Kratom is a naturally occurring herb found in Southeast Asia. Quitting kratom can be difficult, but with the right support system, it is doable. The big question could be, how do I do it, right? It can be a long and tedious journey, but with determination, proper support, and self-discipline, you can do it correctly and with ease.
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Tips to Help You When Quitting Kratom
- Stay Relaxed: Irritation and agitation are common symptoms when quitting kratom. Medication can offer some relief, but relaxation techniques like yoga and meditation can also help.
- Reduce Dairy Products: Constipation is a common effect of kratom use. This means if you quit using kratom and no longer suffer constipation, then diarrhea kicks in. You may need to avoid dairy products such as milk and yogurt until your body can balance. Dairy is known to be a diuretic, so you may consider using other alternatives like oat.
- Stay Hydrated: Make sure you take enough fluids to help flush out alkaloids from your body. Hydration will help you feel better and help to prevent frequent headaches.
- Keep off Alcohol: There are many problems associated with alcohol consumption. When quitting kratom, you may feel depressed, pain, and irritated, and it may work best to stay away from alcohol.
- Ask your loved ones to Support you: Talk to your family and friends and inform them of your decision and what you expect from them. Knowing that someone loves you and willing to support you gives you the motivation to succeed. They can also hold you accountable to make sure you remain disciplined and do not cheat the process.
- Evaluate your Life: Understanding your life and the people around you determines whether external factors hold you back. For instance, you may need to avoid people you were using kratom together since they may motivate you to keep abusing kratom. You may also need to take a leave from work for a few weeks since your body may get weak due to withdrawal symptoms.
- Participate in a Program: Be ready to open up to other people going through the same situation. Participating in a plan will help you figure out what triggers you to abuse kratom and solve your problem. This only works if the affected individual is willing to participate actively in a recovery program.
- Set Goals: If you are aware of what you want, it is easy to achieve your goal. You can also choose a reasonable period within which you are targeting to achieve your goals.
Kratom Addiction and Recovery
The American Society of Addiction states that addiction’s main characteristic is the inability to abstain consistently, impairment in behavioral control, and craving, diminished recognition of problems with one’s behavior and interpersonal relationship, and dysfunctional emotional response.
People who are termed to be kratom addicts have developed tolerance and will have withdrawal symptoms once they stop using kratom. If one stops using kratom abruptly, the withdrawal symptoms will start immediately after the last dosage wears off. It is also the concern for most people trying to quit kratom how long the withdrawal symptoms should last before they can feel normal again. But the most significant factor that determines your withdrawal period depends on your general health.
Proper eating habits and drinking enough water can fasten your healing period. Exercising also helps to secure the healing process. The symptoms can last for up to two weeks, while you may experience some mild symptoms for a few months after quitting kratom. Another way to help eliminate withdrawal symptoms is to become busy, sit idle, and feel sorry for you to worsen the situation.
Taking supplements such as magnesium-L Thiamine, multivitamins, and Acetyl-L carnitine can also help eliminate withdrawal symptoms fast. Since many people use kratom for pain relief, we can advise those recovering from kratom addiction to look for alternative methods.
Treatment in Addiction Recovery Centres
Even though some kratom addicts have been able to quit kratom on their own, recovery centres are much more efficient and have several benefits.
Support from professionals and those recovering
Quitting kratom is not a comfortable journey, and without adequate permission, one may backslide easily. Getting proper support from your peers will help you remain focused on the recovery process. The treatment centres provide support during the program and hold you accountable for anything that is going on throughout your recovery journey.
Medical and psychiatric treatment
The medical approach is recommended when dealing with an individual who is in an acute kratom withdrawal. Medical professionals help to ease the discomfort caused by kratom withdrawal. The individual may also be having psychiatric issues that, if left unattended, can cause severe consequences.
Therapy
Therapy is known to be one of the most effective methods of quitting kratom. First, the therapist has to analyze the reason why you are into substance abuse. The patient undergoes family and behavior therapy. The therapist may teach or suggest other alternative ways of dealing with anxiety, stress, and pain.
Recovery in the Recovery and Treatment Centres includes;
Group Counselling
It involves discussing the core issues and providing solutions to the individuals’ problems when quitting kratom. The group members support each other for mental support, grief, domestic violence, and other factors that might be pushing into substance abuse.
Individual Counselling
Counselling will help you heal from past traumas and other dysfunctional factors leading to kratom use. Personal counselling is most effective when carried out by a professional therapist specializing in drug and substance abuse.
Outpatient
Outpatient kratom abuse treatment includes partial hospitalization programs and intensive outpatient programs. Their withdrawal intensity determines the outpatient program the patient is put in. These programs mostly focus on group counselling and sometimes family and individual therapy.
12-step Programs
This program has helped millions of individuals to quit kratom. The groups offer education, accountability, and support free of charge. The new members are assigned sponsors and mentors who will help them during their recovery journey.
Detox
Kratom withdrawal can be medically managed to ensure that patient detox in a safe and comfortable place. Many facilities focus on kratom detoxication, and the process does not involve therapy and counselling. They also focus on patients’ mental health and medical treatment.
What to look for in a detox facility:
- Evaluation: You can inquire if the facility offers mental health evaluation before settling for their services. The assessment will determine why you embarked on substance abuse and the possible outcome of the process.
- Counselling: After detox, the centre should give you alternative methods to deal with anxiety, stress, and chronic pain. The counselling process is also essential in helping the recoveries not to go back into their previous behavior.
- Follow up care: A good program has follow-up care to ensure that they do not go back into kratom abuse. The facility can also appoint a mentor to keep you accountable.
Cold Turkey
When it comes to quitting drugs, cold turkey is the fastest way to go. Cold turkey means stop using kratom at once. Many people talk of it as the best method since you can throw away all your kratom and deal with the effects of quitting. However, the cold turkey method could be the fastest method of quitting kratom, but it is the most painful.
Depending on how long and how much kratom you have used, stopping it at once can be challenging, and you may not be able to function the way you intended. However, after two to three weeks of sickness, stress, and depression, you may be able to quit kratom abuse successfully. This is the main reason why the method is rare since only a few individuals can afford to feel sick and miserable for weeks before getting the body to function well after quitting kratom.
Tapering Down Kratom Dosage
The best way of quitting kratom is tapering. Choose the level you are comfortable with. The main idea here is to control your kratom consumption and gradually reduce your dosage until you can stop completely. If you gradually reduce your dosage, you will develop some tolerance and quit kratom without experiencing severe and unbearable withdrawal symptoms.
There are different ways you can taper down your kratom dosage. The rate at which you reduce your dosage depends on the reaction of your body. Checking your body’s reaction after tapering is vital to determine whether you keep tapering at the same rate.
Tapering down your kratom dosage gives your body time to adjust to the changes. It is commonly used by doctors to wean kratom addicts off the abuse. Tapering also requires proper planning and self-discipline. Since the process involves reducing your regular doses, you may not experience the usual satisfaction, and may leave you feeling worse than expected. If you think you cannot stick to lower doses, you may consider choosing a mentor to keep you accountable. If you have enough and time, quitting kratom gradually is the best option for stopping kratom.
If you plan on quitting kratom, you should carry out intense research on different methods of doing it and choose the one you feel can work for you. However, if you find it hard to develop a proper strategy, you can consult medical experts for guidance.