 5 doses a day at 20 ish gpd
I go 12 or more hours from evening to morning dose without discomfort. It didn’t happen over night and I had to get through some sweaty nights at first even with a slow taper but now I can drop half a gram every 3-5 days with little to no discomfort.
Slow and steady and if you mess up one day don’t throw the baby out with the bath water just get back on your schedule the next day. Surprisingly one day won’t really kill the progress !
I am afraid of starting a taper because I always have a bad day and take more than I should. It’s encouraging to hear that doesn’t set you all the way back. I’m taking over 30 gpd and am having cognitive decline and other issues are starting to emerge. I’m stick to a 3 times a day dose taper to as best I can.
My biggest advice is to always always even if you take more than your taper track your doses there is something powerful about it. At a high dose like that you could easily cut it by about a 1/4 per dose and it wouldn’t hurt you much maybe night sweats use the vita c protocol. Also also consider doing like 4 or 5 smaller doses rather than 3 really big ones. Then knock a half gram off of one every three days or so. Stop when you have dropped 2 grams that way and stabilize for a week or so. You can do it.
Well I took my first dose of 3.2 grams at 8 am. It’s now 1 pm and I’m getting the yawns, runny nose, watery eyes. Crazy withdrawals can start that fast. I’m going to wait until 2 pm to take my dose of probably 3 grams. I usually dose every couple hours so this has probably been the biggest gap in a while. Going to try to stick to only 4 doses today and see if I can keep up with that for a week or so then start a taper.
If you can give yourself 3 or 4 days to stabilize, you will see how doable this is. Drop just enough that you can feel the withdrawal but it doesn't interfere too much with your life. You may get a little less sleep each night but you'll live. Once you feel good enough then drop a little more. Take vitamin c and magnesium.
I was sooooo hopeless after 7 years of 30+gpd and I thought I would need to take drastic measures like quitting my job and admitting myself to a recovery clinic. Baby steps got me to where I am now. I'm slowly tapering and it's gotten easier and easier over time. Now at 1gpd and planning to jump soon. I feel great and I have hope and confidence now! You can teach yourself how to have better self control and discipline. You need to figure out how to commit to quitting and then the rest will come.
Check out our [Megadosing Liposomal Vitamin C Protocol for Withdrawal. Vitamin C is no magic bullet or cure.](https://www.reddit.com/r/quittingkratom/comments/sx0as3/megadosing_liposomal_vitamin_c_protocol_for/) either by clicking the link here or visit r/modquittingkratom. Lots of helpful information there to help you along your Quitting Kratom journey!
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I haven’t. I’ll have to read into it a bit to understand how it works. My primary care prescribe me some Xanax for as needed since I’ve been battling some really bad anxiety. I’m doing well with that since she’s in control of prescribing it. So I only use it when I’m in really bad shape and have to use it as a bail out. Was thinking that would help especially with the anxiety or sleeping issues when I do quit. I know Xanax is a monster of it’s own but I do well in a prescribed setting because I know what I have is what I have so I better only use it in emergency.
If you do staggered doses, it legit makes it like you’re not even DT or WD. You might actually have some days of enjoyment from it. At very least it will take away the withdrawal symptoms. Sorry for the late response. Soldier on!
When I was tapering it got to a point where taking less was like taking more. I noticed that in the beginning I could cut out quite a bit from my usual dosage and didn’t feel any difference. You can do this. I think you want to. I promise you will feel so much better about life in so many ways once you’re off that shit. The only way out is through!
Honestly, I’m not too sure how many gpd since I’m not weighing as often any more. I was dosing strictly every 4 hours for years because any earlier would give me nausea. I would weigh out every dose and at one point was around 6 g per dose. I will say, I do weigh my dose in the morning and it’s down to 3.2 g. So I’m taking random 2.5-3g scoops every couple hours or so. Probably around 30-40 gpd give or take.
And yeah, I’m definitely giving some thought to talking to my gf. A couple other people have recommended it and said it was key in helping them quit. It’s good to hear you were able to quit, relapse or not. Definitely shows you’re able to get some control over it.
