Hi everyone, wanted to shed some light on this topic and talk about my experience. I am not promoting drug use and I know this is a little taboo here but I hope this post can help save atleast one person from falling into this dangerous trap.
This post is strictly for educational purposes, in hopes to steer everyone clear of this newly popular “supplement”, this is NOT to promote the use of it or give anyone ideas. I know there is a recovery lounge area, but this is a topic I think EVERYONE can benefit from, to gain knowledge on the substance and hopefully save someone’s life, as society has tricked many people, myself included, with this “natural plant” that’s being posed as a safe healthy ‘supplement’. This substance is NOT safe, very addictive, and so horrible for your health. Kratom acts on the opiate receptors in the body, as well as serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and more. This substance is A LOT more complex than traditional opiates, although not as powerful, -until it comes to synthetic extracts of the substance which I’ll explain more later.

Ive been an eRoids member for years, have reviewed the rules and I don’t believe I’m breaking any by posting this here.

I am just over 2 months sober into my recovery after years of opioid addiction and multiple attempts at getting clean. This is the longest I’ve been sober since I started, and I’m just now finally starting to feel ‘normal’ again.

About myself: I am 25 years old (yes I’ve been here for years, I was banned 4 years ago after making a post of my physique at 21, unaware minimum age was 25, I spoke with mods and had my ban lifted and was allotted membership to the site despite my age).
At 21 years old I had life by the balls. Full-time career as a firefighter/paramedic, everything going well for me, and way ahead of others my age in every aspect of life. I spent a lot of weekends partying and having fun as I was very successful and nothing mattered in my world. I was doing better than I ever could’ve imagined, I had everything I could wish for and more, with more money in my pocket than I knew what to do with at that age. I was “sober” most days, but partied on the weekends.

