Shikitohno really described Kratom well. I wasn’t aware that it was actually a bona fide true opiate. I thought at most it was like a partial opioid agonist or something. Good stuff at low doses IMO. Then again I have always been a fan of OP8’s and full opioid agonists. Such is life 
actualy kartom is an opioid. It’s like an opiate but not the same thing. The withdraw from what I’ve heard is actualy worse then with opiates but much harder to actuacly get hooked on. To be an opiate it has to be from one type of poppy. Doesn’t mean it can’t be like an opiate in many ways hence an opioid (oid means like, like humanoid). Which most opioid are opiate antagonists. Because they use the same receptors in the body. Which has a duel effect one the actual opiate can’t bind to the receptor and the body will lower the number of receptors on cells for a time. (it’s a natural way the body protects its self. While not change your body chemistry in the same way allowing you to not withdraw in the same way. The body is a strange thing by the way.
bob answered my question in away, but I would still like to hear a bit more of his opinion. I have chronic pain from a degenerative disease in my discs, and of course living in the US the doc prescribes me pharms. These are highly addictive, and I’m trying to cut down on the things that my body is dependant on. I guess my question is, would kartom make an effective herbal alternative to prescription opiod pain management, or should I just stick to the necessary evil that I’m already on?
Not sure. I would say maybe give it a small test run. See if it does anything. Though it could make things worse. Best bet in my opinion from everything I’ve “Read” or “seen” would be to slowly reduce your dose by small fractions. Also with such medications the tolerance and withdraw actualy reduce much faster then something like tobacco or alchool. So even waiting an hour or two hours longer then usal (not sure how possible that is). Should not make everyhting all better but should mitigate some of the severity of any dependency. It has to do with the manner in which this type of tolerance is regulated by your cells.
@bob Thanks…I will definitely research this further. Anything that help replace, or even reduce the amount of harmful Percs I have to take would be welcome!!!
FischTix, I know this thread is old, but if you read this it may be of some help. I am a former heroin addict. I went without any drugs for about ten years, then decided to try kratom for degenerative disc pain in my back. I found it to be nearly as effective as vics or oxycodone, and yet, it is far less addicitive. I’m not an expert by any means, but for me, it really helps w/ my back pain and I take it daily, mixed w/ apple juice and slammed down. By itself, it tastes horrible. But it is very effective and has a threshold dose. Meaning you can’t get too loaded on it. I highly recommend giving it a try. I also snuff kanna, which is nice in small amounts, and tobacco snuff always!
I’ve tried kratom and it helps with pain. Not really something you could center a party around. I used it semi regularly and didn’t notice any type of tolerance increase. It would help reduce the need for pharms for sure. Even if you alternated so you could use the pharms less often.
I’m a bit of a kratom enthusiast, been using it on and off for a few years now, though now its only for sleep. It’s definitely a better alternative to pain meds, but it still comes with dependency. The w/d’s are not nearly as bad as the meds, but they aren’t a walk in the park either. And if youre not used to the w/d’s of the pain meds, then they’re gonna be uncomfortable. There’s a forum dedicated to this plant and tons of people have made the switch and are very happy to have done so. As for it helping with pain, it’s actually very good for pain, but certain strains are better than others for pain releif (Bali and Indo’s). It typically lasts around 4 hours or so, so it’s about the same as the meds. And, as bob said, I stayed at the same amount for over a year, so once you find a sweet spot tolerance is easy to take care of or it just doesnt build up much, if at all. Just make sure to do some research so that you know what you’re getting into, because the dependency issues are still there. That forum is a great source of information, just not sure if I can list names of other sites here. It’s an easy google search though.
I also found sucking on the leaves seems to work best for me. Like chewing tobacco but swallow the juices.
I have recently seen some u Tube videos of “addiction specialists” stating that Kratom is really dangerous and addictive. I even a video of a woman in rehab for it, sobbing and saying it was as bad as heroin. Its just goes to show you that there are people who can get addicted to almost anything. I know there is a lot of serious misinformation about it. Coming from serious personal experience with opiates, it is my opinion that Kratom is not even in the same league as prescription pain meds. The stony feeling people are talking about is from taking way too much. It has a stimulant effect at small does, and more sedative and pain killing effect at larger doses, say of 5 grams or more. I’ve heard that a lot more can make you vomit, but there are no recorded deaths from it, ever. I think its popularity as a “legal high” will get it banned in some states, if not nationally(in the US), mainly because all it will take are a couple of teenagers getting wasted on it mixing it w/ vodka or something else. I plan to lay in a huge supply of it before they make it illegal.Those are my feelings about it.