Tea has a lot in common with kratom. Thanks to years of research and scientific studies, we all know that drinking tea is very good for. Tea comes from pouring hot water on cured or dried plant leaves. It is a natural product that grows in Asia. Since the beginning of time, our ancestors have found different medicinal purposes from the plants that were in their environment. Tea is no exception and there were times that the drink was used as an herbal remedy to treat various ailments. Kratom has similar properties to that of tea.
What Is Kratom?
Kratom is a tropical tree native to Asia which is a relative of the coffee family. The importance of this tree is the leaves that grow from it. Similar to tea leaves, they contain a secret that has been known in eastern medicine for centuries. It turns out that the kratom leaves have been used as an herbal drug in folk medicine. Based on how you prepare the leaves, it can be viewed as a stimulant with low amounts, as a sedative as it is consumed more as well as a recreational drug. It has also been used as a pain-killer and treatment for diarrhea. The exciting part of the leaves is how it treats opioid addiction. Using kratom, one can actually beat opioid addiction. Imagine that a natural occurring product that can help beat addiction.
Kratom is not like other drugs such as narcan which are given after an overdose. Instead it is prepared like a tea and the dosage is adjusted based on the water level. The more boiling water you add, the lower the dosage strength used. For those that don’t like to drink tea, the leaves can be prepared in a different form for consumption. One can get the dry leaves and grind them into a powder and you can also chew the leaves. The kratom powder can be added to milkshakes, yogurt, pastes for mixing with other drinks and into kratom capsules. The preferred method is a form of tea. And if you think you can smoke your way to this drug, good luck, since you basically need to smoke one tree to get the amount needed in one cup of tea.
How Does It Work?
When you take an opioid such as morphine, it is absorbed by opioid receptors or sensors in your central nervous system, stomach and brain. There are different sensors that react to different drugs depending on the chemical structure. Each binding site that gets triggered will react differently depending on what the sensor is. So a reaction to morphine will be different from a reaction to heroin because of the different sensor it triggers. Kratom acts a lot like an opioid since it contains alkaloids which are naturally occurring chemicals in our bodies. Although more research has to be done, it seems that if a fight for the sensors occurred between say heroin and kratom (#kratom), than heroin loses as does all other opioids. The triggers are still set off regardless of which chemical binds but the addictive properties of opioid addiction wear off since alkaloids beat opioids.
There are positive and negative kratom effects for using this botanical compound. Let us begin with the positive ones such as increased alertness, increased physical and sexual energy, desensitizing to some physical and emotional pain, calming effect and an overall sense of euphoria. The negative side effects include weight loss (yes it is bad), delayed ejaculation (still bad) , constipation, and darkening of the skin color of the face, addiction at extremely high doses, irritability, runny nose, symptoms of hostility, aggression, achy muscles and bones and jerky movement of the limbs. It does seem that there is the thought that you are treating one addiction by transferring it to another type of drug.
This in essence is true but the withdrawal of kratom is much easier and smoother to achieve. Heroin addicts are chasing the next big high, injecting more frequently to keep getting that feeling. When switching over, that increased desire to get higher is slowly weaned over time. The addiction is still there but the grip is not, so the opportunity exists to save the life of an opioid user?
If trying to beat opioid addiction, would you try kratom?
Great article on how Kratom helps opiod addiction. I wish there was more informative articles on the topic, especially since opioid abuse is such a huge problem in the U.S. Kratom has helped tons of people I know to combat withdrawals and improve the quality of their life and their recovery from drugs