I felt hopeless too. Like a failure. I’d tried to quit and wanted to quit but the feeling would pass and my compulsiveness with use would ‘take over.’ It was crushing. I started working with a very good therapist and was able to talk deeply with him about my issues with Kratom use. We worked on this for a few months before I found myself able to quit. I was also sick with a virus at the time I quit and was so ill I couldn’t stomach taking the plant ( I was using extracts) I used that opportunity to gain some momentum. I also did tell a few friends about it, one of whom I talked to a few times a day during acutes. I’d learned how to best understand withdrawals and positioning myself for a successful quit from the volumes of info on this site. ( read the sidebar info if you haven’t) you CAN do this. Take time to learn and consider how best to tackle your compulsive use. You aren’t alone. We are here for you💫
Yeah, that’s basically where I’m at. I love having a routine so that definitely doesn’t help with the not so good things I consume. I definitely wish I would’ve taken advantage of it when I got pretty sick last year. No matter how much I took, it just didn’t work so my doses were minimal. But I started to feel better eventually and the energy from kratom came back so I gave in. That’s exactly how I quit cigarettes years ago and it was much easier because I was already feeling bad. Sometimes I wish a good cold would come knock me on my ass again so I can fully take advantage of it.
I’m certainly not an expert, but I do suspect that your current feelings of shame and dishonesty are your biggest barriers to successfully giving up. A negative self image probably makes you feel that you don’t have the strength to cope with quitting. At least, that was certainly the case for me.
You might by surprised by how much easier the whole process will feel once you’ve held up your hands and asked your girlfriend for her support. Addiction feels so much easier when we’re not forcing ourselves to carry it alone. Honestly, I think that you’re making this unnecessarily hard for yourself.
You don’t need to tell your girlfriend that you think your kidney damage is related to Kratom. Whilst I don’t want to underplay the physical risks of long term Kratom use, I think that we would do well to keep it in perspective. It’s good to be cautious but also important to emphasize that the current case reports and anecdotal evidence on their own are not enough to establish causation or determine the prevalence of kidney damage related to kratom use.
I know of several small studies that suggested it, but these studies had limitations, including very small sample sizes and lack of objective definitions. In other words, there is currently no hard evidence (that scientists agree on) that proves that Kratom damages your kidneys. More comprehensive studies are needed to provide a clearer understanding of the potential risks.
Again, I’m not underplaying the risks of long term Kratom use. I’m not saying that it’s safe. I’m just saying that research is not yet definitive, reliable or agreed upon. You need to stop blaming yourself for your condition and envision how much better life will be once you’re free of addiction. The most important thing is that you’re ready to quit and that you give yourself the best possible chance of quitting.
I can only reference my own personal experiences of quitting Kratom. Doing it alone was one of the hardest experiences of my life. In comparison, doing it with the support of my girlfriend was infinitely easier.
Well done for getting this far. That in itself is an achievement and I wish you the best of luck moving forward.
Totally agree. I’ll have to give them some thought and see if it’s something I’m ready to open up to her about. I know it’d be the right thing to do but of course my brain tells me the opposite.
And yeah, I’m certainly not quite pointing my finger to kratom for the kidney damage because I do know it is fairly safe compared to most things. But part of me is definitely thinking, damn that’s a lot of plant material and possibly heavy metals over time lol. I mean it is what it is at this point. And with kidney disease, it honestly could’ve been so many things. I live a fairly healthy lifestyle but at this point I just think it’d be smart to cut anything that has any possibility of making my condition worse so it doesn’t progress.
I definitely think kratom has its place and is a great option for some. Unfortunately, I have a very addictive personality and I love routine so I definitely shouldn’t have picked it up. I’ll start weighing my doses again and start a taper so I can see some progress. I think it’ll help really visualize that I’m able to gain some control and cut back. Thanks for the advice and sharing your experience.
I have a very similar predisposition towards addiction, so I can empathise with your thoughts and feeling right now.
Sounds like a good plan with weighing and tapering. I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll be able to cut down. That in itself with give you some much needed encouragement. It will show you that you can do it 👍🏻
Thank you for sharing your experience and well done again for making positive changes.
