r/quittingkratom

I am beginning a taper schedule today to get off kratom. Its caused my skin to darken, my eyes have dark puffy circles every day and my thyroid can not get regulated. I want to get off of this so badly then that little voice in my head says just this time and I screw up all over again. I have been using kratom for 11 years, its literally killing my insides. I dont blame kratom as I did this to myself. I decided to keep taking more and more. I just need the will to stop. Anyone that has been here please share how you controlled the will to keep using.

I can say now, I'm fully healed. Please stay persistent with this and don't turn back, it took me about 8 months to really start feeling better and by now I'm feeling better than I have all year. Things I struggled with:

Severe Depression

A strange anxiety boost (didn't want to run into people, etc)

Absolutely no energy at all

No interest in doing anything at all

Low concentration/brain fog

Please don't give up, I'll never touch another opioid or opiate again

I'm two weeks in to quitting ct. I've been using OPMS silver Maeng da capsules for about 8 years because I thought it was helping my anxiety, depression and moderate back pain. I also thought it was helping me with energy and confidence at work, and keeping off weight due to stimulant effects. Started needing more and more to feel any of it. I finally started suspecting, after a few years of blaming other stuff, that the kratom was possibly the thing causing weird symptoms like puffy and very dry eyes every day, worsening chronic pain, volatile moods, extreme fatigue (ten hours of sleep and I still didn't want to get up), and loss of motivation, among other things I can't remember at the moment- it all became convoluted because I forgot how I felt before I ever tried it. Tried to stop a few times and always relapsed when I felt pain or anxiety or overwhelmed , etc. I recently experienced some days of really high blood pressure that scared me and I lowered number of capsules. A couple of days later I got a bad cold, and decided to stop it altogether ct to avoid mixing with cold and cough meds and still scared of the blood pressure. I wrapped up my remaining supply in a bag with a rubber band around it and put it in the closet. I was telling myself that I might want to use it again in the future and maybe it wasn't so bad and I already spent so much on it that throwing it away was a big waste. Today I started feeling unmotivated and depressed and thinking I wanted to go get it and take some , "only today - just to get energy to do my stuff today ..." Then I decided to look on Reddit to see if anyone had experiences or advice about all this. I typed "quitting," and before even typing the next letter k, the first option that popped up was this sub. I can't tell you all how relieved it feels to find this and read all these posts. It makes me feel so much less like a loser who has been hiding this from my family and friends for all these years. Literally no one knows. You all have inspired me and I'm taking the leftovers I bagged and throwing it in the garbage. I have a question for you all- after reading about all the chemical, biological, hormonal, etc. damage it causes, does anyone know if all of that will heal eventually? Thank you so much for being here. Hugs and hope for everyone here fighting this fight!

I had 18 days clean, which is the most I’ve had since I started in 2022, but I started again and now I’m at 3 days.
My body feels sucked dry of moisture and nutrients. My hair is thin and greasy and my skin is dry. Any advice on how to take care of my body during recovery? Lotions, face wash, vitamin recommendations? Anything that helped you get back to where you were before Kratom?

For context I've been using K for about 6 years. Started during the covid pandemic. Was at roughly 30 GPD at start and gradually got it down to about 20 GPD last year. Stayed at 20 GPD until last month and tapered down to 7 GPD. And that was awful. Probably tapered a bit to quick but I am eager to be off this stuff...

It got to the point where I felt like I was delaying the inevitable and just torturing myself longer term with the taper schedule. Lots of days of mild to moderate withdrawals. I basically said f*** it for lack of a better term and decided enough is enough. Had my last dose and 30 minutes later I said I'm done with this shit.

On day 2 (almost 48 hours since last dose of 3.5g). Feeling okay so far. Definitely lethargic, pretty anxious, heart palpitations, headache and some minor head cold symptoms. Surprisingly not to bad in terms of body aches, no RLS (yet) and no fever. Taking L-Theanine and Liposomal Vitamin C for supplements.

Cravings have actually not been bad at all. I haven't had felt the urge to dose which I am very thankful for so far. I'm a nicotine user as well (zyn pouches) which I actually schedule use for (5 times a day every 4 hours with an alarm when its time to use). Maybe its something to look forward to? And my brain and body welcome that as a dopamine hit or something so its keeping the K cravings to a minimum?

I've read through some of the taper guides and what to expect when taking the plunge. I'm just curious what some of you all might've gone through in the first couple of days to weeks after finally quitting last dose. More or less trying to see what more I can expect and how I might be able to cope.

Cheers.