One weekend some dirty booger sugar gave me a horrible sinus infection that caused the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt for such a thing. I went to the ER after shift, still in uniform. All the nurses/docs knew me from bringing patients there from EMS calls. They thought “Oh this is ______, he’s one of our firemen. He’s not here seeking drugs, he’s in serious pain let’s help him out with a script of oxy.” So they did. That sparked something inside me that I wish it never did. Pure bliss, euphoria, energy, happiness, I loved it. Meanwhile I was high on life prior to this. I didn’t need any substance to feel good. I woke up everyday feeling on top of the world and loved life. Add in an opiate, and it’s that same feeling x10. That led to a conversation with the sugar man, only to find out he also has oxys. I started taking them every day. Before I knew it I was dependent, waking up one day feeling sick when I didn’t have it. I didn’t understand at first, until I picked up again and all my symptoms such as runny nose, sweats, chills, etc. all disappeared. Then it clicked and I realized I was in withdrawal and developed a dependency to opiates. At first it didn’t matter to me, as I loved taking them and could afford to do so. This went on for the next few years, and it progressed to worse and worse types of opiates I’m not proud of.
Eventually I wanted to get off them and heard about Kratom. I thought it was safe, it’s sold over the counter at gas stations, smoke shops, everywhere. It’s a green powder and sold as a healthy natural energy booster, pain relief, anxiety relief, etc. I used the powder to ween off the opiates and it wasn’t too bad. It didn’t produce a “high” for me as it was much weaker than traditional opiates. But it stopped withdrawal and I was able to get off the hard stuff. One day about 2 years ago the guy at the smoke shop offered a free sample of a “natural Kratom extract”, called “7-hydroxymitraginine” or “7-OH”. It’s sold in pills that are chewable, flavored, with colorful fruit covered packaging labeled all natural, etc. it looks like candy.
I tried 1 of these tablets and within 15 minutes I was hit by a truck with euphoria, warmth, all of that familiar feeling I once knew from traditional opiates. I was nodding off in my car before the gym. I was appalled that such a thing was available over the counter, it was literally legal heroine. Immediately I was hooked. It felt so amazing, I didn’t think it was harmful as it was “just kratom”, a natural plant. I was SO WRONG.
7-OH is a derivative of the kratom plant, and makes up like .001% of the green ‘leaf kratom’ powder. This is what acts on the opioid receptors. It makes up such a small amount of the powder that it doesn’t produce the opioid-like high powerful enough while using the powder. Companies and making synthetic extracts of this substance, creating pure 7-hydroxy tablets. It’s marketed as Kratom and natural but it is not Kratom and is not natural. It is a purely synthetic chemical marketed like it’s candy and is more powerful than morphine mg per mg. This compound was never meant to exist in such high quantities. I spent the next few years fully dependent on this substance. Buying it every day from smoke shops and gas stations. I needed to dose around every 4 hours to avoid withdrawal. The half life of this compound is so ridiculously short it is not sustainable at all long term. I’d wake up in the middle of the night on fire, skin crawling, dripping sweat, in pure agony, until I chewed up some tablets. It gave a high identical to oxys, but after the first little bit, that high only lasted less than an hour. Tolerance rises INSANELY FAST with this substance. I went from first using 1 tablet that was 15mg, to recent times of taking handfuls of pills, equating to over 1000mg of the substance, per dose, several times a day. The cost of this was HUNDREDS of dollars DAILY. Like I said, NOT SUSTAINABLE. I spent over $100,000 on this fucking POISON in the last few years. I tried quitting several, several times. I spent a week in a cabin in the woods with my girlfriend detoxing one time while she took care of me, only to come home and pick it up again because after weeks of being off, I still was not normal, and the fix was right in my face at the gas station.
This substance will fuck you up in more ways than you could ever imagine. Withdrawing from this substance is WORSE than traditional hard opiates, as it acts on so many different receptors in the body. I had all the traditional opiate withdrawal side effects, as well as serotonin agonist withdrawal affects, and much more. Runny nose, sweats, chills, skin crawling, anxiety, SEIZURES, brain zaps, twitches, no sleep for weeks, and so much more. Coming off this stuff was the worst pain and agony I’ve ever experienced in my life. It felt like the devil himself was inside my chest trying to crawl out.
I went to rehab twice for this. In the facility I met others who fell into the same trap. The doctors and staff in my facility could not believe how much of the substance I was using. At the end of my addiction I was taking over 5000mg of “7-OH” daily. The highest the staff of the facility ever heard of, and the highest I myself have found anyone else to ever use. The detox I went through was worse than people coming off of fentanyl in the same treatment center. This substance ruined my life. I burned everything I had built to the ground and lost everything in my life. But I still continued to go back to it. This substance takes a hold on you like nothing else because of its vast profile of everything it interacts with in your brain and body. Not to mention it destroys your health. It’s horrible on your liver, your gut, and so much more.
Eventually, I had to utilize Suboxone to get off the substance. Even suboxone does not cover the withdrawals you face coming off this substance, as it acts on so many different receptors in the body. Getting on Suboxone, as well as many other comfort meds was the only thing that allowed me to successfully detox off the substance. And even WITH all that, I still had seizures, almost died, and went through the most BRUTAL detox I have ever experienced and the staff of my rehab facility had ever seen.

I am over 60 days clean, the longest I’ve been since starting, and I am still not the same. More awareness is coming out about this substance in recent times, but many people are still uneducated and fall for the trap that the clerks will sell you. Being told it’s a “natural energy booster”, sold in little drinks like a 5 hour energy, tablets, and other various forms. It’s becoming illegal in some states as they are more aware of the dangers and what it really is.

I understand some people have found the leaf powder of this plant to be a better alternative to traditional opiates, as they advocate harm reduction. This may be true for some people, as it may have gotten them off the hard stuff and allowed them to live “clean” in that sense. At the end of the day, it in itself is still not healthy and has its own harm and risks, and I advise those people to find a way to get off that as well.

If you have never used this substance, PLEASE DO NOT EVER. Do not try it once, don’t fall for the trap. If you are using this substance, I urge you to seek help and get off. This stuff completely ruined my life and it has been the hardest fight to get my life back after this stuff.
This post is not meant to glorify any bit of the substance, and I am only meaning to tell my experience with it and shed some light, hopefully to save someone else from falling into the trap. If anyone needs help or wants to talk, my DM’s are always open.

Stay safe fellas