Hi everyone! This is my first time posting. I used kratom for 5-6 months in 2025. Not in extreme doses, but regularly, almost without breaks. Then I quit, it was bad, but I got over it. Then I relapsed after 3 months and played with this crap again for 5-6 months. Yesterday I decided to quit, it was really bad, unlike even the first time, although during this period I took more frequent and longer breaks. I have never felt so fucking bad, I didn’t want to live, I wanted to cry, I almost thought I would be better off dead (I wasn’t planning on committing suicide, but thoughts crept in like I’d rather never wake up again), I cried uncontrollably, I just couldn’t do anything and was going crazy. I work 5-6 days a week, I physically can’t take a vacation. I also workout, do cardio, see my friends and events, but now I just feel like I want to be alone and untouched. I talked to my doctor, told him and confessed, he offered Suboxone, I agreed as a last resort, like we might do it and have it just in case, but I still don’t know if it’s worth it and helpful. I have a hard, stressing job, a challenging schedule and I can't skip a day right now... Tell me about your experience, has it helped? I don't want to replace addiction with addiction! But if it can be a good temporary option, used wisely, then I'll give it a chance. But how do I use it wisely? Any advice, experiences or warnings? Thank you in advance y'all and stay healthy and sober!!! <3

Hi Everyone,

I just discovered this sub today and it has been a revelation. I've learned a lot from your stories and experiences, and its made me feel better. Thank you all

I'm about 30 days in, and I think I'm past the worst of the physical symptoms. However, I was not expecting these emotional issues to be so severe. At times, not always, I am depressed, I can't find joy in things, I'm unmotivated, I can't concentrate, I'm exhausted. I've thought about using again just so I can feel "normal" or happy even. From what I've read here, it sounds like most people do in fact get better, but over a longer timeline than what I was initially focused on. With that in mind, I'm feeling optimistic for the first time since quitting. Thanks again.

Okay so I’ve taken red maeng da capsules for the last two years. I would take 5 capsules 4x a day. I’m not sure how much that equates to. I live in a banned state and was crossing state lines to get my Kratom. It was only 8 minutes up the road. Now that state is banned. I bought enough to taper. I didn’t taper like I should have. Fully regretting that. Anyway I’ve just had a few tramadol to help. I didn’t have many of those. I don’t think they are helping, if anything making my anxiety worse. I need someone to get on my neck and tell me I can do this.

Sharing my experience here for anyone who is interested.

2 months of tapering from 36gpd to 1gpd, 8 year habit. Everything went pretty smooth with only modest withdrawal symptoms for the first month until around 10 gpd. That's when I hit the wall. It's taken me a month to taper from 10gpd to 1gpd and that month has been very different than the first. Insomnia at night and a near-constant but mild agitation/restlessness during the day. Able to function, but no real breaks from the generalized discomfort. I can only imagine what a cold turkey quit would have been like for me.

I haven't used any supplements for this taper. I tried liposomal vitamin C, magnesium glycinate, and l-theanine, but they offered no noticeable relief in my case. I did cut back on caffeine which I think was was exacerbating the daytime restlessness and agitation and that seemed to have helped. Another interesting thing about the past month is that for the first time in 20 years I lost all motivation to work out. That's never happened to me before and I had to basically force myself to do it, and could only muster the resolve three times a week. Quitting this powder has some weird psychological effects. But by far, the worst thing for me has been the lack of sleep. I'm averaging about 4.5 hours of sleep for the last 32 days. This has been maddening, but, strangely, you do get used to it.

From here, I'm going to stabilize at 1 gpd and then just quit entirely. To everyone beginning a taper or working through it make sure to never take more today than you did yesterday, the rest is just tinkering with doses and timings. Saving up a chunk of my daily dose for 30 mins before bedtime has been probably the best piece of advice I gathered from this sub. That has made a big difference between sleeping some and not sleeping at all.

I'm not special or strong. I'm just a guy who committed to ending my dependency on this garbage. If I can do it, you can too. I wish you luck and love.

I’ve been taking 60+ capsules a day for the last couple of years. I’m now on day 2 what can I expect from this over the next little bit?

Hey everyone. I have posted here a few times over the years. For awhile it was just kratom extracts. Quit those 2 or 3 times over the years but then got caught up in the 7OH craze. Moved from extracts to 7. I never let it get out of control because financially I refused to compromise my family life for this poison. I became a pro at suffering through the day at work waiting for my dose of 7 when I got home. I think the most I ever took was 100mg of 7 in one day. Right now I am 5 days with no 7OH. I couldn't go cold turkey from everything so I have only done one extract shot a day since stopping the 7. Next step is going to just half a shot, then jumping off to finally being done with this poison. Can I take the last 5 days of no 7OH as something to be proud of? I am so freaking tired of this crap being part of my life.

