How to Ease Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms with Kratom

If you are someone or know someone who has suffered from addiction, you know just how hard it can be. Addiction can break up families, friendships and marriages, lead to a multitude of health problems and can take a severe toll on your mental and physical health. While being in the throes of addiction is hard enough, the thought of coming off or down from a substance can sometimes be even worse than the addiction itself. Many users make the decision to continue with their drug of choice solely for the fact that they are scared; scared of how they’ll feel, who will be there and withdrawal.

What Is Withdrawal?

Drugs and alcohol are depressants; they suppress the brain’s production of neurotransmitters, while changing the structure of nerve cells in the brain. Our neurotransmitters are the chemical “messengers” of our brain, signaling different responses within the body. Substances like drugs and alcohol greatly disturb the delicate balance of our brain by imitating, stimulating or blocking certain effects of our neurotransmitters. When you stop using drugs or alcohol, your body will react and your brain goes into an overdrive; producing a surge of adrenaline that causes withdrawal. Withdrawal is the physical and mental symptoms that can occur after stopping the intake of a drug. The symptoms can range from minor things like anxiety, irritability and fatigue to much more intense physical maladies like headaches, vomiting, tremors and even in the worst cases seizures, heart attacks and hallucinations. Withdrawal can last a few weeks to months and is different for everyone. Opioid withdrawal can be especially dangerous, with the symptoms teetering more on the extremes and oftentimes the most severe.

Treating Withdrawal Symptoms

The opioid abuse epidemic has been on the rise since the ‘90’s, with more than 700,000 people dying from an overdose. In 2017, the number of deaths involving opioids was six times higher than in 1999 and on average, upwards of 130 American’s die every day from an opioid related overdose. Because of these alarming statistics, there are many treatment options available to users who decide to end their addiction. Once opioid withdrawal has begun, (usually 12-30 hours after the last exposure) it is wise to seek treatment. Withdrawal from these drugs on your own can be very hard and extremely dangerous. Typical opioid withdrawal treatments usually involve:

• Prescription medications like Methadone, Subutex and Clonidine
• Counseling like in- and out-patient treatments (coping techniques), self-help groups and therapy
• Support groups like Narcotics Anonymous and SMART Recovery

With more and more people seeking holistic help from these debilitating symptoms and moving away from addictive prescription pills, a new herbal remedy has been making headway in the alternative medicine world and that is the leaves of the Indonesian Mitragyna speciosa tree or kratom.

What Is Kratom?

Kratom is a tropical tree that is native to Southeast Asia and is actually related to the coffee family. Indigenous to the countries Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, it has been used in traditional medicinal practices since the 19th century. In these countries, it has long been touted as a miracle plant; being used as a gentle stimulant, pain reliever and anxiety reducer. The natives would often pick the leaves right from the tree and chew them throughout the day for feelings of happiness, energy, motivation and calmness, in the same way you and I would use coffee nowadays! Kratom has also been used to treat digestive issues like diarrhea, some diseases like diabetes and also as a way to treat opiate addiction and ease withdrawal complications. Typically ground into a powder, you can also find it in a crushed leaf form.

How Kratom Affects the Brain and Body Positively

The alkaloids found in the leaves of kratom have been shown to be extremely beneficial to a wide variety of individuals because of the mind-body response once the alkaloids of the plant bind to the opioid receptors (mu-opioid receptor) in the brain. Long story short:

• Mitragynine is the main alkaloid that makes up the kratom leaf, otherwise known as a mu-opioid receptor agonist. It’s the main component that helps treat chronic pain and withdrawal symptoms. Kratom leaves also contain the alkaloid 7-Hydroxymitragynine, which acts as a powerful, natural pain reliever
• The mu-opioid receptor is what agonists (the chemical that binds to a receptor) binds to in the brain
• Kratom binds to the mu-delta receptors in the brain, imitating the opiate used previously without the addictiveness or dangerous health risks
• This is how kratom reduces pain, lessens withdrawal symptoms and helps users naturally overcome their addiction

Where to Buy Kratom

Now that you know the ins and outs of withdrawal, the painful symptoms and how kratom can naturally help these difficult processes, you might be wondering where you can find this helpful herb. Imported directly from Indonesian, here at Red Devil Kratom we offer some of the highest quality kratom powders and crushed leaves on the market. Based in NYC, we are backed by strict lab-testing’s and we closely monitor each batch so our final products are the purest and freshest available. Our kratom is less grainy then most because of our unique hammermill grinder that helps us achieve the perfect consistency for our powders. We offer many different strains as well as blends so no matter your ailment, we promise you will find just what you’re looking for at Red Devil Kratom!