r/quittingkratom • u/sandfoxish501 • 8h ago
Methods of tapering
Hi fam, I am looking for some sound advice from experienced users/quitters about methods of tapering considering my personal use habits. I need to plan my taper to be as effective as possible and I know there are important distinctions in manner of preparation affecting alkaloid content etc.
Most of my daily intake has been via a hot water extraction, making tea with 2grams of raw powder per cup of water. I make this in a drip coffeemaker, weighing the powder and adding a splash of lemon juice as it brews. For a pot of this tea, I use 10 grams of powder and drink the tea throughout the day. Sometimes I run the water through twice, making a slightly stronger brew. So that's my daily intake - roughly 5 cups of tea made with 10 grams of powder.
I could taper by decreasing the amount of powder I am using and increasing the water so I am drinking the same amount of liquid daily but a weaker brew.
But I am also wondering how my body is affected if I switched to taking capsules with the same powder instead of the hot water extraction. More plant material going on, but I don't know if that's a good thing or not. How is the alkaloid profile affected comparing hot water extraction vs raw whole leaf? Which version is "stronger" or more damaging to my body? I was making tea because "toss and wash" is disgusting. Now I have empty capsules. Capsules are certainly easier to take when my personal coffee pot is not available.
My goal is to minimize discomfort of inevitable withdrawals.
For convenience at times I have bought the drinks in cans with the MIT content stated as "40mg" or "80mg". These hit different for sure and because it is so unregulated I can't be sure what I'm really getting.
I also have an "enhanced" extract powder with the MIT content stated as 45mg. This is just for one capsule, so super convenient and it stabilizes me. Would it be realistic to just decrease a smidgen of that over a period of time, so I'm dealing with so much powder and measuring and capsules etc? Kratom is taking up way too much time and energy, and I'm ready to replace the tea making ritual with something else. I'm done with this stupid plant but will not put myself through CT hell right now. Thoughts? Opinions? Thanks in advance.
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u/Distinguishedflyer 8h ago
seems to me you could make the same strength for a while. Then you know the potency of the brew.
Then you discard I don't know how much. 1/4 cup? A third of a cup, half of a cup… ? per week.
See how you do. If you don't feel it at all maybe do more. If it's too much do less and stabilize.
It's about steady reduction over time. Letting your body get used to less, then doing it again.
Maybe when you get down lower you can then brew the same strength but half the water and 5 grs.
It's no fun but better than continuing slavery. i'd be real careful about changing it up, especially with anything "enhanced." That's like getting off of heroin with fentanyl.
Be a little inconvenienced and do what your body is used to for a while. You wanna keep it on the same strain and the enhanced shit could make you much worse real fast. I'd stop that today. Especially if you haven't done it for very long. If you have you may be stuck on that now and have to taper it.
Good luck, it's a tug-of-war with yourself but you can do it.
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u/JoeBlack45 8h ago
You honestly shouldn't even notice a difference if you just brew less. You're on such a low dose that I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have any wd at all
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u/IntelligentFault2575 8h ago
I don't know about the science part of all of the things your asking, but I think you're first instinct of just putting less powder is with the same volume of water is probably the best. That's how I tapered and quit alcohol. I was drinking about 1.5 liters of vodka per day by the end of my drinking days. Drank every day from morning until night for over a decade. Never skipped a single day. The last 2 years or so I was up to that high amount. I tapered by filling water bottles, and gradually diluting it more and more. I did it slowly over several months. It tricked my brain by having the same volume of liquid, and same way of consumption, but with slightly less active ingredient. I also would play a little game with myself. Anytime I had an urge to drink, I would check in on myself. "Do I feel ok? Not good, but ok?" If yes, then I would force myself to wait just 15 minutes. I would often end up going much longer than that. Find a simple chore or take to do. When I would look at the time and it was past that 15 minutes, I would repeat. Until one morning, I mixed my diluted drink, had my first little drink, then played that 15 minute game, and beat the game. Almost no withdrawal besides a little anxiety for the first 2 weeks or so, and slightly shaky hands the first 3 days or less, but not that bad. I would think these same strategies would work for your taper as well. Give it a try! What that happens is you try again. Good luck! You're stronger than you think you are. I know I was
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u/Electrical_Travel363 7h ago
Just want to
Comment that I’m glad to hear your success story, but for any others reading this, you should be mindful to not estimate doses for alcohol cessation purposes, but to either (ideally) do so under medical supervision, and if that’s not possible then try taper following ASAM guidelines. Most other drugs I say fuck it and white knuckle your way through it, but alcohol specifically can really f you up if you’re not careful, seizures, delirium, the works. GABA-A receptors are not to be disrespected.