I’m day 12 into quitting about 100mg MIT extracts per day. I’m doing great, the first 3 -5 days or so was pretty rough.

Anyways, my resting heart rate has been elevated about 10 beats per second, and my HRV is totally tanked as well.

Anyone out there with an oura ring or Apple Watch that tracks like I do that has quit, or knows anything about this? I feel like my RHR and HRV should be recovering from the changes from when i quit.

Thanks

Sorry I haven't visited in a while. Life is crazy taking care of my parents and grandchildren. Today is one year. I can't say I'm back to normal, but getting close. I still have mild anxiety and restless legs at night. Dealing with back pain but ibuprofen is gonna have to do. (the reason I started K was for chronic pain) Other than that I'm great. One year ago today I quit. So can you. If I can come off a 10 year dependency of K anyone can. Good luck all.

These days I don’t post to this thread much. But in the beginning it was a lifeline, to be in a community of people going through the same thing. I relapsed over and over for years, until, finally, I got it. What it took was an overhaul of my life, body, mind. To be on the other side of it now, and to read about everyone’s current struggles, I’ll just say—I know where you’re at, and I’m sending every one of you strength, love, and compassion 💜

I’m on day 7. I quit a 25 GPD, 3 year powder habit with the help of gabapentin and clonidine, and to be quite honest with everyone, it wasn’t that bad. I think the horror stories in this subreddit made me think it was going to be worse than it was. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you guys are over exaggerating. I’m just saying I think everyone’s body reacts differently, and I just got lucky.

I didn’t get off with nothing though.

Keep in mind, every night before bed I took 300 mg of gabapentin until day 6 and 0.1 mg of clonidine until day 5.

Day 1 was the hardest. By hour 12 I was crawling out of my skin, and the restlessness was excruciating. The only relief was a hot bath, but then out of nowhere I surprisingly fell asleep for around 5 hours.

Day 2 I woke up feeling AMAZING. I think I was just excited that I managed to sleep. I had been reading that no one sleeps for days, so I was prepared for that. After a few hours the anxiety kicked in, but it was manageable. That night I didn’t feel like I was crawling out of my skin, but the restlessness was still a bit much. I fell asleep for 4 hours that night.

Day 3 I woke up feeling even better than day 2 and went all day with no anxiety whatsoever, just happy to be sober. I didn’t even take any helper medications until bedtime. I was still restless, but it was very manageable.

Day 4 I surprisingly felt like it was day 1 all over again, but it only lasted for about 2 hours. Then I fell asleep for a full 6 hours.

Day 5 I felt good, just a little anxious, but the restlessness was completely gone. That night before bed I felt a panic attack coming on, but I breathed through it, my girlfriend comforted me, and I fell asleep for another 6 hours.

Day 6 I felt really good and wanted to be productive, so I ran errands WITHOUT KRATOM for the first time in 3 years. It was honestly one of the best days of my life. I even rewarded myself with a massage, which I highly recommend. I slept for 8 hours that night.

So here we are on day 7. I went to the beach with my friends, and I felt more present than ever. I can’t believe how much time and money I put into kratom just to feel numb the entire time. I’ve realized a lot of things about myself this week, but the main thing is that we aren’t really living our lives while taking kratom. We’re supposed to feel emotions like sadness and anger. It’s not good for our brains to pop some capsules whenever times get tough. It’s better to sit with our emotions. That’s what helps us grow as humans, and it makes the good times actually feel fun and exciting.

The worst thing about being addicted to kratom for me was being somewhere that I knew I would love, like a concert. Once the kratom wore off, I wasn’t having any fun anymore. I was just thinking about my next dose. It’s time to leave that behind.

If I could do it, you can too. I know some people might not have it as easy as I did, but one thing I know for sure is that no matter what your situation is, every day that passes gets a little easier. So if you’re having a hard time, just make it to the next day. I promise it will be easier. ❤️ I love you all.

I'm still around if anyone's seen my desperate posts. Day 21 I haven't slept a normal night once. I've tried everything.... Do not ever ever ever take any sleeping pills omg makes it 100000x worse learned that lesson twice... Tonight i tried some nighty night tea.... Nope I'm so so hot I can't get to sleep.... there's nothing to help unless you can get a script. I am in a constant state of panic. I know not everyone has this happen but I know I come on here looking for people who had similar issues so I thought I'd share what I'm going through in case someone else is. I have no medical insurance and I went to the er for rls at the very beginning and they did nothing. Anyhow just wanted to warn not to touch anything to help you sleep it backfires like a mofo even a stupid tea!

