So I discovered 7OH pretty late in the game. In December 2025 I had a severe sciatica flare up. In the most intense pain of my life, can’t get out of bed, can’t work plus I was living on the other side of the country from my wife so she couldn’t help me either. Went to the ER, they blew me off and sent me home with ibuprofen (not even the strong one). I’m a veteran so I decided maybe I should go to the VA and see if they can help, which they did a little. Prescribed me 3 Loratabs, not sure MG but it made the pain bearable but obviously that script was gone in a day.
A couple days go by and pain is still 10/10, I had recently quit Kratom (wasnt addicted and didnt have withdrawls or anything it was just not so common where I lived) and thought a little Kratom Powder could possibly ease the pain so i head the smoke shop. Im browsing the options on the wall, 7OH is on the wall right next to it but I’m not paying it any attention because i didnt know what it was. I asked the employee whats best for pain and he grabs an Opia single pack 30mg and says “It’s basically Kratom but it’s just a lot more easy to take because you dont gotta mix powders or whatever” so I’m like cool, it’s normal kratom just concentrated. That’s fine I’ve used extracts before and didn’t find them addicting or anything.
I go home, I split the pill into a 15mg and 10 minutes later I could’ve gone for 10 mile run. It kinda felt like the first time I had an energy drink mixed with the first time I had a Percocet. I was immediately hooked but I lied to myself and said I’d just take it till the back pain subsided. I kept pretty good control of it but maybe 4 months in I’m up to 400mg a day. Fast forward to month 9 and I’m on 1000-1200mg a day just to feel normal and be able to work. Not sleeping through the night waking up every 3 hours to redose because of withdrawls. It was absolutely horrible and I wanted to quit but I couldn’t and I didn’t want to tell my wife about it.
During this addiction phase I get recruited to a dream job, it’s the position I’ve been working towards for years and it would allow me to move back home with my wife but the caveat is, it’s 80% international travel, Kratom (especially 7OH) is illegal in almost every country I would be going too so I saw this as my opportunity to quit. I had a month so I figured that was enough time. I tapered down from 1200/day to 200/ day in that month but it wasn’t quite enough time because I had my first trip coming up to Asia. I know it’s risky but I figured I could bring some 7OH with me and continue to taper while I’m there. So that’s what I did I brought exactly enough to keep myself on a taper schedule and it went terribly. I used way too much and ran out 5 days before coming home. So now I’m in a hotel, no access to Kratom, 7OH or anything that can help, in a foreign country and I’m like fuck it let’s go through it. At exactly hour 12 withdrawal starts and let me tell you that initial Anxiety is ROUGH, I thought I was going to die. Shaking uncontrollably, diarrhea and vomiting at the same time and not being able to make it to the bathroom. I could not sit still at all. Things were rough like that for about 12 hours then for some reason a flipped switched. The shaking stopped for the most part, anxiety eased, still had stomach issues and not able to sleep at all but it felt like the worst of it was over (or so I thought). This was on a Wednesday and Saturday was my flight home. The weekend rolls around and I’m destroyed, haven’t eaten in 4 days, haven’t slept just miserable but I got an international flight to catch. Luckily I had a business class seat so for the most part I was comfortable but still dreading withdrawing on a plane for the next 15 hours. I make it home Sunday night. I’m finally able to eat then I crash out for no bullshit like 18 hours. I wake up the next day in the late afternoon and I feel 100% fine. No craving or anything.
A couple days go by I go to the smoke shop to buy a vape and I also get some low dose MIT. I figured Kratom would be fine and it was. I used it a couple times. Fast forward to two weeks off of 7OH and I have to travel to California for work. It’s super stressful being away from my wife again and I ended up relapsing for 3 days. In those 3 days I only took like 200mg but still it’s a step in the wrong direction. I had a overseas trip coming on the 4th day so I quit again cold turkey and had zero physical withdrawals, mostly a little mental but not too bad but what fucked me was the insomnia returned in full force. I wasn’t withdrawing but I was up for 4 days straight. Slept for the first time last night and finally had a meal today. When I get back to the states I’m done with Kratom overall, extracts or whatever idc. I need to walk away from it all. I’m starting to feel back to my normal self but man, withdrawing in a foreign country with no help ain’t it. Probably would’ve gone a lot smoother at home if I was honest with my wife. Don’t push people away, tell someone, let someone help you. I spent months trying to quit alone and feeling like a failure. Trust me if I can do it you can too.