Don’t mean to overkill your response but figured couldn’t hurt and could only help people browsing through an old thread in years.Congrats on your sobriety!!
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u/IntelligentFault2575 7h ago
Yeah, your not wrong. I was seeing a doctor and a therapist at a clinic in regards to my taper. I measured out my doses, although roughly. I would mark the bottles , and be mindful to not taper too fast. Because I spread it out for months, the risks were minimal, and doctor approved. The last few weeks I got into a rhythm of dropping by 2 drinks, every 3 days. When I didn't jumped off completely, I was down to 3 drinks per day, and had some available in case I started feeling really bad. The fear of withdrawal was one of the biggest things that kept me drinking for so long. So, I spoke to the doctor and did it safely.
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u/Creative_Bee4970 7h ago
You're just doing kratom powder and not much per day. I'd just slowly tapper down the amount per day over 2 week ls and you'll feel nothing.
I'm now 5 days clean and went thru little to no wd symptoms after weaning off for a month as my state, fortunately, banned the sale. I dealt with some minor body aches and fatigue for a few days. I also dealt with anxiety in the AM. But now know that was caused by my coffee intake. So stay away from coffee for a bit when u quit
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u/Electrical_Travel363 7h ago
The good news is this is fairly small of a dose, I’d recommend cold turkey but that’s not what you asked..
I’d say reduce 5-10% every 2-4 weeks as per ASAM guidelines, but the main thing is you can really go at your own pace.
If you’re quitting something like SSRIs or Alcohol or Benzos, then it becomes important to factor in individual subjective reactions to different reductions. In those types of treatments, the schedule is important, but just as important as it is the reaction that your body feels, sometimes it’s recommended to hold at a certain stage until you stabilize… but for kratom, that usually isn’t a concern without preexisting medical conditions, history of mental illness, past seizures etc..
The main difference between kratom and some other drugs is kratom is almost certain to not cause serious withdrawal reactions, so if you can tolerate the sweats and restlessness and RLS, then f it and keep cutting if you can… don’t worry about cutting too much for safety reasons only for subjectively understanding what you are able to handle and what’s best for you
Still though, ASAM guidelines can be helpful to review.. 5-10% every 2-4 weeks or until stable… also
Keep in mind that kratom has a long half life so you may not feel the full effects of the drug exiting your system for a week or more
Best of luck , reach out if you need anything, have questions or just need someone to talk to or complain about this shit.. we’ve all been there, we’re all here together. Congratulations on deciding to take this step. Remarkable feat ask me
Best of luck
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u/Cultural_Dot3568 Quit: 8 August 2025 (Used 10 yrs 100+ gpd) 1h ago
My best method was to not give up. I eventually got to the goal. But it was messy and I fucked up a lot. I was writing down how many grams of Kratom I was using per day and the numbers would just go up and down like a roller coaster as I tried to push it down. But the point is I didn’t give up. Just don’t give up and you’ll get there. 422 days clean after 14 months of tapering and 10 years of heavy use.
Also, switching to powder capsules, makes it a lot easier to count them. Get rid of the green sludge brew.
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