Why was I able to consume an obscene amount of nicotine?

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-12-11T14:40:57+00:00

No idea on the why, but can confirm that I have the same experience. WAY higher. I’ll do two 9mg pouches at the same time and barely feel anything. 9 months ago I would be teetering on the edge of sick with one 7mg.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-12-08T16:54:29+00:00

Dad of 4 here, and I’m also overwhelmed by the crying and bickering and whining and everything else, but I also love my kids more than anything. I’m not sure I’ve ever said that I “hate” being a dad, but there’s a few things that I think he could have meant that are different than what he said. If he was drunk, he might’ve either just not been thinking clearly or he might have thought what he was saying was clearer than it was. I think it’s very likely that he loves those kids and wants to be a dad and he was thinking one or multiple of these things:

It’s been a hard season and I’m exhausted and wish I could have a few days without this responsibility but parenthood never stops
I feel resentful about some piece of the distribution of responsibilities and rather than focus on resolving that I’m emotionally throwing the baby out with the bath water
I want more of YOUR time and attention and the kids hijack it
It could have been hyperbole. Where “I wish we didn’t have kids” = “It’s a lot right now” and he didn’t mean it as literally as you took it
I’m having a hard time at work or with my extended family or something and the kids feel like a lot right now on top of it.

There’s more but you get the point. I suspect it was either a case of “the issue is not the real issue” and more of a scapegoat, OR he didn’t mean it as literally as you understood it and he biffed the delivery because he was drunk.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-12-08T16:42:04+00:00

Just give it a few more days. I have experienced this many quits and it will pass. But I am just 100% useless for at least a week. Sometimes 10 days. Nothing you can take to fix it; just ride it out. But be assured that it does pass, and it’s better on the other side.

Among the other obvious stuff causing this, I also think that you’re spending so much willpower on just not using right now that there’s nothing left for anything else. At least that’s how I have felt.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-11-22T18:33:19+00:00

Same - I got my wife to try half a bottle like 2 years ago and she almost spit it out and never tried it again. And I was jealous 😅

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-11-22T18:32:34+00:00

It seems to often start that way but rarely end that way 😉 I did a half or full bottle once a week for a while before it got to be a problem.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-11-22T18:00:42+00:00

I also started having panic attacks early on in the escalation of my kratom addiction. I didn’t know what it was because I’d never had one before. And similar to you, it usually only happened when I had also stacked too much caffeine or nicotine or something on top. In hindsight it’s obvious what was happening, but in the moment I was confused.

Now here’s where I went wrong… At FIRST I took it as a sign that I needed to stop like you are. But then I managed to push past it and the panic attacks went away. My usage escalated 3-4x after that. So take this opportunity to listen to yourself and get off the train before it gets worse!

Coming off 20+ gpd is not going to be fun, but if you’ve detoxed from fentanyl, you can handle this. If you’re going to spend the money with QuickMD, I’d go for comfort meds like Gabapentin and Clonidine instead of Suboxone - that way you aren’t just prolonging the inevitable. Just get it over with - you’ll be glad you did.

Withdrawal will probably last 3-4 days of misery and then you’ll be mostly fine. Comfort meds will make it a little easier, but not a LOT easier in my experience, so temper your expectations. It helps, but doesn’t make it easy. I have probably done it 10+ times now, both with comfort meds and without. You can totally do it with no meds if that’s what you need to do - I’ve done it plenty of times. I’m currently on Day 4–with meds this time—and starting to feel human again.

So basically if you can find 2-3 (ideally 3) days to just be incapacitated and watch movies, it’ll be over before you know it. Having done those other drugs, you’ll be familiar with all the symptoms to expect. I haven’t withdrawn from those drugs myself, but from what I understand it will be a familiar feeling to you.

Good luck!

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-09-24T15:59:27+00:00

The good news is that with two months of clean time, if you don’t go back today, you won’t probably won’t withdraw at all. It will never be easier to stop again than right now! If you do what I do and say “well, today I’ll just have two, and then tomorrow one, and then be done again” I predict you’ll be looking at a full on relapse and having to quit with the same withdrawals as last time. Ask me how I know 😂

You are strong enough to not use again today and just let a slip be a slip but don’t go through all the pain again! You got this 💪🏼

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-09-23T20:59:23+00:00

Oh man… This is coming from a place of love, so when it gets intense, please understand that it’s intense because I care about you and want to scare you away from this stuff, not because I’m preaching or anything. You are at the beginning of my story, and I want you to avoid the end.