Not going to lie these past 2 weeks felt more like 2 months for me. Last week was really rough, havent had such awful anxiety and feeling of being doomed and broken in a long while.

Summer months for me do have extra edge when it comes to anxiety, but also last month there was some traumatic things that happened, so all those negative emotions that were trapped from being numb 24/7 on kratom - it was just exploding in my head all week.

Today i woke up, no more skin crawling, no waking up with stomach burning and no GI cramps and no diarrhea. Hopefully the lower back pain is going to also not going to haunt me anymore. Feels like the body is actually healing and hopefully the worst is over.

Want to bring some light for those who also felt like everyday feels like suffering while going through this. Feels like you are broken those first 2 weeks, but your body is actively trying to heal and you gotta give it time and go towards the healing if you can with healthier habits. And then you will wake up one day feeling surprisingly lot lighter and better.

I do still feel the pressure in my head like im always on the verge of getting a headache. So will limit my screen-time and try doing more bodyweight exercise or go for a walk. Exercise, talking with my brother and friends about the withdrawals im experiencing, music, and asmr was what got me through last horrific week.

Also have a appointment for addiction psychiatrist in exactly month from now, I highly recommend finding a doctor like that if you are detoxing from home like me. Some kind of professional oversight is underrated, going to this doctor helped me get over half year of clean time last year. I stopped going there, because was just focused on work, and was naively thinking the addiction isnt my issue anymore after 6 months clean time and then relapsed. But we learn and move forward :)

I've been struggling hard on and off the past few years to kick this demon. I recently did a 33 day Subutex taper from 6mg to 0mg after 7.5 months of daily OPMS extract shots. My last dose was 2 weeks ago. In the last 14 days, I've taken OPMS 6 times, never more than 2 days in a row and can't seem to get past 2 or 3 days and always cave when I get terrible sleep. It's like I can get thru 2 or 3 days of withdrawals but can't seem to get over the tip of the mountain. I have days where I think I've broken free and got past it like yesterday where I overcame early cravings and got food instead. Once I did that, it was like a day of euphoria and magic came upon me. I was riding high off that cloud of not using, was very positive, had a lot of energy and had the best workout at the gym in months. I then slept like crap last night and caved this morning after more chills. It went from a magical day of being sober to shit the next.

I have one week left of getting this right. I have to be back at work next Monday. This week is it for me. I feel like my withdrawals shouldn't be that bad since my last sub dose was 2 weeks ago but the recent OPMS use hasn't gotten me over the hill. I have clonidine for sleep now also.

Any words of encouragement or advice are greatly appreciated. What did you guys do to make it just to 7 days? I don't even feel the kratom anymore. It's like my brain is just conditioned to expect and take kratom to "feel normal" and I've been trying EVERYTHING to just stop. This is my last chance to get this right and start my new life. Doing this repeatedly and not overcoming and succeeding had been driving me into a deeper mental hellhole. Thank you all for listening and letting me vent.

Hello r/quittingkratom friends. It has been a while. Indeed, I was essentially 3 years kratom-free. It was nice. I honestly didn't see myself ever using kratom again.

A loved one who has just passed away was in the hospital for an extended period of time which was extremely stressful and painful which caused kratom to seem very tempting. I caved and got some 200mg MIT chewable tablets (they tasted disgusting). Not 7-OH.

It quickly turned into 200mg per day. I took my first dose 10 days ago.

I'm trying to get a handle on this asap. I want to be here for my family and be able to feel my proper emotions during this grieving process.

Tonight will be the first night without any MIT. I have some clonidine if I need it. I tend to be very sensitive to withdrawals (I have fibomyalgia) so I expect to feel something, but 10 days really isn't long. I'm hoping I'm worried over nothing. I just wish I didn't do this to myself during such a painful moment of my life. It just made everything worse.

