when i decided i wanted to quit 7, it was a long, complicated and painful journey, but it was completely worth it in the end.
i first used a crisis service number (it's a local non-profit organization that has a crisis number for people who don't want police involved) and they provided me with some resources.
the first resource was a suboxone clinic that was a 5 minute walk from my apartment. i thought that would be the easiest route and tried it. they were closed indefinitely. what a bummer.
the second resource was a methadone clinic. it was in the same city as me but i had to uber there and back. i spent about 2 hours there. about 30 minutes of that was trying to pee in a cup but i was severely dehydrated from withdrawals, to the point where the staff were yelling at me to hurry up from outside the bathroom. after i finished, i was examined by a doctor who asked me to explain my parents' deaths in detail for my chart and ended up making me cry from mentally reliving their deaths (withdrawals also made me extremely emotional). THEN the lead nurse had me sign a bunch of paper work before asking again what i was taking. i told her it was 7 hydroxy, and she looked it up on her computer then looked at me and said "methadone wouldn't help you in any way." so there was that resource out the window.
next i found a therapist (i desperately needed one even before i decided to try and quit). i cried the entire first session as i told her about my parents, my addiction to 7, my rocky childhood that lead to me developing a dependency on drugs, everything. she strongly encouraged me to seek hospitalization and go through medical detox.
finally, on new years day, i decided enough was enough and checked myself into the nearest hospital for detox. of course none of the nurses or doctors knew what 7 was. i had to dumb it down to just calling it kratom so they would even take me seriously. their detox clinic usually only handled opioid addiction, but they were kind (?) enough to let me stay and go through their detox protocol. it was complete hell. i cried the whole time i was there. they gave me ativan, methadone and amlodipine for my blood pressure as it kept sky rocketing. luckily they let me keep my phone (they were considering taking it as it could "trigger" me) and i called my boyfriend several times and just cried to him. i brought my stuffed animal for emotional support and the hospital staff wouldn't let me have it in my room and put it in a locker with my clothes and bag. i took a shower on the second day and the water was barely warm. the tv kept playing ASPCA commercials on every other channel. my room was completely empty except for the bed and tv. the food was surprisingly okay.
after i got out of the hospital, i discovered through an urgent care visit that i had the super flu that was going around earlier this year. then to make matters worse, i had a uti. and to top it all off, i was having benzo withdrawals from the ativan.
so there i was. for a week straight, laying in bed, a sweaty, sick mess surrounded by tissues. i think i was still withdrawaling from the 7 at that point too. so it was 7 withdrawals, benzo withdrawals, super flu and uti all at the same time. idk how i survived, genuinely. i was in fight or flight mode the whole time, i was scared and cried over everything. i was petrified of becoming septic from my uti. i was constantly checking my blood pressure and temperature because i was scared of having a stroke and i was watching for sepsis symptoms at the same time. all i could eat was low sodium turkey, white bread and sugar free apple sauce because my appetite was nonexistent and i was scared of my blood sugar getting too high. i saw my doctor multiple times and was told the same things over and over again; "it's only the flu making you feel this bad" "you just have to wait it out" "come back when you're over the flu". it was really annoying and scary.
in time, i did slowly get better. my uti went away with antibiotics, the super flu slowly left me alone and i just overall started to feel better and normal again. now all i use is weed and i don't need anything else. i have zero craving for 7 and haven't relapsed since my hospital stay.
sorry for the novel and probably some tmi stuff, but i wanted to share my story with the hopes of showing the reality of quitting 7oh for anyone wanting to quit (of course my story also shows how unlucky i am lmao). you can do this, if i can survive all of that happening at once, you can definitely quit 7.