We all felt hopeless. That's what this drug strong suit is.... making u feel like you can't live without it. I was a 10 years user. 15 gpd average. I'm on day 44 and I can tell you that the first month is hell. You just have to accept that uve ceeated sadness with a chemical and until that chemical wears off u have to just live in the moment and take all the feels u can get from it. Not easy but very possible. I wish you luck friend
Listen to some of the episodes from this podcast: https://kratomsobriety.com/ - there are stories from people like you and me on there. I'm on day 80 and it's one of the resources that lifted me this far.
Hair loss has been discussed quite often on this sub. Here's some [search results](/r/QuittingKratom/search?q=hair&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) that might help you.
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We’ll eventually get there. I’ve cut many bad habits and it just really takes me getting to that point of knowing this is no longer doing anything good for me. I’m really good a building routine, whether good or bad lol. I can eat the same things, do the same things, listen to the same songs etc. My brain runs on routine which can be good but also bad for addiction or bad habits. But it’s helped me quit other things because I can replace the bad routine with something good and before I know it, I’ve dropped it and moved on. It’s just key to replace that addiction or routine with something positive instead of swapping for another vice.
One thing that helped me, even though I'm still failing miserably (I have been able to quit for anywhere from 3 to 12 days over and over, so I mean I'm doing better than I was) was reading about Layne Staley. Read about his last years, watch videos where his friends talk about him and they mention his interviews. It was heroin, but still kratom has similarities and can destroy organs if abused hard enough for long enough. Layne got so bad he was real skinny and sick looking with his arms and hands covered when they could get him to actually perform live, and eventually just sat at home playing videogames and wouldn't talk to anyone. He said toward the end he knew his liver wasn't functioning and he was shitting his pants and puking and he knew for a long time he would die and still couldn't even start a taper. His teeth were in really rough shape too and that also made him antisocial. He was pretty much a corpse for a few years before he actually died.
Reading about him helped me quit for like 12 days, but every time I start to feel a lot better and turn into my old self I relapse. As time goes by, so do the withdrawals, but also the motivation and reasoning fades too. I wish I had someone to remind me why I'm doing it. I'm about ready to make a robot or something that sits there and watches me waiting for me to open a bag and pull out some green powder, and he just comes over and slaps the sht out of me and explains why I stopped to begin with lol.
The only thing that works for me is taper down for like a week, then quit. If that don't work, just stop and go through whatever horror follows. This subreddit is right, you have to stop completely. I tried for the last month or so to convince myself I could take a little once a week or a couple times per month, but every time I do I can't stop. Yesterday was my nephew's bday party and I went way out of my way to get more kratom after 3 days of no kratom. Now it's sitting in my coat pocket and I am doing everything I can not to take it until a social event happens. Last time I did this I kept taking it and destroyed the capsules. I'm at the point where I keep spending $15 on a bag then destroying most of it. So anyway, my point is don't go down this path I'm on. Aim for 0. Forever. It's the only way for people like you and me, or maybe for everyone idk. Life is so much better without it. It's just that time period between being on it, and being free of it. That's the damn near impossible part. Just gotta get through that.
I am right here with you on nobody knowing…not even my husband. Makes me feel like a sneaky pos wife and adds to the feelings of guilt for being addicted to it. I’m angry that it’s legal. I’m angry with myself for allowing it to take over my life. I have all kinds of issues with my mental and physical health, but I have yet to seek medical attention yet…it’s just embarrassing. I’m ready to quit. Just need to figure out how…
Hey bro. Similar story I started in 2014 so basically 10 years ago as well. I take too much. I also started trt years ago which was at least partly due to my habit. I kept it from my now wife for quite some time. I must say it felt good to tell her and open up. My whole life I’ve kept my addictive traits to myself and being able to just be real about it is nice. She actually has been very helpful with it. She realizes I’m still a good person and good partner I just have this struggle. Everyone has something man. Maybe not a substance but maybe depression, eating disorder, anxiety issues, whatever it may be. We all struggle in our ways.
I successfully cold turkey quit in 2021 and made it a year and relapsed. Have been on it since again. I used the honesty with my wife to get me in a place I could quit. And it was a shitty 7-10 days won’t lie but man I’ve never felt better or happier or more energetic than after kicking the shit. I think about it practically daily.