I was on kratom for 3 years before that was on fentanyl for 3 years. It has been hard but I’m completely clean now no pot no alcohol no nothing. For pot it has been 31 days and alcohol 20 days. Don’t stop trying there is a brighter side. I am still not at 100% of my old production capacity but I am slowly getting back to it. I thought I’d lose who I was on kratom and my ability to move forward in life but that is not true, of course there are days when it does affect but I was able to continue through my day to day and get things done without falling behind.

TLDR: completely sober now, no weed, no alcohol, 125 days no kratom, it gets better.

I have been considering a lengthy taper to quit kratom extract like the ops gold caps but I am already having sleep problems like sleep disruption and anxiety. I keep hearing that kratom can turn on you at some point but I don’t know exactly what that means. Anyone experienced that while still using normally? Was it from kratom leaf or extract and after how long you started to feel that kratom is causing mental and physical problems. I still get the benefits from taking it but my main issue is sleep and I am terrified to taper or quit because it might get worse.

Here are some notes from quitting a 6 year habit of 30gpd. Take whatever you find helpful and leave the rest. Everyone’s experience will be different and my only goal here is to give you hope. 

Things to remember:

• You are not alone. Look at the side bar of this sub and you will see that there are thousands of weekly visitors here on a similar path as you.
• The pain will pass. This is only a moment in your life. It may take a few days, a few weeks or even a few months, but it will pass. For me it was 4 days of acute withdrawal and then 3 days of milder withdrawal. I didn’t sleep for the first 4 days. Each day beyond that I clearly felt my body and mind healing. The 5th day I got an hour of sleep and it felt like a miracle. On the seventh day after quitting I got 5 hours of sleep. It has gotten better ever since. PAWS has been a walk in the park comparatively.
• You are stronger than you think. You may have to just “HODL” for a few days, but the battle will be won. The freedom you will feel is monumental. To be released from the prison of addiction feels like being born again. No more hiding, no more shame, no more wincing at the foul taste, no more money being burned on this pointless drug.
• There are moments of pure beauty in the midst of the pain. I live in a rural area and walked for miles and miles through the long nights of withdrawal. I saw the Milky Way, shooting stars, heard coyotes howling, and an owl flew overhead just as dawn was beginning to break. I began to feel my emotions again after being numb for so long. What other circumstance would have allowed me to experience this? What other reason would have lead me to encounter this beauty?
• You are not losing something; you are gaining everything. Withdrawal feels incredibly unfair. The drug that provided you a relatively mild “high” now tortures you in its absence? You didn’t sign up for this and it sure as hell wasn’t in the fine print. It feels wildly asymmetrical, almost like a betrayal. The truth is, this is a transaction. You are making a deal to trade momentary pain for immeasurable upside in the future. The deal is unbelievably one sided even though it doesn’t feel like it in the moment. On the other side of the pain is a new and better life in every way. The scales are tipped overwhelmingly in your favor. Just hold on for one more hour. Take one more step. Keep going.
• Your body knows how to heal. Take comfort in that fact. You will heal. You will not always feel this way. It takes time. Give yourself grace.

What helped:

• Tell someone who cares about you what you are going through. I would not have been able to quit without the support of my wife, as well as another family member who had also struggled with addiction in the past. Their love and support got me through the darkest hours.
• Cold and Hot showers to ease the nerve pain. For the first few nights, sleep was impossible. I took nearly a dozen hot/cold showers a night to try and reset my nervous system. It helped immensely.
• Massage gun. This helped with the muscle and body pain a lot too.
• Ice packs for back and leg pain.
• Gabapentin for RLS
• Take long walks or bike rides. Go outside. Move your body.
• Write a goodbye letter to the old version of yourself. Let go of the version of you that made excuses, that encouraged weakness rather than strength, that held you hostage. Allow yourself to feel the joy of a new beginning. 
• Be certain. Throw away what’s left. Do not hold on “in case of emergency”. The act of fully committing to this is empowering. Taper if you need to taper. But when the day comes- commit to the end.

For me, the only way to achieve escape velocity was to hit rock bottom. I tried quitting dozens of times and could never get past day 3 or 4. I finally experienced a “breaking point” moment and immediately knew it was all over. It was ugly, it was scary, and it was beautiful. To finally know that I was going to be free from this cycle was empowering. I had never felt the full force of change in my life and it hit me like a freight train. I have been sober for a month now and each day I feel an immense gratitude that I never thought possible. I believe in you and in your ability to change too. To quote one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands: HOLD FAST HOPE! (Thrice)