Advice on using Kratom

[RiversW]

I have found kratom here in São Paulo. I wonder if any one can give some pointers on how to use.

Tea? I am about to cut my 1 mg Neupro Patch in half and I am hoping the kratom might help me get

by any rough spots. Thanks so much. R

[Tbone87]

I used Kratom for a year for my RLS. I took capsules starting off with 1-2 grams. It worked for a bit but had to steadily increase dose to about 6-8 grams at night. I would just say this….it works great for RLS but it’s comes with the risk of addiction. I started using Kratom during the day to get energy boost. I began having withdrawals all day long like every 3 hours I was having to take more. It’s mad me extremely irritable and also gave me RLS 24/7 and moved to my arms. If you do use it, ONLY use at night. My advice would to stay away from it!! Coming off it was horrible, took two weeks of bad withdrawals and then still had bad effects from it month and months later. It messed me up bad!

[RiversW in reply to Tbone87]

Thank you for taking the time to write. I will be careful. It is like navigating a minefield trying to understand and be smart about all of the meds and remedies associated with RLS.

Last night, for the first time, I drank Kratom tea before bed. I slept from 1:30am to 6:30am. Not a bad night for me. Typically RLS symptoms wake me after 2 to 4 hours. When I manage to sleep longer it usually means I have slept through the onset of the burning or the jumpiness or the ache. Unfortunately, it also means waking-up feeling pretty horrible because I have not gotten up and moved around when symptoms started 2 hours before. And that is how I woke this morning. It will be interesting to see how my body reacts when I cut my Neupro dose further.

I hope this is not too much and confusing. I will keep you posted. Thanks so much. RiversW

[Dougg]

Hi RiversW.

I used kratom for my RLS for several years, and it worked quite well for me. A key starting point is to make sure that you are getting pure unadulterated kratom that has not been spiked with anything. It generally comes as a powder. I mixed it with hot water and added cream and sweetener to help get past the taste (which I did not enjoy). Some vendors supply it in capsules, which is another approach.

If you choose to try it, I suggest starting with a very small dose - such as 1/4 teaspoon - to see how your body reacts. Everyone is different. If no problem, then increase the dosage a little bit at a time until you find the smallest dosage that will mitigate your RLS symptoms.

If you use kratom regularly, I suggest rotating strains to avoid building up tolerance. Kratom strains range from being calming to being stimulating. I found that the calming strains were best because I was trying to calm my nervous system. Stimulating strains seem to act more like coffee, and I didn’t need the stimulation.

One of the challenges of kratom is that its effects only seem to last 3-5 hours, but that will also vary by person.

I did not become addicted to it, but it is always important to be aware of one’s own physiology and how one is reacting to it.

I hope this is helpful. Best wishes for success in your RLS journey.

[RiversW in reply to Dougg]

Thanks for responding Doug.

Unfortunately, here in Brasil there are not many places to buy Kratom and for a novice even more difficult to judge the quality.

Thanks for your guidance. I will certainly keep it in mind. If you read my response to Tbone above you will see a description of my first night with Kratom.

Though I am sure the addiction issue is real, I believe I can avoid that problem. Besides this stuff is not exactly delicious.

Take care and thank,

RiverW

[TheDoDahMan]

Hi, Rivers,

Here is a partial quote from my bio:

"Finally, I found and joined this wonderful website and heard that some RLS sufferers were reporting symptomatic relief with kratom, the crushed leaves of a southeast Asian tree from the coffee family.

"Wow! It worked immediately! I found reputable online suppliers who sold kratom for, when ordered by the kilo, as little as eight to ten cents per gram. But there was a fly in the ointment, so to speak: tolerance. As the months flew by, and my blissful nights of sweet, restful sleep lifted my RLS-induced depression, I found that I needed more and larger doses of kratom to palliate my symptoms. I had started with doses of 2-4 grams every night or two, but over the course of the next two years, built up to taking 8-gram doses, four times a day. I could see that, for the long term, what I was doing was untenable."

With that much understood, here is how I was able to ingest, pretty much enjoyably, up to 10 grams of powdered kratom at a time: Mix the kratom, with 8 ounces (1 cup) of milk and 1 packet of Carnation "Breakfast Essentials" (previously called "Instant Breakfast" powder (any flavor).

Once I got a prescription for low-dose (10mg/day) methadone, I was immediately able to quit the kratom use with no problems because even low-dose methadone is strong enough to overcome whatever ill effects going "cold turkey" on the kratom might have otherwise produced.

So, if you're only going to use kratom temporarily, to help you "get by any rough spots" from quitting the Neupro patch, you shouldn't have a problem doing so. Of course, use caution, and start slowly. And remember that kratom is NOT A LONG-TERM SOLUTION FOR RLS SYMPTOMS.

[RiversW in reply to TheDoDahMan]

Thank you so much for your input. I really appreciate it. I tried Kratom for the first time last night. Tonight I will use your recipe because the tea I made was pretty dreadful. If you read my description above you will see that for me there was an upside and a downside. Longer period of rest, more acute symptoms when I woke up. I will try again tonight.

Anything I can do to help me get off the Neupro I will do. It is a cursed remedy. Thank you again, RiversW

[JakeRLS in reply to RiversW]

I mix Kratom with orange juice and it goes down fairly easily

[RiversW in reply to RiversW]

Thank you JakeRLS, Unfortunately right when I discovered Kratom, Brasil made it illegal. But I appreciate the response. R

[TheDoDahMan]

Happy to be of help. As I mentioned, I've had long-term experience with kratom. If you require further assistance, don't hesitate to ask.

[Birdland]

I tried it for a while. I bought empty capsules and filled them with the powder myself. Not difficult.

[RiversW]

Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, since I posted my questions about Kratom the vendor has stopped selling because Brasil has made selling Kratom illegal. Too bad, because my limited experience with the powder showed promise.

But again thanks. R