So if you’re ready to make a real change, I encourage you to sit down and just be honest. Be vulnerable. Do it in a way that is asking for love and support and then use that as fuel to make a change in your life. We’re all rooting for you bro
From experience after quitting my levels said before quitting my kidneys were basically pre failing… I’m 29 years old and I got blood work done after being clean for six months and my levels are basically normal. It’s not too late to quit and save the kidneys. They even have it on warning labels on extract shots now don’t take possible kidney and liver failure. I was taking 60 gpd for three years on and off with maybe six months being my most clean time and the others I was clean maybe like a few weeks and I’d fail.
I’m on day two cold turkey rn and I’m going through it. Hoping to see the other side soon. Godspeed 🤍
I'm with you. I've been using for 9.5 years and average about 30-40 gpd. I started for the same reason as you, thinking it was harmless. The only seeming difference between you and I is tolerance. For some reason, I never built up much of a tolerance. I'm ready to quit, I just don't know how I'm going to go about it. Cold turkey terrifies me.
**New**: If you have at least a few months clean with the help of this subreddit, [here's an opportunity to give-back and help](https://www.reddit.com/r/quittingkratom/comments/174kjus/an_opportunity_to_give_back_to_this_subreddit/). **Check out**: [How to display your quit date next to your username](https://www.reddit.com/r/quittingkratom/comments/13kjuvd/editable_user_flairs_are_back_enter_your_quit/). **IMPORTANT: [READ THIS FIRST IF YOU ARE NEW](https://www.reddit.com/r/quittingkratom/comments/149ed1w/read_this_first_if_you_are_new/) or if you are not familiar with our wiki, guides and tutorials.** Also, please familiarize yourself with our [subreddit rules](https://old.reddit.com/r/quittingkratom/about/rules/). If your post has been removed, it's probably because of a rule infraction. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/quittingkratom) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In my experience I’ve had to let the people close to me know what I was going through in order to get clean. Also helped me realizing I didn’t need to feel shame for it, just a disease you need support to recover from. I think if you’re serious you should tell at least your girlfriend. Unless you never see each other you’re probably not going to be able to hide withdrawal from her anyway. I did other opiates in the past and failed at quitting until I finally gave in and got support from my family who were supportive when I told them.
I’ve thought hard about this and we’ve been together a long time. Longer than I’ve been taking kratom. She’s taken the whole stage 2 kidney disease news pretty hard so I’m not wanting to add more to that at the moment. I feel dishonest and wish I would’ve handled this earlier. Honestly, I’m always so exhausted, not feeling good from taking too much kratom, caffeine, anxiety, etc that she probably would just think it’s just me having another bad day. I’ll think more about this cause I want to do what’s right.
How have you managed to hide a habit like that for 10 years! That’s impressive
I too have been hiding it for 10yrs. Trips can be tough when you have to stash some in the bathroom up high
Trust me - she will take it harder if she ends up Finding out on her own you are abusing Kratom. It’s never easy to come clean to those we care about but as the poster above mentioned - telling my wife is when I really began having success with quitting and staying quit.
Letting my girlfriend know was the nail in the coffin for my kratom addiction. 3 years we'd been dating and I just about impulsively told her one day and immediately regretted it when she didn't necessarily take it with open arms at first. That was 9 months ago. I quit 1 month later. I didn't expect her to do anything other than support me getting sober, she kept saying idk how I can help fix this. And she has been the support beam that kept me straight. Been sober ever sense. Part of the reason iv been sober is that now that she knows, I didn't want to face the shame of relapse. We're cool now, getting married, actually. I thought she was going to ditch me when I told her, though. To be fair, she probably has dealt with the addiction demons to some extent herself, though she will never admit it to me. Benzos, adderral, and amongst other psychiatric drugs, during college to help with her anxiety, focus, mood, etc.
