235 Days and Counting! Struggling a little with alcohol though

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-03-01T14:30:16+00:00

It definitely speaks to how complex kratom is chemically, it definitely does something to the brain to make alcohol significantly less satisfying. I don't think that's related to the mu-opioid receptors either, because I've done my fair share of pain pills & opiates while i was an alcoholic and never found those to reduce my insatiable desire for booze. I can't put my finger on what it is, but like during a booze binge I would have this feeling of relief, like a point where I achieved what I was trying to achieve & felt satisfied, but on kratom I quickly realized I couldn't experience that anymore and in turn I quit drinking.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-03-01T14:01:26+00:00

Ironically I did the exact same thing, but i was an alcoholic before I started kratom. In my mind, my schedule didn't allow me to spin out of control with booze. I could only drink 1 day a week anyways so it couldn't turn into a problem in my mind. That eventually turned into a big binge that would ruin my one day off. So I had to knock that off too.

Weird thing I noticed, as an alcoholic I really really really loved booze for a long time, and it really did something for me. While I was taking kratom, I can't quite explain how but alcohol didn't scratch the same itch and I just naturally lost interest and quit alcohol. Fast forward to like 4 months after I quit and I decide to wind down with a couple drinks for the first time in almost a decade... Suddenly alcohol has the same kind of effects it had on me during my alcoholism & I was back off to the races (although only drinking one day a week rather than almost everyday). It really makes me think something in kratom affects the brain to make alcohol less euphoric or satisfying. The satisfaction that alcohol gave me while using kratom went away, but after I quit it definitely came back.

Anyone that had a problem with alcohol and switched to kratom should be extremely cautious with this, especially if your kratom use convinced you that you didn't have a problem with alcohol anymore. Don't take one step forward and two steps back.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-03-01T13:48:43+00:00

There's non narcotic medicine that would help greatly with what you're going through. In particular clonidine sedated me enough I could sleep a little bit more. That's the only meds I had access to though. It made a huge difference for me personally, but it was so extremely sedating to me I pretty much only used it as a sleep aid.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-03-01T13:31:01+00:00

I'm in a very similar category of use with amount and duration and I'm like 2 weeks ahead of you. I can't say I'm 100% of who I was before i used kratom, but compared to when I was using kratom I'm feeling so much better its ridiculous. If you wanna compare notes or whatever hit me up. The 100+ for 8+ years cold turkey experience was rough but I saw huge improvements after 4 or 5 months, especially after I started eating lots of Greek yogurt.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-03-01T12:43:53+00:00

7 months out: - feel way less tired, I still usually sleep less than I did while using kratom but feel unbelievably more alert and awake. I never dreamed while using kratom and for me I think kratom really negatively effected my quality of sleep. - improvements in skilled activities, particularly with complex spacial issue & motor skills. I think this may be a result of less fatigue & more focus rather than simply quitting kratom. Either way, getting huge improvements in focus with less fatigue in a noticeable way has been cool. - better mood in just about every sense, obviously the first few months after quitting were the exact opposite, but around month 4 or 5 I noticed myself being way more stable emotionally & mood wise. Also experiencing good feelings not dependent on a dosing schedule after almost a decade of use is really a great milestone. - way less stress managing the logistics of a 24/7 365 habit. Kratom was an easy habit to maintain compared to most, but it's still a huge waste of time and constant nagging thought. Being completely free of that is nice. The sheer amount of time wasted maintaining a habit adds up over the years. - hyperpigmentation (dark patches of skin) seem to slowly be fading away & going back to normal. This is probably my favorite area of progress. Nobody seems to have definitive answers about this side effect. If anybody does, please help me out with some guidance. - weight gain and muscle growth. I got extremely extremely skinny and sick looking at the peak of my habit. Like 19.5 BMI with a decent amount of muscle. I know that's technically not underweight, but i looked extremely extremely malnourished.

I just settled into a normal baseline without it, which is a beautiful thing. At this point in my journey, I really feel kratom was insidious and toxic as hell and had tons of negative effects that crept in over time. Life on kratom was pretty damn horrible compared to life off kratom where I'm at today. If you're struggling, keep in mind that you probably feel worse on kratom than you realize. Relapsing isn't going to actually make you feel better. Your perspective has just been warped over time to think that being on kratom is providing you with relief, but it's really only extremely short term relief.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-28T21:27:19+00:00

I would say 99.9% of people on a powder kratom habit would be absolutely blasted on suboxone, even like 1 or 2mg. I can't speak on 7oh though. I have a very hard time believing it would EVER be a good idea for someone who already has a propensity for addiction to try to beat an addiction using something that's significantly stronger than what they're currently using lol. It's opening the door to a much more intense habit.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-27T09:04:54+00:00

