Review Erowid at GreatNonprofits.org
Help us be a "Top Rated Nonprofit" again this year and spread
honest info (good or bad) about psychedelics & other psychoactive drugs.
("Share Your Story" link. Needs quick login creation but no verification of contact info)
Unpleasant
Kratom
Citation:   AngryRotatian. "Unpleasant: An Experience with Kratom (exp102566)". Erowid.org. Nov 22, 2015. erowid.org/exp/102566

 
DOSE:
  oral Kratom
BODY WEIGHT: 170 lb
I'm young, male, 170 pounds, slightly overweight. I've used and abused all kinds of drugs. I no longer use hard drugs, nor do I drink. I smoke pot on occasion, and stay away from all prescriptions, powders, and crystals. I'm not on any medications or taking anything else.

Kratom was an intriguing option when I first heard about it. They said it was legal, cheap, natural, and provides an opiate-like effect. I ordered some off the internet, and it came a few days later in a brown re-sealable plastic/paper pouch. I ordered 4 oz of 'Bali Premium' powder, and looked at it wondering how the hell I was going to consume it.

I tried 'toss-and-wash' which made me throw up immediately. I tried making tea, but straining out the fine-grained powder was such a hassle and so messy, I managed to get maybe three quarters of the liquid from the 8g batch I made. I poured maybe ten ounces of tap water into a small saucepan, added 8g of the powder and a tablespoon of lemon juice, and brought the mix to a very low boil. I let it simmer for fifteen-twenty minutes to reduce the amount of nasty-looking tea I had to drink.

Straining out the plant matter was an entirely different story. I tried a fine metal strainer. There was still a significant amount of grit in the cup, so I tried again with a paper coffee filter. The water wouldn't go through, so I ended up pouring half an ounce at a time onto the coffee filter and then squeezing the scalding liquid with my fingers to get it to pass through the filter into the mug. Very frustrating.

By the time I did all this, the liquid was lukewarm and there was still some plant matter floating in the cup. I stopped caring and gulped it down. It was awful. It tastes like throwing up on an empty stomach... acidic, bitter, all made worse by what felt like little grains of sand in it. I drank all of it but the last sip, and ate some crackers to try to ease any nausea.

Ten minutes later, the nausea hit. I didn't throw up, but it was very unpleasant. I rode it out, and thirty to forty five minutes later, I felt some psychoactive effects: a sickly stimulation and dizziness. I'm regretting it already at this point.

Around an hour and ten minutes, the nausea hit again and I threw up, but this didn't ease the sickness. I felt like shit. I had this uncomfortable bastard-opiate feeling, like sedation/stimulation without the contentment, fuzziness, euphoria, itchiness, or warm glow that makes opiates worthwhile. There was no nod, no warmth. I just felt like I'd been hit over the head with a ballpeen hammer while drinking too much coffee.
There was no nod, no warmth. I just felt like I'd been hit over the head with a ballpeen hammer while drinking too much coffee.


This lasted around three hours. I tried to sleep, but couldn't. I tried to jack off to help me sleep-- couldn't. By this point I'm angry.

The next evening, I decided to give it another shot. I figured I'd had bad first experiences with other drugs I'd done, but they ended up being nice in the end. So I decided on a different approach. I had some left-over empty gelcaps from my dope dealing days, and I started to fill them up with kratom. I could fit around half a gram in each capsule. I filled and ate twenty capsules with a bottle of water.

The effects were the same. Just more prolonged.

So I still have this bag of kratom, untouched since then.

Judging by all the positive reports, I might be the minority that has these awful effects. But there's a good amount of reports basically identical to mine. I've been around, so I know that drugs affect everyone differently. I could have gotten inferior product, my biology might just not like it... tons of variables. But for me, all kratom does to me is make me sick, dizzy, uncomfortable, and wishing I had an actual opiate. And give me a hell of a headache the next day.

So it might be worth a shot, if you're confined to legal highs or just prefer that sort of thing, or if you've never been high or need it for pain relief. A better strain and different body chemistry could make a huge difference, for sure. But for this ex-junkie, this 'legal high' falls into the 'waste of time' category.

Exp Year: 2014ExpID: 102566
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 19
Published: Nov 22, 2015Views: 8,427
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Kratom (203) : Hangover / Days After (46), Difficult Experiences (5), Alone (16)

COPYRIGHTS: All reports copyright Erowid.
No AI Training use allowed without written permission.
TERMS OF USE: By accessing this page, you agree not to download, analyze, distill, reuse, digest, or feed into any AI-type system the report data without first contacting Erowid Center and receiving written permission.

Experience Reports are the writings and opinions of the authors who submit them. Some of the activities described are dangerous and/or illegal and none are recommended by Erowid Center.


Experience Vaults Index Full List of Substances Search Submit Report User Settings About Main Psychoactive Vaults