Let’s Talk About Kratom!

I’ll start with the important stuff. I did a lot of back & forth on whether to sell Kratom. Ultimately it came down to the fact that Kratom is a medicinal herb with some beneficial uses, so I opted to offer it. I also want to issue a few words of advise, pearls, caution, what have you? Is Kratom a drug? Well not technically. Obviously its legal to buy online with the exception of the states that I can’t ship it to. So the technical stuff: According to the National Institute of Health, Kratom affects the brain similar to opioids or other stimulants. There are compounds in the leaves that interact with the opioid receptor in your brain that lead to feelings of euphoria, pleasure, decreased pain and relaxation. One of the primary uses of Kratom is to treat opioid with withdrawal symptoms, so this can be complicated because constant use has been documented to lead to dependency.  It has also been used to treat withdrawal symptoms from alcoholism.

Can you overdose on Kratom? YES. There have been documented cases of overdoses. These were primarily due to drug interactions (with alcohol, benedryl, cocaine, cough syrup, etc) however, there have been a few cases of death due to toxic levels of Kratom alone. Kratom is typically taken in pill, extract or powder form. You can also buy the plants to make teas from the leaves. Obviously its easier to overdose in extract or powder form.

My biggest piece of advice here is going to be watch yourself. If you can’t do without it, you have a problem. Obviously, you don’t want to get to that point. If you are using Kratom to control alcohol or opioid withdrawal symptoms, do so under the supervision of your healthcare provider or herbalist.