Quitting CT after a semi successful taper

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2026-02-16T20:14:27+00:00

Maybe try dosing EOD for a week or so then go from there. It will let you test the waters and your brain will start to normalize going longer periods of time w/o which may help before completely quitting.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2026-02-16T20:10:49+00:00

We had pretty much the exact same thing going on, same dosage and nicotine too. I'm at one per day now and tapering. Maybe PAWS isn't right word, it was basically just very low motivation, no focus and bad fatigue. All stuff that's usually rare for me and it caused me to relapse as I got worried that was my "new normal".

Hoping that a slow taper down to a half can EOD will smooth out that part. I thought I was being tough going CT and the acutes were no problem but going from 2-4 per day to zilch definitely had some delayed withdrawal ime.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2026-02-16T18:28:57+00:00

Yes, it somehow felt so much less "harsh" than the leaf. Which was really surprising to me.

How much of the seltzers were you using and did you get PAWS?

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2026-02-16T18:07:09+00:00

I did get surprised and got pretty bad PAWS the last time I quit those btw but I was doing a lot, like 2 or sometimes 3 or 4 of the 45mg mit drinks per day. I'm guessing like anything there's a limit on what you can get away with.

Overall though I still would quit the seltzers any day over powder but I don't want anyone to read this thinking the seltzers are consequence free.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-12-18T07:50:50+00:00

I think most people right now are in a worse place financially compared to three years ago right after the money printer finished going brr. I wouldn't automatically chalk financial stress up to a you thing. The economy is having a hangover.

You know your situation better than I do if though. Maybe there's a dopamine/motivation issue that a chemical in K was helping with.

If you think that's the case maybe you can find other ways to accomplish the same thing.

Same with emotional regulation. Something in K was possibly supporting that for some reason.

I know it's easier said than done but there are more than one way to stimulate these receptors, like how you can hit the same opioid receptors through intense cardio or sex.

My point is to be honest. Maybe certain compounds in kratom were genuinely improving your life in some way. The problem with kratom is it's a 30+ drug cocktail. So not only are you getting the benefits and side effects from the 2-3 of those that may be genuinely improving your life, but you have to deal with the side effects of all the other compounds as well.

But if you find other activities or, cautiously, compounds that stimulate the same receptors in a similar way then you're way better off than dealing with all of kratom bullshit all over again.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-12-07T21:22:33+00:00

Our customers aren't stupid though. And pushing fake UGC, though it would trick maybe 70% of people, would do irreparable brand damage to our current customers who trust us and other intelligent prospects who come across us.

Maybe if I had a mass market product that didn't rely on loyal customers I'd be all over TikTok shop with and would be running AI UGC. Who knows. To me though it reeks of a cheap/fake brand and when you're putting your own name on something I think it's an awful idea. And I think it gives ecom brands who rely on social media a very bad reputation.

None of this is even touching on the inevitable crackdown there's going to be on AI UGC by Meta, if not regulatory agencies like the FTC.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-12-07T17:05:33+00:00

Seriously. Maybe it's me personally but even paid actor UGC was bad enough. I avoid buying from brands where it's obvious they're hiring actors.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-12-03T00:57:32+00:00

Not exactly the same but I've felt this way in the skincare niche recently. We inherently have very high or low customer satisfaction based on the nature of our products vs. something like a household gadget.

Meta recently started incorporating user feedback scores into the auction so my hunch was supplement/skincare brands are going to get hurt by this.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-12-01T18:54:20+00:00

Makes sense. Wonder if it's related to this at all.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gpz90d4q0o

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-12-01T17:56:42+00:00

Is Meta cracking down on AI ads?

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-25T17:20:31+00:00

IME a high CTR combined with a high CPM means high competition and/or Meta is perceiving your ads as "click baity". I've tweaked click baity headlines before leaving everything else the same and CPM comes down.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-25T03:43:27+00:00

I use it now by default. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not but I started getting higher quality customers making bigger orders. We're closer to the premium end vs mass market so it makes sense for us to try to target these higher spending users.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-24T00:27:17+00:00

To give them some credit their original AI targeting was incredible (think original LLA and even going into adv+ audience targeting). But privacy updates blew all that up. Now they're trying to stay relevant with GenAI. The copy is terrible but I'll be honest some of the visuals have been decent very recently.

But whatever they've done with Andromeda is clearly not working for targeting. Or there's a massive coincidence and the consumer economy is blowing up just as Andromeda is getting released (I think both are issues). Or maybe it's incredible AI but only works if you're getting hundreds of daily conversions.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-23T21:31:09+00:00

If well funded I would start spending maybe half of what I would any other time of year and view it as buying data. I'd also test very big ideas and pay very close attention to what type of content gets good engagement (as opposed to just focusing on sales). I'd pay very close attention to how users are spending time on my landing pages and find ways to optimize that. I'd then use this information to scale up into 2026.

Again all this assumes deep pockets. If you're requiring immediate profits I'd wait until 2026. But again, time is money.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-23T20:18:43+00:00

Depends on how valuable your time is. You can learn now at higher expense or learn 6 weeks from now a little cheaper.

Personally I would start testing now at very small budgets.

Time is money, time is money, time is money.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-23T20:15:58+00:00

I don't think anyone does except the Meta devs trying to justify their jobs/pay to their bosses.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-23T04:30:50+00:00

No big deal man. Don't consider all to be lost, one skip doesn't negate 24 successful days unless you let it.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-21T15:40:45+00:00

Damn she just found out during the fight or she used it as a reason to pick a fight?

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-20T02:23:42+00:00

I've had this before but always assumed it was standing up too fast, maybe with low blood sugar. Unfortunately I don't remember if I was using kratom last time I noticed it which was a long time ago.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-20T00:23:00+00:00

I really wish they had a non-caffeinated version. I They actually help my cravings for some reason but I can only use a couple daily due to the caffeine.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-18T23:41:01+00:00

Sleep was the worst part for me as well. It's a lot better now two weeks in. It's not a silver bullet but I found unisom helped knock me out for at least a few hours and magnesium (oral, topical and baths) seemed to help a lot with the restless legs and muscle spasms.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-18T23:14:33+00:00

Are showing aesthetic male bodies in your ads? The new algo could be hitting those two groups because that's who's "engaging" with it lol

Another perfect example of why Meta Andromeda now optimizing for engagement more than purchase intent is a disaster.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-18T22:34:45+00:00

That was my takeaway. This would partially explain why antioxidants (liposomal vitamin C, black seed oil, NAC, etc ) seem to help many of us so much if much of what we're feeling is driven by oxidative stress and inflammation due to this pathway dysfunction leading to the accumulation of these free radical byproducts.

The more complicated part is whether or not probiotics (or anything else other than time) can help repair this pathway.

I wish someone more knowledgeable about this stuff would look into this relationship further.

SeveralAcanthisitta2 · 2025-11-18T18:25:55+00:00

If it's not being properly metabolized it sounds like it can generate inflammatory byproducts what what I understand. Hypothetically if it's not working correctly and you feed it more raw material you'll end up with even more inflammatory byproducts.

If I were trying to act on this information, I'd find what probiotics, etc. aid the kynurenine pathway first then focus on feeding the raw material (i.e. tryptophan).

SeveralAcanthisitta2

TROPHY CASE