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Probing the Threshold
Kratom
Citation:   Tommy B. "Probing the Threshold: An Experience with Kratom (exp114444)". Erowid.org. Jun 3, 2020. erowid.org/exp/114444

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
3.15 g oral Kratom (ground / crushed)
  T+ 0:00   oral Vitamins / Supplements (liquid)
  T+ 0:59   buccal Nicotine  
  T+ 3:14   vaporized Cannabidiol (extract)
  T+ 0:00   oral Alcohol - Beer/Wine  
BODY WEIGHT: 185 lb
Intro: I began using kratom about 6 months ago as an alternative form of energy and well being while working tirelessly, with many long nights, on an important presentation. I cannot say that I was using kratom recreationally; I was most interested in therapeutic doses. I would often throw a scoop of Maeng Da powdered kratom in a tea brew. I used various teas and preparations as I was experimenting with an appropriate administration for my desired effects. Last night, I was inspired to see how high I would get off of a non-specific serving of kratom, so I tried a generous scoop of Indo Kratom prepared as a slurry with water (this was also my first time trying anything other than the Maeng Da variety). I should note that in the passed 6 months, I have gone through about 1 ½ ounces of Maeng Da powder, always prepared as a tea of some sort. Considering these past experiences, and especially after noticing that the Indo powder last night got me pretty zonked, I am inspired to perform a threshold experiment and report on my experience.

Preparation: 3.15 g of powdered Maeng Da was massed and added to a glass. Minimum water was added to create a slurry. A whisk is useful here to get the powder to break up and get exposed to the water. After whisking, some more water was added to rinse powder off the edge of the glass.

Experience:
T+0:00 (11:12am)—I drank the slurry as quickly as possible, washing it down with juice, in this case a tall glass of water with some berry Emergen-C (only because I had already had that on the tale this morning). The mouthfeel is chalky with a slight earthy bitterness. The aftertaste lingers and is not particular good (to be fair it is not gut wrenching either). The chaser does well to wash it all down.
T+0:03 (11:15am)—Almost immediately I am beginning to feel effects. A warming sensation is beginning to ripple through my body with a slight pressure building up in my head. It almost feels as if its displacing a load that I’m carrying.
T+0:05 (11:18am)—I’m experiencing what I would define as a head high. The body high is there as well. Not super sedated, I am just relaxed. I am currently writing these time stamps, so that is occupying most of my time and focus, but there is also a cat that sounds like it is in heat right outside of my window so I cant help but getting up to look for it every so often.

T+0:09 (11:21am)—There is a light fluidity that surrounds my joints as I sit here, especially in my elbows. Much of the aches I typically experience are dampened at this point.
T+0:20 (11:32am)—I am now cooking. I feel really good right now. Overall, I’d say that I am high. Not stoned, just pleasantly high. I do find that my vision is a little fuzzy around the edges, but I do not feel impeded.
T+0:21 (11:33am)—I just finished my Emergen-C. I find that I should note that there is B-vitamins in this large dose of vitamin C, so that will give me some energy on its own and could have a synergistic effect with the Kratom. (Also, I’d like to note that I had a large cup of coffee with my breakfast this morning at about 8:30. I finished the remaining half of the cup at around 10:00am, so I have had my dose of caffeine today. I am not too sensitive to caffeine so I believe that I should be able to feel the differences between the two drugs.)

T+0:25 (11:37am)—As I sit here writing I can feel myself entering a trance like state. The words are just flowing out of me at the moment, and I could really write a lot of material down if I let myself. As I get lost in this word document I can feel the effects intensifying a notch. I’d say I’m at level 2 right now. The come up was marked by an internal buzzing, much like what you would get with the come up of any psychoactive compound.
T+0:30 (11:42am)—Standing up to go to the bathroom really let the head high hit me. I look in the mirror in a dark bathroom and notice that my pupils are pretty constricted for how dark the bathroom was. I’m not anxious at all but have an energy about me with nothing to spend it on. I will go back to cooking, roasting some garlic, to occupy myself while I document the further effects.

T+0:38 (11:50am)—I am getting a little warm so I opened the window. With no distinct attributes, just further sensations and becoming more comfortable with this elevated state, I’m prepared to say that this is now level 3.
T+0:59 (12:11pm)—I was chillin having a weird time, getting hungry. Then something happened that made me stress and raised my blood pressure. I wasn’t anticipating any disturbances during this test run. I threw in a nicotine pouch in attempt to realign myself. Sometimes that is a useful tool and I wanted to refrain from cannabis because I wanted to leave that (and the synergistic effects) out of this case study.
T+1:23 (12:35pm)—The nicotine pouch gave me a quick fix, but I still have some anxiety. I think part of it is some frustration from before, while the rest is that I was not expecting the dose that I took to be this effective! Standing wasn’t helping so I finished in the kitchen and needed to sit down. I feel much better sitting down. Standing makes me feel almost nauseous.
T+1:31 (12:43pm)—I have a virtual meeting at 1pm, so I am sitting and relaxing, trying to stay chill.
T+1:45 (12:57pm)—I’m thirsty and pretty hungry at this point. I’m not sure if that is real, or if I have an oral craving.
T+2:12 (1:24pm)—I am past the peak I believe and am starting to feel more relaxed. I’m a little jittery still, and my vision is a little blurred on the edges still.