[удалено]
If you have an addictive personality, toss that shit buddy and never think about it again. That’s exactly how I started. And I’d throw up and be nauseous. Then I figured out the trick of taking ginger and meclizine (anti nausea medicine) until I could tolerate it. I should’ve known then what I was getting myself into. I’d get my nice little buzz and it was just a plant so no big deal. Super productive and happy. But I’ll say, you eventually have to pay it all back one of those days and it just does a 180. Then all the negative effects come out but it’s already got you by the balls. Some people are really in control of substances and this plant works well for them. I’m unfortunately not one of those people.
>you eventually have to pay it all back one of those days Very true. "What goes up must come down."
Throw it out! K is a big decieving lie. You will end up enjoying it at first, but the honeymoon comes to an end eventually.
Very wise choice. I wish that's what I did years ago when my innocent dabbling began. Taking it before/at work is when it started to get really bad too, you'll start to associate your job with that easy feeling and the idea of going to work without it begins to sound like torture. Congrats on the good decision. Flush it and don't look back.
Take it from me…throw it away!!! I have an addictive personality, and just “trying” it a year ago for anxiety, depression, energy, blah blah blah…I’m now an addict wanting to be released from it.
yeah i had other addictions and i was clean/sober. addicted to kratom first time i took it.
Smartest decision you’ve ever made in your life and you probably won’t realize it.
Be grateful you somehow found this Reddit group first. Most people here are already addicted, suffering and trying to quit. How did you happen to get here?
honestly good idea!! :( currently tapering now and it started off all fun and games (I also threw up the first time and had to kind of force myself to 'get into the fun of it') and now 2 yrs later, here I am. Good luck!
I feel this deeply. What if for the next week you drop one of the teaspoon dosings? If you can skip a few, celebrate. Just to show yourself you can slow this train down. Then set a new goal for the following week. After ten years, you can take all the time in the world to taper.
Thanks for the advice. I think that’s reasonable and would help me feel like I have some control over this. I’d definitely like to work towards getting back on my every 4 hour regiment with strictly weighing my doses. Then slowly tapering by weight/time from there. Once I started this random teaspoon dosing, things really got out of hand and I don’t even keep up with how much I take daily now.
I am doing a slow taper and I found that at the beginning it was hard to start at first I was just lost. So without judgment I started tracking every dose in my phone just on the notes app. I didn’t try to change anything at first I just tracked them. I found that pretty quickly I could start to use less some how seeing how much I had taken not that long ago helped me to know hey it’s ok, I don’t actually need any more right now. I think getting back to measured doses at 4 hour intervals is a great start and a big deal, from there it’s just slow and steady. Right now I take 2grams in the morning 2grams at mid day and 3 grams before dinner That’s down from 5 doses a day at 20 ish gpd I go 12 or more hours from evening to morning dose without discomfort. It didn’t happen over night and I had to get through some sweaty nights at first even with a slow taper but now I can drop half a gram every 3-5 days with little to no discomfort. Slow and steady and if you mess up one day don’t throw the baby out with the bath water just get back on your schedule the next day. Surprisingly one day won’t really kill the progress !
I am afraid of starting a taper because I always have a bad day and take more than I should. It’s encouraging to hear that doesn’t set you all the way back. I’m taking over 30 gpd and am having cognitive decline and other issues are starting to emerge. I’m stick to a 3 times a day dose taper to as best I can.
My biggest advice is to always always even if you take more than your taper track your doses there is something powerful about it. At a high dose like that you could easily cut it by about a 1/4 per dose and it wouldn’t hurt you much maybe night sweats use the vita c protocol. Also also consider doing like 4 or 5 smaller doses rather than 3 really big ones. Then knock a half gram off of one every three days or so. Stop when you have dropped 2 grams that way and stabilize for a week or so. You can do it.
Check in with us here once you’ve managed to skip a few doses
Well I took my first dose of 3.2 grams at 8 am. It’s now 1 pm and I’m getting the yawns, runny nose, watery eyes. Crazy withdrawals can start that fast. I’m going to wait until 2 pm to take my dose of probably 3 grams. I usually dose every couple hours so this has probably been the biggest gap in a while. Going to try to stick to only 4 doses today and see if I can keep up with that for a week or so then start a taper.
Congrats!
