DOSE:

6.0 g

oral

Kratom

BODY WEIGHT:

145 lb

I have been interested in kratom for quite some time, and have researched it very thoroughly, so I felt comfortable giving it a try this weekend. I had discovered that the primary active principle, mitragynine, is not very soluble in water, and that as a result many of the dosage recommendations are somewhat suspect. Furthermore, I found that even people using water extraction methods tend to regard the 25-50 gram 'strong experience' recommendation to be insanity. As a result of this research, I decided to use only 6 grams (2 tablespoons), expecting that this would probably afford me a medium-level experience. Boy was I in for a surprise!

Preparation:
I placed 6g crushed Kratom (regular crushed kratom, NOT superkratom) into a small glass, and poured in just enough ethanol (I used 80 proof vodka) to cover the leaves, and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds. Much of the ethanol was absorbed into the leaves, so I again poured in enough to just barely cover them, and microwaved for another 10 seconds, then strained the liquid into a teacup. I then added 70 mL water to the glass, and microwaved it for another 45 seconds. I let it steep for a few minutes, then microwaved it for 10 more seconds for good measure. I added this liquid to the alcohol/kratom extract in the teacup.

My total yield was 1/3 cup of opaque light brown liquid, and my total preparation time was about 5 minutes. Makes me feel sorry for the folks who slave over the stove, boiling and re-boiling and reducing their brew.


The Experience:
At 11:05pm, I drank the kratom brew, and washed it down with some iced tea. It was very bitter, but really not too bad. I've certainly consumed worse things in the name of psychoactivity.

About 5 minutes later, I was beginning to feel a creeping euphoria wash over me. Since I was only expecting a moderate experience, I had whipped up a bowl of Kava Kava to augment the experience. I started to drink a cup of it, then realized that maybe I should wait if the effects of the kratom were already noticeable, and I didn't want to overdo things.

At 11:25pm (T+20), I was feeling a very intense euphoria. I couldn't believe that I'd had such a wonderful plant just sitting in my drawer for several months without having tried it. I haven't tried any opiates, so I don't have a very good basis for comparison, but my guess is that if you have experience with opiates, you will know the feeling that I'm talking about.

At 11:30pm (T+25), my face begins to feel warm. Over the next half hour, warm becomes hot, and I begin sweating profusely. I try standing by my window, but that doesn't help, so I lay down on my floor and start fanning myself. This helps somewhat.

Being a fan of cannabis, I tend to associate euphoria with food appreciation, so I had put a snack in the oven. When it was done (around midnight, T+55), I got up to get it, and discovered nausea. I brought the food into my room, then promptly set it aside, feeling that my stomach wasn't up to eating. I lay down for a minute or two. This helped, so long as I didn't look around too quickly. I then got up and decided to put my bowl of kava in the fridge, since the experience seemed far more intense than I had anticipated already. This brought on more nausea, but I was able to handle it, and I quickly returned to my room and lay back down. I also seem to have minor shakes, which manifested whenever I got up to do something.

The nausea and the shakes didn't concern me, since both are very commonly associated with opiates, and my pulse was normal. They did, however, indicate that my dose was significantly more than 'moderate'. These mild discomforts were pretty well offset by the euphoria, which was still very intense.

At 12:20am (T+1:15), I began floating in and out of waking dreams, the 'nod', whatever you want to call it, where you're not really asleep but you still see dreamlets and dream fragments floating before your eyes. This goes on for quite some time. I find myself wishing that I had smoked some Calea, so I could see what effect it would have on the waking dreams, but I don't want to get up and risk losing the dreaming part of the experience.

At 12:40am (T+1:35) the hot flashes and shakes seem to have ended. At 1:15am (T+2:10) things began to calm down somewhat, my mind began to clear and the waking dreams began to grow fewer and further between.

At 2:00am (T+2:55), the waking dreams are pretty much over, and my head's mostly cleared, but the euphoria's still with me. My stomach has a little discomfort, but it's not bad; I can walk around without nausea. The euphoria is still present.

By 3:30am (T+4:25) I am effectively back to baseline. I still have a mild afterglow from the experience, but the blatant euphoria is gone.


Conclusions:
I've been reading through the opiate vaults to get a basis for comparison, and I'd say that my kratom experience was probably equivalent to a strong oxycodone experience. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be careful when using kratom. Although erowid lists 6 grams (of dry leaf) as somewhere between a Threshold and Light experience, I would subjectively consider my experience to fall between Strong and Very Strong. I highly recommend using an ethanol-based extraction technique and starting with a dose of 3 grams (1 tablespoon). I realize this is contrary to most of the information that you will find, since most sources do not even consider 3 grams to be an active dose, but it is my opinion that this is generally due to extreme inefficiency of extraction techniques.

Use care, know peace, and find fulfillment in all that you do.

Exp Year: 2004	ExpID: 37321
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Nov 17, 2004	Views: 119,173
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Kratom (203) : General (1), Preparation / Recipes (30), Alone (16)