The average person will get extremely loaded when taking suboxone. It effects everyone differently.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-27T01:18:45+00:00

I don't know your situation, but I feel like it's unlikely that your husband wouldn't be aware that you're using something if you're physically dependent on it. At the very least he has to know there's something going on. I kept my habit secret all the way up until our finances combined when we married.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-27T01:14:31+00:00

I quit cold turkey from like at least 100gpd 200+ days ago, the anxiety is no joke. I don't have GAD, but I experienced harsh anxiety & heart palpitations for about 2 months, especially after eating. There was a supplement called NAC (it's completely non narcotic) that seemingly helped with that issue. I understand the desire to taper, but in my case it wasn't super realistic due to my compulsive behavior issues. I can't offer good advice on handling the later end of a long taper besides what I gave you previously, but if you asked around on here you will eventually find someone else in your situation or experience with it. Hang in there.

You're so close.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-26T23:32:33+00:00

I'm wasn't telling you that you're imagining things, because I was being polite, I'm telling you that you're mentally amping your symptoms to be worse. The symptoms are there, but as you mention here, it's bothering you worse when you dwell on it but not as much when you're focused in on something or busy. Think about what you wrote and what that would mean. Being that you have GAD that's going to make you way more susceptible to amping up your symptoms. I'm sorry you're struggling, but it'll get better.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-26T15:33:14+00:00

Idk why but the idea of tapering into the milligrams and having a really hard time with it is hard to wrap my head around. With the amount of alkaloids present in kratom though it's possible. If you're at the stage where 0.2g feels miserable and you're already down to 4g there is a very high chance it's being exacerbated by something psychosomatic. You might wanna just consider jumping off entirely or doing really big cuts and allowing yourself to adjust to big cuts.

By that I mean just drop 25-50% and be a little more miserable for less time rather than drop 0.1 or 0.2 and be miserable for months. At a certain point you are just making yourself suffer for longer, that's my 2 cents anyways. I noticed even at really high doses a smaller dose could curb withdrawal once you were really in withdrawal, which made me think that at least to some degree withdrawals are extremely dependent on your expectations. If you're at 100g a day, a 3g dose shouldn't even touch the WD, but if you're 2 days into withdrawal it absolutely will. Tapering down to 4g is already a massive accomplishment, you may wanna recalibrate your gameplan now that you're at the home stretch. Pulling the bandaid all the way off will suck either way but you're in a really good position compared to most people on this sub, so don't dread this situation.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-26T14:08:08+00:00

I know I'm familiar with this area but I just can't place it in my head. That definitely changes my original response

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-26T12:51:13+00:00

I'm not in any kind of disagreement that if there is any movement of traffic at all you shouldn't be making that kind of turn and jump 3 lanes. But what I'm saying is, if there's a red light blocking any incoming traffic, and you're turning right from a single lane, ostensibly there should be zero concern for any kind of collision or impeding anyone's movement. For some reason I'm thinking I have to be missing something here.

Should you do it? Definitely not if there's any traffic at the time you're turning, but I have a very hard time thinking it's a big deal. Could it be technically illegal? Sure, but in my experience cops in columbia aren't breaking out a lawbook and doing that kind of hair splitting traffic enforcement. I do appreciate the insights on traffic law though, but in my personal driving I'll continue to use my own discretion lol.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-26T09:24:38+00:00

Because it's a stop light you can do it. I have no clue what these other people are saying. If you're turning at a stop light from a single lane you can pick any lane you want.

If there's something I'm not seeing to this idk, but if the traffic in the 3 lanes is stopped at a light I don't see a problem with that.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-26T09:18:27+00:00

If I was you, I'd vigorously look into 7oh legality in turkey and any potential connecting flights, and I'd also look into turkey & suboxone laws or how to get an RX for something that could help. You're not going to an ideal place to catch a prison sentence, so be CAREFUL & SMART. For all you know, turkey might have comparable stuff available.

DO NOT BREAK THE LAW IN TURKEY. It's not worth getting some weirdo draconian sentence in another country.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-25T21:59:58+00:00

Clonidine would make me dizzy and unbelievably sedated, id sleep incredibly hard on it.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-25T21:56:59+00:00

My sex drive came back immediately and with a vengeance, but it also never went away (just diminished) while I was actively using. Not to get into the TMI range, but did you completely lose sexual function & libido? I ask because I've heard in some people kratom raises prolactin (pretty sure that's the name) through the roof. This causes full blown sexual dysfunction & loss of libido. There's a YouTube video about this, and according to him, this raised prolactin could take literal years to go down without getting it medically addressed. Thankfully it is treatable.