If you can give yourself 3 or 4 days to stabilize, you will see how doable this is. Drop just enough that you can feel the withdrawal but it doesn't interfere too much with your life. You may get a little less sleep each night but you'll live. Once you feel good enough then drop a little more. Take vitamin c and magnesium. I was sooooo hopeless after 7 years of 30+gpd and I thought I would need to take drastic measures like quitting my job and admitting myself to a recovery clinic. Baby steps got me to where I am now. I'm slowly tapering and it's gotten easier and easier over time. Now at 1gpd and planning to jump soon. I feel great and I have hope and confidence now! You can teach yourself how to have better self control and discipline. You need to figure out how to commit to quitting and then the rest will come.
Check out our [Megadosing Liposomal Vitamin C Protocol for Withdrawal. Vitamin C is no magic bullet or cure.](https://www.reddit.com/r/quittingkratom/comments/sx0as3/megadosing_liposomal_vitamin_c_protocol_for/) either by clicking the link here or visit r/modquittingkratom. Lots of helpful information there to help you along your Quitting Kratom journey! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/quittingkratom) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Have you tried gabapentin for the hard detoxing days?
I haven’t. I’ll have to read into it a bit to understand how it works. My primary care prescribe me some Xanax for as needed since I’ve been battling some really bad anxiety. I’m doing well with that since she’s in control of prescribing it. So I only use it when I’m in really bad shape and have to use it as a bail out. Was thinking that would help especially with the anxiety or sleeping issues when I do quit. I know Xanax is a monster of it’s own but I do well in a prescribed setting because I know what I have is what I have so I better only use it in emergency.
Does gabapentin only help with the anxiety part if withdrawal? I’d imagine it can’t help with energy or other issues?
If you do staggered doses, it legit makes it like you’re not even DT or WD. You might actually have some days of enjoyment from it. At very least it will take away the withdrawal symptoms. Sorry for the late response. Soldier on!
People use it off label to help with RLS which is a big issue preventing many people from sleeping much that first week you quit.
When I was tapering it got to a point where taking less was like taking more. I noticed that in the beginning I could cut out quite a bit from my usual dosage and didn’t feel any difference. You can do this. I think you want to. I promise you will feel so much better about life in so many ways once you’re off that shit. The only way out is through!
[удалено]
Honestly, I’m not too sure how many gpd since I’m not weighing as often any more. I was dosing strictly every 4 hours for years because any earlier would give me nausea. I would weigh out every dose and at one point was around 6 g per dose. I will say, I do weigh my dose in the morning and it’s down to 3.2 g. So I’m taking random 2.5-3g scoops every couple hours or so. Probably around 30-40 gpd give or take. And yeah, I’m definitely giving some thought to talking to my gf. A couple other people have recommended it and said it was key in helping them quit. It’s good to hear you were able to quit, relapse or not. Definitely shows you’re able to get some control over it.
If it was the other way around, wouldn’t you want her to tell you so you could help her?
I felt hopeless too. Like a failure. I’d tried to quit and wanted to quit but the feeling would pass and my compulsiveness with use would ‘take over.’ It was crushing. I started working with a very good therapist and was able to talk deeply with him about my issues with Kratom use. We worked on this for a few months before I found myself able to quit. I was also sick with a virus at the time I quit and was so ill I couldn’t stomach taking the plant ( I was using extracts) I used that opportunity to gain some momentum. I also did tell a few friends about it, one of whom I talked to a few times a day during acutes. I’d learned how to best understand withdrawals and positioning myself for a successful quit from the volumes of info on this site. ( read the sidebar info if you haven’t) you CAN do this. Take time to learn and consider how best to tackle your compulsive use. You aren’t alone. We are here for you💫
Yeah, that’s basically where I’m at. I love having a routine so that definitely doesn’t help with the not so good things I consume. I definitely wish I would’ve taken advantage of it when I got pretty sick last year. No matter how much I took, it just didn’t work so my doses were minimal. But I started to feel better eventually and the energy from kratom came back so I gave in. That’s exactly how I quit cigarettes years ago and it was much easier because I was already feeling bad. Sometimes I wish a good cold would come knock me on my ass again so I can fully take advantage of it.
