Let's just say it was NOT easy to do it cold turkey. Not to mention the fact that I also came off of my Klonopin and Paxil at the same time. I knew that personally, I did NOT have the ability to ween myself off of it because I would abuse it. It probably wasn't a smart decision from a medical standpoint, but I did it. It took me about 4-6 weeks to start to feel half assed normal again. Luckily, my mother helped me with my daughter in the first month. I stayed in the bed most of the day for a few weeks. My baby was 6 months old then, so she still slept a lot & wasn't incredibly hard to deal with, lol. I had PAWS for 4 months after that. I am glad that I did it now. I think that going through the hell of withdrawals like that made me not want to relapse.

I did not use Kratom during that time period, for I did not even know it existed. I came across Kratom in my search for natural pain relief for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I ordered some in January and I was surprised at how effective it was for something that is legal. It has a similar effect of taking a Vicodin or something. It's not much, but it would probably be a Godsend for someone going through opiate withdrawal. I have used it on and off for the past 6 months with no obvious dependence.

Everyone's recovery is different. It took me ten years of trial and error. I probably spent 5 years of that rationalizing and downplaying the severity of my addiction. You are definitely on the right track if you are realizing that you have a problem and taking the steps to get better.