Kratom SUCKS
I poked my head in to say, “I am leaving. I am on call.”
I looked up. My heart felt like it was being squeezed. She looked so frail, as though part of her just was not there. My heart ached. Her symptoms of kratom withdrawal were horrid. Hot, cold, achy, lost, unrelenting craving, and a sense that it might never end. A week later, a young man arrives. He described nights of pain and sweating until he woke up and could use more kratom.
It comes from a plant. How bad could it be?
“Kratom” refers to Mitragyna speciosa, a tree native to Southeast Asia, and to products derived from its leaves often marketed as herbal supplements. Kratom leaves contain many ingredients that can affect the body. The most well-studied are mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. These compounds can produce opioid- and stimulant-like effects. Both activate mu-opioid receptors, but not in the same way as opioids like heroin or oxycodone, or fentanyl. Often kratom is used in an attempt to stop using opioids. This seems like a good approach to a disease (opiate use disorder) that is claiming the lives of young people and a number of Texans.
And a month later…..“I started using it for energy. They said it couldn’t be detected on a urine drug screen. Over six months I went from 2 to 3 times a week to several bottles a day. At first, I would have a project, and I could take the kratom and “get it done”. Six months later I was spending hundreds of dollars just to get up in the morning and not fall apart. I almost lost everything.”
Kratom’s active ingredients do not cause overdose by slowing or stopping of breath. Most reported deaths are use in combination with other intoxicants. In addition to binding to opiate receptors, kratom likely binds to adrenergic receptors, serotonin receptors and dopamine receptors, which may cause the arousing and dissociative effects.
Kratom has been used as a “medicine” and as an “intoxicant”.
A medicine is “any substance or preparation used to treat disease”.
An intoxicant is “something that causes people to become excited or confused and less able to control what they say or do”.
What is addiction? – loss of control, craving, and consequences. Kratom is addictive.
Kratom is not lawfully marketed in the U.S. as a drug product, a dietary supplement, or a food additive in conventional food. Kratom products may contain harmful contaminants.
If you need help for problems related to kratom or other drugs, contact me.
More information:
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-and-kratom
https://www.dshs.texas.gov/sites/default/files/foods/pdf/DSHS%20Kratom%20Flyer_CO-AB.pdf
