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Hello. I'm Rob. I like books and walks on the beach, and have 0 trust in the medical establishment. I truly believe we are so out of balance and sick due to the massive amounts of chemicals and metals in most everything we use including food supply...years and years of it can't be good. 

I've been taking CDS for a week now, up to 6-7x/day, now. I started at 4 and realized some extraordinary things along the way as far as effects. I also have a few issues that I'm attempting to address, mainly prostate and kidney pain from prostate issues but not sure how to focus on that yet. 

I also consume Kratom regularly for various reasons, and have for at least 8 years. I've not been sick except the onset of 'something' that is gone in a couple of hours, or by next day.  The issue is I don't know how bad off I am w/o it. I've tried weening and while it's not the end of life, it's very very uncomfortable, and need to work and function. Plus it has caused digestion issues that I've been using black seed oil for (kiva only for me) to assist with... number 2. That works lovely at two tbsp a day, am and pm. Tastes like rice fuel but it works.

That changed with CDS. I've cut my daily intake by HALF (15g vs 30!). I couldn't do this before w/o feeling like hell. My digestion is normalizing, nothing strained, which has caused two small hernias, or what I believe to be.  That's getting better too. It's a lengthy topic.

I also experienced physical wellness that I've forgotten what it felt like. I feel beat down and irritated most of the time, so that's a huge bonus. I felt like I slept well, for once. 

There are other things, as well as minor side effects that have not progressed (eg, I had a pain in my liver one night, but very minor). My kidneys hurt less but still slightly burn at various times. I also take supplements for kidneys, heart, prostate, immunity and gut, but far apart from cds intake. I think cranberry extract has helped my kidney issue but still the prostate issue, although, it has NOT gotten worse and in fact I feel less irregular pulsing down there the past week, but that could be from less digesting clumps of Kratom (toss and wash), rubbing against my prostate as it passes. What a mess.

Overall experience is good. The Kratom aspect should be interesting. It's an amazing plant but easy to depend on and I want to be normal again, as well as stay out of the hospital for other things, so here I am.

Have a nice day!

its very tough trying to discover what works, and sometimes you can get very good advice., and i suppose that because ev1 is different one size does not fit all, but its being on sites like this that 1 can learn. i have never heard of kraton and will try it to see if it helps my spondylosis, so thanks for that rob also the feelings of beat down and F****d up have been very depressing to me, so will research that to. sorry cant be much help to you but thanks for being such a great help to me

Hi Jeffers.  I'll initially post this here, and anything further I'll post in the Other Alternative Health Methodologies. 

Kratom is a very amazing and unique plant with tremendous medicinal value for pain and mood management. Moderation and some self discipline go a long way, although dosing is not a science, kind of unfortunately. I discovered Kratom during a rough period, after trying Rx options that I didn't like.  There's a war on it, right now, to get it banned. Lot's of people fighting it.

I'll throw this out there, but it's my own experience and not necessarily advice.

• I stick to simple red and green strains (Bali, Malay)
• I don't do Maeng Da or extracts (I wouldn't do this unless recreational as it will screw with my tolerance and set me back)
• I cannot take but so much at any time, or else my body rejects it. It would be impossible for me, personally, to OD. 30+ grams was over the spread of 14 - 15 hours; if I tried even 5 grams at once, right now, I'll vomit.  I'm down to about 10 - 12 grams/day, right now, not taking any during CDS dosing.
• 2 - 3 grams of a consistent quality brand of Kratom is enough for a dose, for me.  Recreationally, I would do 4 - I get a super mood and energy lift.
• It helps with pain of all kinds (doesn't eliminate some, but tolerable), mood, concentration, and sleep, but sleep can be tricky;  It can help you sleep like a baby if stop dosing long before bedtime.  Basically, I'm coming down and that makes me very tired. and I go right to sleep, for 6 - 7 straight hours always. Some say that smaller doses increase energy while larger doses make you tired... I've not experienced this at all. Maybe strain-related.
• Dosing was 1 -2 hours.  That's been majorly decreased.  
• It makes a pretty good tea, but probably should use leaf and not powder (for powder I've made a teabag out of paper towels and a staple or two).  Add honey and it's not bad at all. Although I find I need to use more Kratom than 'toss and wash' method (ie, measure the powder, put in your mouth and wash it down with juice or water).
• Taking a lot of Kratom can cause constipation, which can lead to other problems.  If toss and wash is a must, I will use Black Seed Oil to make things move as it should.  One tbls in the AM and one in the PM. 
• I only weigh about 155 - 165 lbs, so not a lot of body mass, here, which might affect how much I can or need to take to be effective. 
• I need less plant with an empty stomach, however for starting out, an empty stomach might equal puking.  A banana before hand is perfect.
• I'm am completely functional while on Kratom. I don't get 'high'. I feel better, pain is reduced to gone, and my mind feels settled... it's a very warm, calming feeling. There's no other non-Rx supplement that can do this, this well, that I'm aware of.
• Withdrawal is real for me.  I've read some don't have this issue, which is strange.  While not as hardcore as heroin, here are some notable things: 
  • hot/cold sweats - this is probably the worst, next to below. 
  • restless hands and feet, sometimes entire body
  • irritability, sometimes quite severe
  • Tired, so very tired (probably adrenal exhaustion among other things)
  • everything aches. Hard to tell if it's withdrawal or I'm literally falling apart.
  • I've read others get flu-like symptoms, but I have not gotten to that point, yet, if it exists.

It's a journey like you say, but it's not as hard as Rx pain killers, nor are the withdrawals, from what I understand - I've never been addicted to anything harder than Kratom, but I've seen documentaries and known people who have gone through it and I feel like there's very little comparison between Kratom and say, opiate-based Rx or heroin withdrawals. In fact, Kratom can be used to ween off of those things and I've read countless success stories from former heroin and Rx addicts who have gotten off of these terrible life ruining drugs thanks to mitragyna speciosa (kratom). 

The biggest thing for me was finding the right strain and dose.  That can take some time.  But if anyone is interested, I can recommend a very good vendor with consistent quality product and supposedly lab tested (certs on the site). If I was going to recommend anything, it would be green or red bali, indo, or green malay starting at 1.5 - 2 grams a dose, wait 30 minutes to verify good, note any effects, good and bad.  Increase does by .5 grams if necessary. If a person takes more than their body is willing to accept, they will just puke, unless they have some medical issue where that's not possible, then I would not take Kratom at all. Unfortunately, puking is the most important part of finding what works for the individual, in my experience. And I will admit, it happened a lot in the beginning, as I had no guidance or experience. Then again, I was trying to consume way more than 1.5 - 2 grams/dose, so, wouldn't do that again.

Hope some of this helps. It's a rabbit hole like everything, but if it brings someone relief where relief is usually non-existent, it has value, but not as much as finding and fixing the root cause, if that's even possible.