Why is kratom not used to treat benzodiazepine withdrawal?

If kratom is a natural plant-based supplement that is used for pain management and opioid addiction treatment, why is it not also useful for benzo withdrawal?

Kratom has been around for thousands of years, but has only become popular and well-known during the past few years. Suddenly, when someone needs help with chronic pain, or with overcoming an opioid addiction, people are recommending kratom over traditional medical care.

Why is there so much fuss over kratom? Does it work better than Suboxone for treating opioid addiction? Can it be used for any other type of drug addiction or substance abuse? Does it relieve pain better than FDA approved treatments?

While kratom is not especially useful in treating these conditions, it has gained popularity due to being outside of the healthcare system. Many people have become frustrated and distrustful of doctors, hospitals, and drug companies.

In addition to kratom not working especially well in treating various illnesses, it also poses some risks. Kratom works similarly to an opiate drug, activating the opoid receptors in the human central nervous system.

Kratom contains substances that act as mu opioid receptor agonists.

The effects of kratom are relatively mild, compared to true opioid drugs. Yet, kratom can be addictive, and it can stimulate cravings in opioid addicted people, even months, or even years after their last opoid use.

Kratom users have been known to use more and more of the greenish, brownish powdery substance. Telltale signs of kratom use include finding the powder residue everywhere, in the car, bedroom, kitchen, and work area.

Has anyone thought of using kratom as a treatment for the symptoms of benzodiazepine withdrawal? Many natural treatments have been tried, and some have been found to be helpful for some patients.

For example, various mushrooms have been used by people to help with the discomfort associated with benzodiazepine withdrawal. In this case, I am not referring to the “magic mushroom,” containing the psychedelic drug, psilocybin.

There are many other mushrooms that are considered to be safe for human consumption that are believed to have therapeutic properties. It may be interesting to research this topic and learn more about the therapeutic use of mushrooms.

Another example is the use of medical cannabis. While cannabis may have potential adverse effects on users, for adults, the benefits may outway the risks, particularly when treating the symptoms of benzo withdrawal, such as dysphoria, pain, vibrations, headaches, dizziness, restlessness, and insomnia, and akathesia.

Cannabis can be addictive for some individuals, yet, it tends to have a low addictive potential for most users. While a cannabis user may enjoy the effects of the plant-based drug, they rarely have difficulty putting it down if it is causing problems.

Is kratom addiction a concern if it is used to treat benzo withdrawal symptoms?

People who quit taking benzodiazepines, going through a very difficult protracted withdrawal, are wary of starting any other drug which may be addicting or may cause dependence. They are not going to want to deal with kratom withdrawal down the road.

One point about benzo detox that is often misunderstood is that most people fighting benzo dependence are not dealing with benzo addiction. They are most often people who have taken benzodiazepines as directed by their doctor, sometimes for many years.

True benzodiazepine addiction is rare. After a patient undergoes medical detox to get off of benzos, they rarely have cravings to take more benzos.

Kratom addiction and kratom dependence are real possibilities, because kratom works like an opiate or an opioid. Quitting kratom suddenly can lead to kratom withdrawal.

In addition to the physical dependence that can occur due to the effects of kratom on the opioid receptors , it is possible to develop a kratom addiction as well. For a person struggling through the benzo withdrawal timeline, even if kratom might provide some relief, they are not going to want to risk developing an addiction where they did not have one in the first place.

Kratom presents significant risks for adverse reactions if used to treat withdrawal symptoms.

While the risk of drug abuse and addiction may be low with kratom, there is still a risk. Other treatment options should be considered to address the anxiety, panic attacks, and other benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms.

Kratom withdrawal is essentially the same as opioid withdrawal or opiate withdrawal. For someone going through drug detox from prescription opioids, alcohol withdrawal, or benzo withdrawal, kratom is not an ideal choice.

While the American Kratom Association might disagree, I believe that we need more research before considering kratom as a treatment option to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, or benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms. They may claim that there are no overdose deaths from kratom, yet, this does not mean that the drug is harmless.

The drug enforcement administration has already tried to outlaw kratom, making it a schedule I drug. Schedule I means that it would be fully illegal, with no legitimate medical use, just like heroin.

Their efforts to outlaw kratom nationally failed, because there was pushback from members of congress. The kratom industry has powerful lobbyists who likely excercised their influence.

Should I be careful about pro-kratom messages on social media?

Social Media sites, including FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, have many messages about kratom. Some are legitimate posts by users who claim benefits from the drug, and others are disguised propaganda from kratom supporters who stand to make profits when people purchase kratom powders.

If you are considering kratom for addiction, pain, or any mental health issue, such as anxiety or depression, due to social media posts, look first at the profiles of the people posting these messages about the benefits of kratom use.

You will often discover that you can trace them back to organizations, such as the American Kratom Association, or various kratom online sellers. Be wary of their claims of kratom being completely safe and effective.

Kratom is a real drug, which may have legitimate healthcare uses, yet the risks must be studied carefully with proper pharmaceutical research. This is not a harmless snake oil placebo being pushed to fleece the public.

Of course, some of the social media posts are by real people who have experienced real benefits with kratom. In fact, I recently read a post by a man who had a successful benzodiazepine taper, overcoming protracted withdrawal with physical activity, ketamine treatment, and kratom.

He did not go into detail regarding the drug treatments, and he seemed to be genuine in describing his positive experience. Yet, one person’s experience cannot serve as a substitute for proper medical studies.

While some people have honestly described success with kratom without any negative consequences, there are also tragic stories of kratom leading to addiction and drug overdoses. Reading a testimonial from a random person online, or even a close friend, is not a good reason to try kratom as a solution for making withdrawal symptoms more tolerable.