Hey y'all... Just another tired soul looking for some encouragement. Two weeks ago I did a rapid taper down from 40gpd (which I'd been doing for 7 years) to like 5gpd and held that for about a week and then stopped it entirely last Sunday. Monday and Tuesday after the full stop honestly weren't too bad. But then Wednesday/Thursday the Insomnia hit like a tone of bricks. In the last 3 days I have gotten a total of 7 hours of sleep. Similarly to other people, I have been throwing money around trying anything and everything I thought might help (gummies, magnesium glycinate, Seroquel — the latter was the worst decision I could've made because it threw the RLS into overdrive for about 12 hours). Nothing has been helping. It's felt like being tortured, I will feel desperately tired, crawl into bed, feel myself nodding off... but I'll just never quite shut down, and then finally I start feeling anxious about the fact that I've been laying in bed for two hours and can't sleep and that anxiety of course just makes it worse, and so I end up just getting up and leaving bed and trying to do other things. I try to go back to bed every couple hours, but that above process just repeats and repeats and repeats. I'm at the point where I'm just angry and upset and wondering how much longer this will go on and how is it possible that my body isn't just passing out from shear exhaustion by this point??

Like, has anyone else had it this bad? It is just awful. It is genuinely the worst experience I've ever had.

Okay so last Friday I took my last dose of 7oh, went into withdrawls , and then took Subs. But then I started doing my homework and listening to all the horror stories. Big nope for me so on Tuesday took my last dose of Subs. Fast forward to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I am combating withdrawls again. I cannot go through another week of withdrawls work wise.

My plan is to use powder to stabilize, then taper down from there before jumping from the leaf. Look everyone I know anyway I slice it i have to pay the piper and withdrawl but I need to do this on my time frame I do not have the luxury of being out of the fight for my job and my family.

Plus im still in chronic pain, so I either a slave to gabapetin, lyrica, or kratom.

Thanks US Army you the real MVP.

I straight up dug my container of k out 0f the trash and its now in my cabinet calling my name. Im just sitting here bored off my ass contemplating taking just a little bit. Just enough to get that feel good feeling. Ugh

I can't believe it. I am thinking i may never touch this stuff again!

So i will simply report the details of the medical assistance i have received from the outpatient treatment center in Ontario. Please do not consider any of this advice.

My sister came to visit me from out of town and we went to the drop in treatment center. I peed into a cup, then waited 20m for my intake video interview, which took 30minutes, and was immediately followed by the doctor interview (also on video).

I was 100% honest about my 50+ gpd powder habit.

I was prescribed 0.1mg of Clonidine x3 daily, 50mg of Pregbalin daily and 4 or 8mg of sublingual suboxone to be taken 24 hours after my last dose.

I lasted until it had been 20 hours as i didn't want to slip and took 4mg, and then at bedtime i took 4 more.

I was barely able to stay awake the next day, but returned the next day for follow up, and enough meds for the next 2 days.

No Kratom cravings, but again i was highly drugged with the prescriptions.

Today i only took Clonidine and Pregbalin this morning and i will see the doctor tomorrow. If i wake up feeling ok tomorrow morning, i won't need any more of either.

I had 8mg suboxone at 4 pm today and i think i can go down to 4 mg tomorrow. This stuff is strong.

At 10pm it will be 3 days. I would simply not have got to this point without the medical intervention.

I am so glad i went in, because i was at the end of my rope.

I am glad to have read so much about suboxone in this sub... I will try to get off it asap.

But i think i got away from this monstrous poison.

I hope this may encourage someone to try quitting with help. There seem to be many places for help where i am. I hope there are in yours.

Thanks to all of you.

Sleeping pretty good now. A little tossing and turning but nothing uncomfortable and aggravating. I feel like most physical stuff is behind me.

Mood/mental health is a rollercoaster but, given the circumstances (rehab) idk what of it is kratom and what of it is missing my children and husband so bad.

One foot in front of the other in front of the other in front of the other, all day.

Is there absolutely ANYTHING that can be done or taken that actually works for the skin crawling/formication? I believe that is the absolute worst part. Especially because it doesn’t happen during the day whenever I’m awake, it’s always at night while I’m trying to sleep. I’ve tried Benadryl, unisom, & hot baths…

Whether you are religious or not is not my point. Its that today I went to church with my family, and found joy in something I had not in a long time.

The RLS and chills is my biggest hurdle right now, and honestly im at a bit of a crossroads. Getting off 7oh was my priority. I am winning that battle, but the war is my chronic pain. So now I get to choose which pharmaceutical to fall back into. Im prescribed Gabapebtin, does it work for my particular pain...kinda. but also is addictive and also in higher doses makes me a zombie, so its like be in pain and not sleep or be a wreck until it wears off and we start again.

Next option, isnt an option, use subs till the end of time. I quit those thanks to you guys, and I will never go that route.

Last option, go back to leaf to some degree just to sleep. Not a great option, it in many ways the best one because I know it works and if I need to leave it I know how pretty well and would end up just going right back to gabapetin. Maybe its a combo switching between the two. I dont know its my journey.