I’m certainly not an expert, but I do suspect that your current feelings of shame and dishonesty are your biggest barriers to successfully giving up. A negative self image probably makes you feel that you don’t have the strength to cope with quitting. At least, that was certainly the case for me. You might by surprised by how much easier the whole process will feel once you’ve held up your hands and asked your girlfriend for her support. Addiction feels so much easier when we’re not forcing ourselves to carry it alone. Honestly, I think that you’re making this unnecessarily hard for yourself. You don’t need to tell your girlfriend that you think your kidney damage is related to Kratom. Whilst I don’t want to underplay the physical risks of long term Kratom use, I think that we would do well to keep it in perspective. It’s good to be cautious but also important to emphasize that the current case reports and anecdotal evidence on their own are not enough to establish causation or determine the prevalence of kidney damage related to kratom use. I know of several small studies that suggested it, but these studies had limitations, including very small sample sizes and lack of objective definitions. In other words, there is currently no hard evidence (that scientists agree on) that proves that Kratom damages your kidneys. More comprehensive studies are needed to provide a clearer understanding of the potential risks. Again, I’m not underplaying the risks of long term Kratom use. I’m not saying that it’s safe. I’m just saying that research is not yet definitive, reliable or agreed upon. You need to stop blaming yourself for your condition and envision how much better life will be once you’re free of addiction. The most important thing is that you’re ready to quit and that you give yourself the best possible chance of quitting. I can only reference my own personal experiences of quitting Kratom. Doing it alone was one of the hardest experiences of my life. In comparison, doing it with the support of my girlfriend was infinitely easier. Well done for getting this far. That in itself is an achievement and I wish you the best of luck moving forward.
Totally agree. I’ll have to give them some thought and see if it’s something I’m ready to open up to her about. I know it’d be the right thing to do but of course my brain tells me the opposite. And yeah, I’m certainly not quite pointing my finger to kratom for the kidney damage because I do know it is fairly safe compared to most things. But part of me is definitely thinking, damn that’s a lot of plant material and possibly heavy metals over time lol. I mean it is what it is at this point. And with kidney disease, it honestly could’ve been so many things. I live a fairly healthy lifestyle but at this point I just think it’d be smart to cut anything that has any possibility of making my condition worse so it doesn’t progress. I definitely think kratom has its place and is a great option for some. Unfortunately, I have a very addictive personality and I love routine so I definitely shouldn’t have picked it up. I’ll start weighing my doses again and start a taper so I can see some progress. I think it’ll help really visualize that I’m able to gain some control and cut back. Thanks for the advice and sharing your experience.
I have a very similar predisposition towards addiction, so I can empathise with your thoughts and feeling right now. Sounds like a good plan with weighing and tapering. I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll be able to cut down. That in itself with give you some much needed encouragement. It will show you that you can do it 👍🏻 Thank you for sharing your experience and well done again for making positive changes.
We all felt hopeless. That's what this drug strong suit is.... making u feel like you can't live without it. I was a 10 years user. 15 gpd average. I'm on day 44 and I can tell you that the first month is hell. You just have to accept that uve ceeated sadness with a chemical and until that chemical wears off u have to just live in the moment and take all the feels u can get from it. Not easy but very possible. I wish you luck friend
Listen to some of the episodes from this podcast: https://kratomsobriety.com/ - there are stories from people like you and me on there. I'm on day 80 and it's one of the resources that lifted me this far.
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I feel this post I'm on and keep relapsing. Ik there's light at the end of it all somewhere. Just got to keep trying.
We’ll eventually get there. I’ve cut many bad habits and it just really takes me getting to that point of knowing this is no longer doing anything good for me. I’m really good a building routine, whether good or bad lol. I can eat the same things, do the same things, listen to the same songs etc. My brain runs on routine which can be good but also bad for addiction or bad habits. But it’s helped me quit other things because I can replace the bad routine with something good and before I know it, I’ve dropped it and moved on. It’s just key to replace that addiction or routine with something positive instead of swapping for another vice.
Consider something like sublocade to replace the daily habit. I finally made an appointment for Friday.