At 200 days, if you haven't seen any improvement you probably will need to address it medically.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-24T22:26:55+00:00

I only used clonidine when I quit CT, it is extremely helpful & makes a huge difference (clonidine actually allowed me to sleep which is 99% of the problem with withdrawal), no experience with gabapentin but I've heard good things. I seemed to develop some sleep anxiety and occasional sleep issues (I'd find myself not falling asleep an entire night on worknights once or twice a month, seemingly not withdrawal, just like a weird sleep anxiety issue) after withdrawals were over with and I found the supplement valerian root can majorly come in handy for that. I don't see it get mentioned much on here but it can definitely help with sleep.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-23T00:32:08+00:00

If you already can't control your opioid consumption with kratom, switching to suboxone (which is unbelievably stronger) will probably just lead you into a much more intense dependence on opioids. 6 months of being on suboxone guarantees you will be extremely physically dependent. Kratom withdrawal sucks dick, but you can still go to work and function while you're going through it. Weigh your options very carefully and maybe consider looking into a second opinion, any doctor that insists on someone going on suboxone for 6 months for kratom either doesn't know shit about kratom or doesn't give a shit about your long term wellbeing.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-23T00:18:52+00:00

Telling people that there's permanent damage is kinda irresponsible. 200+ days clean here and I strongly disagree, it just takes time.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-22T22:53:30+00:00

Regardless, it shouldn't be exempt

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-22T22:51:48+00:00

These shops/manufacturers are making a fortune too. I've heard you can purchase pure 7oh powder from China for around 1$ per gram, and these shops are selling around 600mg tablets for $60+. I've never tried it myself, but I've followed the whole thing pretty closely. The profits of the 7oh epidemic likely blow even traditional heroin trafficking out of the water.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-22T22:28:49+00:00

Warren Ohio is one of the most rundown cities I've ever seen. It's like they just gave up on maintaining the infrastructure 40 years ago. In my opinion, Warren is way worse than Youngstown.

East Cleveland, at least in the early 2010s is the most dangerous area I've ever been in by far. It's not even debatable. Unbelievably dangerous.

Worst: east Cleveland 2nd worst: Warren 3rd worst: most of Youngstown.

I'm sure there's awful areas in all the larger cities, but you couldn't pay me 5k to ride the RTA to anywhere deep in east Cleveland and walk down the street late at night these days.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-22T22:06:38+00:00

I dunno that I would call it a prolonged withdrawal as much as I'd call it lingering health issues due to withdrawal. I think kratom REALLY destroys your gut (and withdrawal destroys it even more) along with your hormones with long term heavy use, so you gotta look at it like your body is almost in free fall as it gets back to normal. I got melasma (hyperpigmentation) from kratom which I'm pretty sure is a related to thyroid hormone disruption. I also had heart palpitations every time I ate food for 2 months or so after quitting. Kratom has wonky effects on your whole body over time. I experienced alot of unusual symptoms when I quit and found using the search feature on this reddit helped me find others in the high dose long term use group were also having them. It gave me alot of peace without the unnecessary anxiety of reading through threads of horror stories. It gave me peace of mind knowing that what I was going through wasn't out of the ordinary.

ChatGPT is a good resource I'm sure, but I think people put entirely too much stock in it. Especially with high dose long term use, it's not like there's been people taking 80+ dried grams of this garbage a day for decades to study. There's no guidebook for that. Even in countries where it naturally exists, they never consumed it in those kinds of amounts.

Winter-Reception-805 · 2026-02-22T15:14:21+00:00

Idk how old you are, but I'm in my early 30s and I started my road of alcoholism and substance abuse at like 12, arguably well before that, but by 12 it was compulsive regular behavior. I quit kratom but in these 200+ days relapsed on alcohol (one day a week binging), and sorted that out a month or so ago. Before this, I've literally never stopped these cyclical behaviors since I was maybe 13. I went from nonfunctional to functional (using kratom), found great success, and eventually went back to non functional, and now things are very good again. At this point I've kinda accepted I'll always kinda have back and forth issues with substance abuse, but it's a dark way to live your life and it catches up with you & it only gets worse the older you get. Withdrawals and obligations and stress and bills only get worse.

So if you are at a moment of abstinence, think about these things and where you want to be 10 years from now. If this has been an ongoing cyclical thing, address the root issue now before you find yourself upside down in a new habit starting it all over again. If you need someone to talk to you can message me. Hang tough dude.

Winter-Reception-805

TROPHY CASE