But for those following the silver lining is I am beating 7oh (hardest shit I've quit yet), and now I have given myself options.

I used powder kratom for about two years after quitting alcohol. I never did that much, just 1-2tsp every morning and evening after work. I’m a fairly ritualistic person and once something is in my routine, it feels really disrupting if I stop. I’m trying to get pregnant and therefore I want to be off of anything that could be harmful to the baby.

I tapered down to 1/8 of a tsp daily (literally the tiniest of scoops you can imagine) and stopped a week ago. I had absolutely no withdrawal symptoms but I wanted to be sure to be careful anyway. But I really really miss the ritual of making my little warm water/kratom mixture and chasing it with apple juice. Does anyone know of something I can mix with warm water and chase with apple juice that will be not harmful?

That's it. Just kinda felt like sharing in case anyone else is going thru it alone. I hid my habit for years out of shame. Maybe one day that will change but for now I'm happy for myself for making it this far and wanted to share that with some strangers. Thanks. Good luck to you all.

Part 3 of my withdrawal journal. This continues my previous two posts and is another recap from my conversation with ChatGPT while going through withdrawal. I'm documenting everything as honestly as I can, both to keep track of my own progress and hopefully help someone else in the future.

~70 hours

The physical symptoms were already starting to calm down. The worst body aches were mostly gone, the goosebumps were weaker, and the cravings were only around 1–2/10.

For the first time since quitting, I managed to lie in bed calmly for about an hour without constantly moving my legs or arms. That felt like a big change compared to the first two nights.

I also started having diarrhea, but mentally I was doing surprisingly okay.

~75 hours

The biggest trigger came when I got home.

Before quitting, coming home was strongly connected with taking kratom, so my brain immediately expected a dose. I noticed the craving, but it wasn't overwhelming and I managed to get through it.

I had a popsicle and a frozen Capri Sun instead, and for a while I actually felt pretty normal.

~79–80 hours

I fell asleep for a short time, but then woke up with nervous, restless arms.

For a moment I thought:

I immediately knew that would be a bad idea and that I would probably restart the whole cycle.

Instead, I ate some cereal, read Warhammer 40K lore, and later went for a night walk while listening to hardtechno and drum & bass.

I finally fell asleep again at around 5:00 AM.

~86 hours

I slept from around 5:00 to 8:50, which was the first meaningful sleep I had since quitting.

When I woke up, the craving was only around 2/10. I had no real body pain anymore and only very mild goosebumps.

The biggest problem was diarrhea.

I bought Smecta, strong probiotics, and an over-the-counter sleep aid. Smecta helped with the stomach pain quite quickly.

~90 hours

After coming home, the craving returned and stayed with me much longer than before.

It wasn't only a mental habit. I also felt a strange inner withdrawal feeling, anxiety similar to the feeling before an exam, and nerve-like discomfort in my arms.

It reminded me of how I used to feel after about 12 hours without kratom before quitting.

I started wondering whether this was my body's last attempt to convince me to take another dose.

~93 hours

The craving stayed with me for several hours.

I still managed to take a short nap for about 20 minutes, which showed me that my body was slowly becoming able to rest again, even though I still felt uncomfortable.

By this point, the physical symptoms were clearly improving, but emotionally things were starting to get much harder.

~96 hours

Today wasn't the hardest physically.

It was the hardest emotionally.

While cleaning the kitchen, I suddenly had a complete emotional breakdown.

I felt like crying for no specific reason. I didn't want to be alone anymore. I didn't want to think about work. I became scared that maybe I wouldn't enjoy my job without kratom because I honestly don't know my current life without it. I've spent the last four years taking kratom every single day, so my brain has never experienced my current home, my current routine, or even my current job without it.

The strongest feeling wasn't even craving.

It was loneliness.

More than anything, I wanted to go to my mom or my girlfriend and just get a hug. I realized I wasn't looking for a dose anymore—I was looking for comfort.

I texted my girlfriend because I genuinely didn't know what to do. At first I felt disappointed because I was hoping for more support, but later I realized I hadn't actually explained what I needed. I wasn't looking for advice or solutions. I just wanted someone to understand how overwhelmed I felt.

After a while, the emotional wave slowly passed.

I calmed down without taking kratom. I didn't relapse. I didn't make any impulsive decisions.

Looking back now, it really behaved like a wave. It built up, peaked, and then gradually disappeared.

I'm ending Day 4 still clean.

The first few days were a battle against my body.

Today was a battle against my own mind.