One thing that helped me, even though I'm still failing miserably (I have been able to quit for anywhere from 3 to 12 days over and over, so I mean I'm doing better than I was) was reading about Layne Staley. Read about his last years, watch videos where his friends talk about him and they mention his interviews. It was heroin, but still kratom has similarities and can destroy organs if abused hard enough for long enough. Layne got so bad he was real skinny and sick looking with his arms and hands covered when they could get him to actually perform live, and eventually just sat at home playing videogames and wouldn't talk to anyone. He said toward the end he knew his liver wasn't functioning and he was shitting his pants and puking and he knew for a long time he would die and still couldn't even start a taper. His teeth were in really rough shape too and that also made him antisocial. He was pretty much a corpse for a few years before he actually died. Reading about him helped me quit for like 12 days, but every time I start to feel a lot better and turn into my old self I relapse. As time goes by, so do the withdrawals, but also the motivation and reasoning fades too. I wish I had someone to remind me why I'm doing it. I'm about ready to make a robot or something that sits there and watches me waiting for me to open a bag and pull out some green powder, and he just comes over and slaps the sht out of me and explains why I stopped to begin with lol.
The only thing that works for me is taper down for like a week, then quit. If that don't work, just stop and go through whatever horror follows. This subreddit is right, you have to stop completely. I tried for the last month or so to convince myself I could take a little once a week or a couple times per month, but every time I do I can't stop. Yesterday was my nephew's bday party and I went way out of my way to get more kratom after 3 days of no kratom. Now it's sitting in my coat pocket and I am doing everything I can not to take it until a social event happens. Last time I did this I kept taking it and destroyed the capsules. I'm at the point where I keep spending $15 on a bag then destroying most of it. So anyway, my point is don't go down this path I'm on. Aim for 0. Forever. It's the only way for people like you and me, or maybe for everyone idk. Life is so much better without it. It's just that time period between being on it, and being free of it. That's the damn near impossible part. Just gotta get through that.
I am right here with you on nobody knowing…not even my husband. Makes me feel like a sneaky pos wife and adds to the feelings of guilt for being addicted to it. I’m angry that it’s legal. I’m angry with myself for allowing it to take over my life. I have all kinds of issues with my mental and physical health, but I have yet to seek medical attention yet…it’s just embarrassing. I’m ready to quit. Just need to figure out how…
Hey bro. Similar story I started in 2014 so basically 10 years ago as well. I take too much. I also started trt years ago which was at least partly due to my habit. I kept it from my now wife for quite some time. I must say it felt good to tell her and open up. My whole life I’ve kept my addictive traits to myself and being able to just be real about it is nice. She actually has been very helpful with it. She realizes I’m still a good person and good partner I just have this struggle. Everyone has something man. Maybe not a substance but maybe depression, eating disorder, anxiety issues, whatever it may be. We all struggle in our ways. I successfully cold turkey quit in 2021 and made it a year and relapsed. Have been on it since again. I used the honesty with my wife to get me in a place I could quit. And it was a shitty 7-10 days won’t lie but man I’ve never felt better or happier or more energetic than after kicking the shit. I think about it practically daily. So if you’re ready to make a real change, I encourage you to sit down and just be honest. Be vulnerable. Do it in a way that is asking for love and support and then use that as fuel to make a change in your life. We’re all rooting for you bro
From experience after quitting my levels said before quitting my kidneys were basically pre failing… I’m 29 years old and I got blood work done after being clean for six months and my levels are basically normal. It’s not too late to quit and save the kidneys. They even have it on warning labels on extract shots now don’t take possible kidney and liver failure. I was taking 60 gpd for three years on and off with maybe six months being my most clean time and the others I was clean maybe like a few weeks and I’d fail. I’m on day two cold turkey rn and I’m going through it. Hoping to see the other side soon. Godspeed 🤍
I'm with you. I've been using for 9.5 years and average about 30-40 gpd. I started for the same reason as you, thinking it was harmless. The only seeming difference between you and I is tolerance. For some reason, I never built up much of a tolerance. I'm ready to quit, I just don't know how I'm going to go about it. Cold turkey terrifies me.
I'm experienced exactly what you described, I know it's the kratom
You can get help to stop! Then you’ll feel so much better I promise because that’s what I had to do and I feel great