T+2:32 (1:44pm)—Definitely coming down at this point. My body feels mellow but I still have a head high.
T+3:04 (2:06pm)—I feel like I get a headache if I start moving around too much. Just sitting here is nice. I just ate some pierogies and raw carrots. My body desperately needed food. But coming in waves now, I get a nauseous feeling which starts in my head and then works its way down to my abdomen.
T+3:14 (2:14pm)—I vaped some CBD e-liquid to help with this feeling of un-wellness.
T+3:38 (2:50pm)—This has been a slow relaxing come down. I’m just chillin and could use a bit of a nap right about now.
T+3:52 (3:05pm)—After reading some methods, preps, and experiences I begin to attribute the nausea and heady feeling to the quality of the kratom, which is pretty good from what I can tell, and perhaps dehydration. So far, I think I feel better when I’m drinking something. I’m continuing to get waves of head highs in with an over all relaxed feeling.
T+5:02 (4:14pm)—I’m still above baseline. Every once in a while I get a sour feeling but I attribute that to the fact that I’m trying to do things around the house when by now I should have just crashed and listened to some music or watch TV. I would’ve smoked some cannabis by now, but again I’m leaving that out of this case study. I used kratom, prepared as a tea, in combination with cannabis a number of times before, but this is the first time that I measured a kratom dose by mass
this is the first time that I measured a kratom dose by mass
so I wanted an unadulterated experience to be logged. This is why I stuck with the CBD (albeit the CBD e-liquid that I have is probably not one I’d recommend or purchase again).

T+5:08 (4:20pm)—I’m about to start cooking dinner (with the materials that I prepped when I first started this experience) so that’s a nice full circle. Even though I am still feeling the effects, I have been at this low level for a while and know what to expect for the remainder of the experience, so I am now comfortable to bring this case study to a close and have a beer as I cook dinner. I will provide a final time stamp of when I estimate that the lingering effects of the kratom are gone. Most sources estimate about 6 hours.
T+7:00 (6:02pm)—At this point I am sure I have passed the kratom test and reached the other side. It probably ended sooner, but I’ve had two beers of 9% and 8% abv. What a day, I was not expecting such a long endeavor, but I’m glad it happened.

Conclusions: I think this was a strong dose for me. Most of the time, I eye up about 1 gram of powdered kratom leaf and put it in a glass pitcher with loose-leaf tea (usually some blend of green or herbal tea), and I find that will get me to a good place, especially if I had smoked before hand. With this experience, I was searching for a bench-mark to test what exactly the kratom high-would is like for me.

As I stressed, every other time I’ve taken kratom, it has been as a tea and combined with cannabis. At first I assumed my kratom source was of moderate to premium quality, but I sampled some of the Indo variety last night without weighing it before bed and got pretty high. So I started thinking that this company might be of pretty good quality. Ultimately I decided on shooting for a borderline moderate effect so I ended up using just over 3 grams of powdered leaf.

Now that my experience has come to a close, I can say that I certainly got a moderate dose and that it was more sedative-euphoric-analgesic than stimulant-like. I do not, have not, and just haven’t really been into the opioid like effects. With that said, I had some weird/foreign feelings at this dose that I have not had with Kratom tea in the past. I attribute these “weird” effects as part of the opioid like effects provided by this plant. Turns out; I’m not really into that. However, there was a relaxed body feeling and mental stimulation that was pretty enjoyable. I love her dearly but unfortunately my girlfriend was working from home in the office and would come out every hour to chat with me and that provided minor interruptions. Even with the weird, and dare I say unenjoyable, effects that I experienced, I think this could have been a great time if I was camping or chilling in the back yard at night. Set and setting could have made this small experiment into a psychedelic experience. With that said, the dose that I did, with the brand that I used, was more than a benchmark. I don’t think I’d be interested in a higher dose unless I was hanging with a friend and we had food drinks and music. I could see that being a fantastic time, but unfortunately, I was just passing time so it allowed me to focus on the wrong things. It is good to know the capability of this herb though. I have made Kratom a part of my life and will certainly continue use it.

Exp Year: 2020ExpID: 114444
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 27
Published: Jun 3, 2020Views: 6,159
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Kratom (203) : Combinations (3), General (1), Alone (16)

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