Kratom warning

@lance1960

I see that this your first post on Mayo Clinic Connect. Welcome to our online patient support community! I appreciate the warning you have provided to others about the use of Kratom and I am so sorry to hear about the serious problems you have had with this drug.

It looks as if Mayo Clinic agrees with you on this. I checked their website and they have a similar warning. Here is the link to Mayo's article titled, "Kratom: Unsafe and Ineffective." https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/kratom/art-20402171

Interestingly, the first side effect listed in this article is "Weight Loss."

I'm wondering what steps you are now taking to feel better. Are you currently consulting with a physician, therapist, or psychiatrist to try and find an answer to the health problems that resulted from the use of Kratom? Please share with Connect as you are comfortable doing so.

I look forward to hearing from you again.

Teresa.
Hello Teresa, I hope all is well!. I checked into a methodist hospital in Dallas, TX where I reside so I can get something going. They decided to feed me via line in me. They call it a banana bag, what it does it balances the chemicals and the electrolites in my body. What separates me from being classified Annaroxic is my willingness to eat and wanting to get better. My biggest problem Teresa is I don't know how to get off the Kratom. It is more addictive than Dilaudid, Morphine etc. ...the withdrawals are far more sever. The doctors cannot give any pain medications to relieve the withdrawals. They told me a psychiatric will talk to me and see what can be done. They are giving me Attivan a muscle relaxer to relieve me from the bouts of withdrawals. If you have any suggestion Teresa, please help me. I am hoping that the banana bag can reverse my weight loss. I wished I had never touched any pain pill ever. I didn't know then when I took them they were addictive. I kind of blame my stupidity for being they way I am now. I will be here at the hospital for this week getting fed. I will jeep you abreast Gid willing. Thank you for your caring about my wellbeing.
Regards

Hello @lance1960, it was good to hear from you. I'm so glad that you are getting some help. Unfortunately, I don't have any suggestions, but I would like to invite some other members of our Addiction/Recovery discussion group to join in this conversation. They can offer you some support and perhaps suggestions from their own recovery stories.

@zeph317 @savana1 @johnwhitfield @hisgrace6992 @stsopoci @mothergoose76 @caseygirlx0xmv @rossjt @sunnyflower @elwooodsdad

On Mayo Connect we also have other discussion groups that you might find helpful. Here are a few:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/importance-of-focusing-on-positive-with-depression-anxiety/
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/journaling-the-write-stuff-for-you/
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/example-of-how-i-feed-my-head-in-healthy-way/
Please keep posting, @lance1960. I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress!

Hello @lance1960, and those included in this message, I am Sunnyflower and worked in a hospital detox and recovery/Residential treatment unit for 10 years. I am happy to answer any questions I can.
I am sorry to hear about your journey/struggles. Yes, Ativan is used for withdrawal and is quite effective. Be sure to communicate with the staff frequently and adequately so they can titrate your dose to make sure you are comfortable as possible.

Malnutrition was common to most of our patients on the unit no matter what their addiction but Kratom sounds much worse than other drugs in regard to weight loss. In that regard, it sounds like they are giving you some good IV nutrition. If I were you I would ask if they are working with the nutritionist they're in the hospital. I feel that is a must.

In your current environment, there are usually multiple disciplines meaning, chemical dependency counselors, mental health workers such as psychiatrists, social workers if necessary, Etc.

They usually have Family Programs because addiction is a family disease usually. Yes no family then friends for certain.

Please be assured there is no judgement from the staff working with you. Clearly you are judging yourself severely for being addicted. This cannot serve your well-being and will work against your recovery so as the staff where I worked used to say, you have to get rid of the stinkin Thinkin!

Now being a bible-believing Christian, I have learned that I can not only do that but I must replace the stinkin Thinkin With truth and wallpaper my mind with it such as some great scripture verses. Pretty soon you'll become very good at it and stop the stinkin Thinkin thought before you complete it and can immediately replace it with whatever truth will help you have a much better view of yourself. Being that most recovery environments refer to God or your
higher power and believe me, God loves us and we are made in His image so we need to think of ourselves as whoever our higher power is, does.

I have learned that His love is unmerited, deep, vast and unfathomable! It is my relationship with my higher power Whi for me is the God of the Bible/Jesus Christ.

I believe you will have a successful and tolerable withdrawal but you must be patient with your body.

Staff works hard on aftercare and statistics show that belonging to 12-step meetings and attending as many as possible per week is the formula for success.

Has anyone talked to you about Gabapentin? It is now being used in hospitals for surgeries and Pain Management. You probably already know but it is an anti-seizure medicine and somehow dulls pain.

Some people have side effects from it and some people do not. They usually start you out at a very low dose such as 100 mg once or twice a day. If you tolerate the drug and it works for you, it should be taken 3 times a day because it has a short half-life. But your doctors will work that out with you. I do know quite a few people who were not taking it three times a day and when they began to take it three times a day they had much better pain management. All of this must be discussed with the Doctor Who prescribes it for you if that is something you are amenable to try.

Please know I will be praying for you and your withdrawal, recovery, and after care. Please feel free to ask questions at any time and know that I am aware of my limitations and will not answer if I do not know.

We here on the blog care very deeply about one another and I am confident you will find support, encouragement, inspiration, and a lot of information here!

Take good care of yourself, warmest regards, Sunnyflower 🙏😊

A gentle reminder that Mayo Clinic Connect is an inclusive community. For some members, healing may include Christianity; for others it may include faith of a different denomination; and for others, no denomination. Above all, we are a community of acceptance without judgement.

All are welcome.

Hello @lance1960,

After reading the post by @sunflower, I'm thinking that you might benefit from a one-on-one consultation with a registered dietician. Appointments with dieticians can be quite helpful for numerous health issues and your need for some weight gain might be one that a dietician can help you with.

Will you consider asking for a consult with a registered dietician?

Absolutely! Sunny

Hi guys, I am seeing a nutritionist currently on Microsoft Team Meetings. I just sent a message to my PCP and asked her for a referral and today was my 6th appointment anf I sent her another message asking for a an extension referral per my nutritionist. I am learning soooo much I can't believe it! She is REALLY helping me in so many ways. I highly recommend it for you too and will pray everything works out for you @lance1960 to be able to do this. Take good care, Sunnyflower

@sunnyflower It's wonderful you are learning. I'm wondering how you and others can use a nutritionist as an aid in addiction recovery?

Hi Erika, I assume you are referring to substance abuse? When I worked in the hospital detox and residential treatment program, most of our patients were malnurished. That is where a nutritionist comes in. For people like me whose drug is food, they have many skills, options and strategies to help heal the addiction. A lot of obese people can be malnurished if they mostly have eaten junk food. For me, I lost 200# by eating only 700-800 calories per day for about 2.5 years which is impossible to get adequate nutrition from. Also, I only just learned that low calorie diets contribute to osteoporosis. I have "severe" osteoporosis and have broken some bones among which but not limited to 3 pelvic, one rib, etc. spontaneously. I also have taken daily Prednison for 23 years and a lot of IV and by mouth steroids before daily to manage lung disease and auto-immune inflammatory disease. So all of that contributed to my osteoporosis.

So patients can have many different types of health problems they don't even know about by eating a diet void of proper nutrition. The nutritionists work w/ the patient's PCP and can facilitate the right blood work to be done to help assess the areas the nutritionist can focus on and treat with diet.They are trained in some behavioral aka addition therapy.

Hope that helps? Take care Erika. Warmest regards, Sunny