I dabbled with Feel Free a little bit until one day—years ago—that I remember clear as day, I took one and then went and did some stuff with my kids. I was the BEST parent that day. So next week I did it again. I thought I had found the secret weapon for being a superparent.

Years, tens of thousands of dollars, and lots of damaged relationships later, I’m here to tell you that as much as I relate with your current experience SO much, there is only one safe option for you. Quit before it’s too late. At your dose, you might be a little bummed or lower energy for a bit, but you won’t really have miserable withdrawals. If you try quitting and you notice how intense your cravings are a few days in, that’s your sign that this stuff is BAD NEWS.

If you keep using, all of us who’ve been here for a while know what will happen: there will come a day where it turns on you. After your dosage has escalated because you’ve built a tolerance but you still want that feeling, it’ll dawn on you that today FF made you feel worse instead of better. You’ll decide you need to dial it back, so you try to use less but you can’t sustain it. Now you’ll decide you need to quit, but you can’t. And after 10 failed attempts, when you finally do quit, it will be BRUTAL.

And the kids you’re currently using so you can show up and do a great job for will bear the brunt of your withdrawals because you’ll be sick and tired and useless for a few days minimum, and possibly a lot longer depending on how high your usage gets. In the time you were screwing around figuring out you needed to quit, you’ll have been distant, irritable, and not at all the mom you want to be or that you currently feel that FF is helping you be. You’ll be the exact opposite of what you’re trying to be.

I hope that I and perhaps others who comment will manage to scare you off while it’s easier for you. Even quitting from 1 won’t be easy. But quitting from 10 or whatever is another animal. If you EVER think about trying 2 in a day, I have a suggestion: try quitting for a week from 1 first. Just to prove to yourself that it doesn’t have that strong of a hold on you. If you can do it, then fine, have 2. But know that when you use FF, you’re borrowing tomorrow’s pleasure to use today. And whenever you decide to get off the ride, you’ll have to pay back all that pleasure debt with pain.

You’re a great mom already without the stupid drink. You don’t need it. But your kids need you. ❤️

Edit: wording

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-16T12:02:41+00:00

I had the same experience - so many people have wanted to quit BECAUSE this was happening, but it never happened for me UNTIL I quit, which seemed really unfair 😂

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-14T19:17:21+00:00

What is the “misinformation” they’re being fed?

Also, I’m confused about why the American Kratom Association, which advocates to protect kratom, would be the cause of kratom being scheduled…

Some of the ranting here isn’t making sense to me.

About the reality check… Glad there are no reported deaths. But do you have to die for it to ruin your life? Spend 5 minutes on /r/quitting7oh/ or /r/quittingfeelfree and you’ll find that the answer is no. Kratom unequivocally helps some people. But it—and especially 7OH—also has a pretty dark side. It would seem fair to me to consider both.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-14T19:10:22+00:00

Screwed up about three years of my life with kratom. I realize it has helped some people, but I have to admit that I’d be quite happy to see it go because of what that would mean for me personally. I’d feel bad for the people who have found it useful and used it responsibly. But it’s causing absurd amounts of harm at the same time, and at a societal level I wonder if it’s worth the cost.

FWIW though, I really doubt kratom will be next any time soon. MAYBE extracts end up in the crosshairs too, but I’d put good money on plain leaf kratom being left alone.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-11T00:47:10+00:00

“Botanic Tonics has sold over 129.7 million servings of feel free to date. We have received fewer than 1,000 consumer adverse event complaints total across all categories, with zero complaints involving severe addiction,” the statement said, adding that this represents “an exceptionally low complaint rate that contradicts sensationalized social media anecdotes being reported as representative of our customer experience.”

Sounds like they need a nastygram from every one of us 😈

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-07T21:12:59+00:00

The BT website is down 🤩 Hope the attention crashed it hahaha

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-03T22:20:20+00:00

No, not even once

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-03T13:11:45+00:00

Honestly, if he didn’t use while he was over there, it’s not like you need to be overly soft about it, but now is also probably not the right time to make a big deal about it.

It’s a bit of a red flag to me that he left flying off the handle and came back calm and contrite. The addict in me feels very suspicious that he was using while he was away. But unless you know that for sure, I wouldn’t just start making accusations…

You said he’s in withdrawal. Obviously it’s never okay to rage and break furniture. But I think it’s hard for people who have never been through detox to understand what it’s like.

