When dealing with chronic pain symptoms, you might be ready to take anything to make it better. However, you don’t need half the medicine cabinet to banish those pain symptoms — you might just need kratom for pain relief.
Kratom has been in use for centuries as a pain reliever in the traditional medicine practices of Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, laborers have historically been chewing on fresh kratom leaves to relieve aches and pains and boost energy throughout their day. In the modern western world, kratom has made its way onto store shelves as a wonderful alternative to harsh prescription opiates and painkillers.
In the midst of the world’s booming opioid epidemic, it is clear people are more in need now than ever of safe, effective, and non-addictive pain-relief solutions. Thankfully, kratom could be that solution for you.
How Kratom Fights Pain
Kratom fights pain by working like an opiate — but let’s be clear, kratom is not an opiate. It does, however, act very similarly to an opiate once in your body, though. Kratom works by binding to some of the same receptors in your body that opiates do. Specifically, kratom is a partial mu-opioid receptor agonist. Mu-opioid receptors are responsible for regulating your brain’s perception of pain. This means that when kratom interacts with these receptors, your brain literally becomes partially (or fully, depending on your pain levels) blocked from the perception of the pain you’re experiencing.
Why Kratom Is Safer than Opiates
Opiates work in the same way to block your brain’s perception of your body’s pain. However, opiates are extremely dangerous. In fact, opiate overdose deaths rose almost 30% in 2020.
Opiates are so dangerous because of what happens when they bind to mu-opioid receptor sites. When you take an opiate, it binds to these receptor sites, relieves pain, and generally causes euphoria. However, it also happens to activate the production of the protein beta-arrestin. When too high of a dose of opiates are taken, the production of beta-arrestin causes interference with signaling the diaphragm to work — meaning you can’t breathe. This is the cause of respiratory distress and ultimate death in opioid overdose cases.
Though kratom works on these same receptor sites to produce pain relief, kratom does not activate the production of beta-arrestin. This means that kratom does not cause the respiratory distress that is so common in opioid overdose cases. Meaning kratom is a much safer alternative to these dangerous prescription drugs.
Can You Overdose on Kratom?
While cases of opiate overdose land you in the hospital, or worse, the morgue — cases of kratom “overdose” are more likely to have you falling asleep or leave you with an upset tummy. Very high doses of kratom are associated with gastrointestinal issues, severe constipation, and lethargy.
A Note on Drug Interactions
While kratom itself has a very favorable safety profile, there have been reports of serious adverse effects or deaths associated with kratom. “Associated” is a key word here, though. In all of these cases, there were other drugs present, and it is unclear what role kratom played in these situations. However, what is clear: “to date, in the US, there have been no confirmed reports of death that can be considered “causatively” due to kratom overdose.” Please consult with your doctor about your kratom usage and any other medications you may be taking.
Kratom for Pain Works
When you first start looking into kratom, you’ll find all of the major health and news sites touting that kratom is dangerous and bad and awful. But, if you dig a little deeper past the for-profit ad-agency news platforms, you’ll find droves of people telling their stories and fighting for kratom. As the FDA continues to try and ban kratom, people whose lives it has changed are rallying together through organizations like the American Kratom Association (AKA) to sing kratom’s praises and get the word out about its healing. Between platforms like the AKA, youtube, and Reddit, there are thousands upon thousands of first-hand accounts about how kratom is relieving pain and renewing lives. Below is a testimonial from one such person.
The Best Kratom for Pain
Not all kratom is made equally, and there is a type that is more suited to pain relief than the rest: red vein kratom. Kratom comes in different colors, and each of them has its own uses. Red vein kratom has the highest amounts of 7-hydroxymitragynine present, which is the alkaloid in kratom mostly responsible for blocking the perception of pain. A small warning, though — higher doses of kratom, red vein especially, can cause drowsiness, and thus might be better suited to taking at night.
Kratom for Pain — A Final Word
If you are living a life of pain, and especially if you’re considering, or already, taking dangerous prescription opiates, consider kratom as a safe and natural solution. Millions of people have found kratom to be the key to living an active and pain-free lifestyle.
If you have any questions come on into any one of our 7 Mr. Nice Guys locations throughout Corpus Christi and talk to our knowledgeable staff to get you started with kratom. And as always, have a nice daze!
