AMA #9: Kratom Risks, Does Infrared Sauna Work & Journaling Benefits

Now kratom is not known to suppress respiration when taken at low to moderate dosages; but when combined with any other opioids, and certainly when combined with alcohol, it can suppress respiration. And while the data on this are fairly scant, there is some evidence that kratom-induced death is caused by suppression of the respiration system.

A number of people out there have managed to wean themselves off opioids, such as morphine and hydrocodone through the use of kratom, and that has been used as justification for keeping kratom on the market and keeping it legal.

When people start taking higher dosages of kratom, it is very clear that it does become addictive and itself is very hard to come off of—so much so that people experience so-called kratom withdrawal.

The general takeaway from all of that is if you can avoid taking kratom, meaning if you haven't taken it already, don't.

Indeed, at low dosages, kratom has a mild stimulant effect. However, at higher dosages, it has what's called an analgesic effect—that is a painkilling effect—and it acts as a sedative, and kratom itself acts as an opioid in the body.

Some of these products will have a higher concentration of one or the other alkaloids within them such that you can't really compare 1g of one brand of kratom to 1g of another brand of kratom because they can have wildly different levels of these different alkaloids...

My advice would be, if you haven't touched kratom, don't touch it at all, ever.

Somewhere between 10 and 40% of people seem to respond to opioids in a particularly potent way. They really like them.

Kratom and morphine and hydrocodone all have the property of acting like the endogenous opioids but at much higher potency.

While death directly from kratom is fairly rare, it has happened.