What kinds of kratom are definitely not going to help with benzo withdrawal?

As I have made clear so far in this article, kratom should be avoided as a benzodiazepine withdrawal symptom therapy. It is an opioid-like plant-based drug that may have many drawbacks.

Of course, there may be some people who have benefited from the effects of this supplement, but there is also clear potential for serious adverse effects. Simply because it is plant-based does not make it somehow an all-natural treatment with only benefits and no downside.

However, it is still worth noting that there are multiple strains of kratom with varying effects. Some strains will clearly not be beneficial.

In my reading about kratom, articles most often describe strains based on the color of their vein. There is red vein kratom, white vein kratom, as well as yellow and green veined varieties.

The fact is that there are dozens of different strains, mostly native to regions of the far east. Some of from Thailand and Indonesia. Others are from Bali, Borneo, and Sumatra.

There are also strains named after the shape of their plant leaves. For example, there is horn kratom, and even elephant kratom.

The effects of a particular kratom strain vary based on the concentration of various drugs contained in that strain.

As you can imagine, it is not the color or shape that determine the drug properties of a kratom strain, but the chemical makeup of the strain. Kratom contains mainly variations of mitragynine, and other alkaloid chemicals, such as speciociliatine and paynanthine.

Red vein kratom is the one that most acts like an opioid, becuase it contains 7-hydroxymitragynine, which is a mu-opioid receptor agonist, just like oxycodone, heroin, and fentanyl. Yet, for some reason, kratom advocates still insist that kratom is not an opiate.

The red vein variety may be used for pain relief, and insomnia. It may also help to improve mood and relieve anxiety. No wonder it helps. It activates opioid receptors.

Unfortunately, many users find that, like most opioids, tolerance quickly develops. The user takes more of the kratom powder to get the same beneficial effects, and experiences kratom withdrawal if they stop taking it abruptly.

Green vein kratom is not considered to be very sedating. It is known more for providing energy to the user, as well as a relaxing effect, sort of like a kratom speedball.

Kratom advocates recommend the green vein variety to first time kratom users. They might take it for energy or even to help them sleep.

White vein kratom might be thought of as the speed version of the drug. It is often used as a coffee replacement. Users claim that it provides euphoria, clear thinking, focus, and even flow states. White horn kratom is the most potent of this class.

Is it possible that you are wrong about kratom being bad?

If I post this article on social media, you will notice that kratom advocates jump on immediately with angry comments about how wrong I am. They will claim that kratom is safe and causes no problems at all.

One argument is that any problems caused by the plant drug powder is due to adulterated forms that are sold by unscrupulous manufacturers or resellers. In fact, if you buy kratom from a street dealer, and not from a source that is even remotely reputable, you may even get exotic, designer fentanyl instead of actual kratom.

I sometimes hesitate to post kratom-related articles, because the attacks can sometimes be viscious, though I must admit that some kratom supporters are respectful and simply use my article postings as an opportunity to present their case, with researched articles and references to scientific studies.

I do respect the fact that this drug may have beneficial uses. Yet, when financial interests are intense from the kratom supplement industry, we must be careful in who we listen to.

When a person takes a drug, they should be provided with informed consent. Even a drug sold over the counter, without the need for a doctor’s order or prescription, should provide a clear presentation of risks involved.

There is no drug that is completely harmless to all people. If a drug or supplement, or herbal remedy, has no adverse effects on anyone and no risk at all, it is probably an inert placebo, also known as snake oil.

What should someone desperate for help with benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms do if kratom cannot help?

Unfortunately, there are many snake oil type treatments offered to people who are desperate for help with symptoms when doctors fail to provide assistance. Benzo withdrawal is a condition where doctors are often not helpful.

Doctors are trained by the healthcare system, which is very much infiltrated by the pharmaceutical industry, to prescribe drugs to treat symptoms.

When a condition has an FDA approved drug, it is treated like a real illness. When there is no drug to treat the disease, sometimes the disease is not considered to be real.

One example that comes to mind is fibromyalgia. Years ago, many doctors had the opinion that fibromyalgia did not exist. It was in the minds of the sufferers.

Then, one day, there was a drug to treat it. Suddenly, pharma reps were visiting doctors with fancy pamphlets with color graphs to show how fibromyalgia is very real. Suddenly, doctors new it was real, they new how to diagnose it, and what drug to prescribe.

What doctor would want to be the doctor who tells patients there is no safe treatment for a condition when the drug companies advertise that there is a treatment. Patients expect their doctors to write the prescription that will solve their problems.

It is important to be very careful when turning to the alternative medicine community, looking for answers to address difficult healthcare issues

It is completely understandable that some people develop a distrust of the medical system and turn to the alternative medicine field and the supplement industry, which is mostly unregulated. They want help from experts outside of the corrupt healthcare system.

Benzo withdrawal is particularly uncomfortable, and can be long-lasting. It is a condition where the sufferer does not want more drugs to feel better. They have been there and do not have much faith in doctors who whip out a prescription pad to make symptoms go away.

In some cases, medications may help some benzodiazepine withdrawal patients, yet the same medications make other patients feel worse. Finding what works or does not work can be tricky.

Many people who deal with these symptoms long-term find some comfort in alternative therapies, such as energy healing, meditation, yoga, or various spiritual practices, including simply praying for help. Eating less processed foods, and regular exercise helps. Avoiding caffeine and refined sugars can reduce the severity of benzo withdrawal symptoms.

Unfortunately, while the kratom industry will be quick to make many therapuetic claims about the drug, it is likely not a good solution for most people. I recommend avoiding kratom for benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms until legitimate and reliable large scale studies have been completed.