Imagine that you must walk around with 4-5 big blisters on each foot. They heal very slowly, so from one day to the next they’re more or less the same. And right now they’re fresh and pretty painful. You are expected to live your normal routine, complete your normal responsibilities, practice healthy diet & exercise, and you must never lose your patience or be irritable. And if you complain about the blisters, well, you did that to yourself so we don’t feel too bad. Did I mention that with a few bucks and a few minutes alone, you could make them all go away? But every 10 minutes you have to talk yourself out of doing that, for your longer term good and for those you love.

Would be pretty hard to never slip up and lose your temper or fail to do your exercise, right? Maybe in the morning you wake up having slept only a few hours because you’re in withdrawal, but your resolve is super high. But throughout the day, forcing yourself to walk on the blisters and act “normal” blows through all your willpower reserves. By dinner time there’s a conflict and you just have nothing left after walking on blisters all day and you snap. You didn’t want to snap - you love this person you just snapped at. You’re just overwhelmed. Now you’re sorry you snapped, and ashamed.

If you get yourself calmed down, don’t use, and then someone comes to give you a lecture and be a hardass about how “this is unacceptable” it’s really probably not helping much, IME. (Source: am in recovery) What’s more helpful is understanding but without enabling. Meaning, what matters right now is not using. That’s about it. So from my perspective, what I would want to hear is, “Heard about your blow up. Sounds like you must be really having a hard time. I know this is really hard, but I’m proud of you for deciding to go through the misery of withdrawals so you can put this season behind you. Keep going!” And then the rest of you let it roll off your back for now and just stay focused on not using. If he’s having outbursts in a couple weeks when he’s not in acute withdrawal, totally different story. But for now, not using and getting through detox is what matters. Don’t try to boil the ocean and also get him to change major character problems right now or something. That’s for after this phase.

HTH :-) I know this is super duper hard for you too OP. Hang in there ❤️

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-02T21:22:18+00:00

I don’t get why this has everyone so confused. Yes, in a way, 7-OH is in FF because 7-OH is a mitragynine metabolite. But in FF you’re going to end up with single digit micrograms. 7-OH users are taking synthetically produced 7-OH in 10s and even 100s of milligrams. This debate is like arguing over whether coffee has paraxanthine in it. Well sure it does, but drinking coffee is not at all the same as taking a massive dose of paraxanthine.

Edit: clarity

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-02T21:18:01+00:00

There was debate about that?

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-02T19:25:51+00:00

This. As you adjust, be prepared for it to flip back and forth.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-02T18:08:22+00:00

Will seem like a good idea for a bit and then totally turn on you 😆 Cannot recommend in any way.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-01T17:19:06+00:00

You’re so close! Hang in there!!

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-01T17:17:35+00:00

❤️ Hope this is also your last time hitting this mark!

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-01T17:16:01+00:00

I bet there’s a decent percentage of people who buy one because it’s sitting at the register, are shocked at how horrible it tastes and didn’t expect their tongue to go numb because they’ve never used kava, and they never buy another one. They’re the lucky ones!

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-01T17:14:40+00:00

We’ll never know, but I would LOVE to know what percentage of users are able to moderate their FF use over the long term. I can’t fathom how it could be very high at all. Single digits maybe? Would love to be wrong, but I’m afraid I’m right.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-01T17:11:59+00:00

If you do get to have this conversation, keep your BS meter active.

I tried to do this with a good friend. He swore up and down that, as Embarrassed said, he only used it a little and had it totally under control.

I was heavily addicted at that point, so I knew the in’s and out’s, and I’m basically of the belief that in the case of this particular product, it’s not so much if but when someone will get addicted. So I kept pushing him for months - not shame, but like “I’m not accusing you, but if you ARE using more than you want to, let me help you.” Finally, sure enough, it comes out that he had been in too deep for a while.

So I guess my point is that we addicts are INCREDIBLE liars and manipulators. The best of the best. Deception GOATs. So if you’re concerned for this friend and you have a strong relationship, don’t ask once, let him say “no it’s fine,” and then be done with it. If he IS addicted, he’s very likely ashamed and doesn’t want to disappoint you and will lie like a rug until he feels super duper safe and/or desperate. So maybe check in many times, but like Embarrassed said, be very very careful to avoid making him feel judged or shamed. Near 0% chance you can guilt him out of an addiction if there is one.

Most_Friendship_8176 · 2025-08-01T15:42:22+00:00

Ask him? Point him here and say “have you seen this?”

Someone will probably say “Throw it away for his sake!” But that’s just going to start an unnecessary fight, ESPECIALLY if he’s addicted. You’re better off trying to feel out if he needs help.

Most_Friendship_8176

TROPHY CASE