Realized that this past Friday marks one full year off of Kratom and the first time in years off any opiate! I must say I miss opiates all the time. They were definitely my drug of choice. I still have a collection that I keep for just comfort reasons I suppose. I've quit a few times in the past but nothing lasting as long as a year since I started taking prescription opiates in 2007. I never did H, was around it but knew with my love of opiates I would grow to love it sooo much that I didn't want to go down that path of problems. Always been strong willed like that with certain things. They never messed up my professional life and I actually succeeded at a lot while going through the depths of my addiction. My personal life however, is about half way good to go. I often wonder how life would have been if I never got in the car wreck back then that introduced me to opiates. I wonder how my relationships would be with friends, how would they be romantically? Would I be married now? Girlfriend? Would I have kids now? Lots of asking the 'why' question these days.

Kratom served its purpose with helping me get off prescription opiates, however, I simply replaced them with Kratom and it became my new normal. Better from the alternatives I suppose. If used correctly I still believe Kratom to be a good and helpful plant. It has in the last few years gotten a little to commercialized for my taste though. It took me from having a habit where I had to snort 1x-2x Roxi 30mg and pop another couple to just get out of bed in the morning. Then proceeded to whatever other opiate pill I had on hand throughout the day along with many other substances. I’m definitely a poly-substance abuser when it comes to drugs. I tried quitting with Kratom in the past but kept going back to pills after a while. Mainly because well let's be honest they are better in the recreationally but really because they were easily accessible. This was back when pills were what they were supposed to be. Fentanyl was never a thing like it is today. Sure, I came across the patches here and there but never to the extent that pills have gotten today. Crazy that today you have to watch out for Fentanyl because it’s literally in EVERYTHING. Really thankful that if I was going to go down the path I did I was able to during a time where I didn’t have to be worried about what I was doing so much like kids have to be today. Another major thing was that I had a job where I was making so much money that it never hurt my finances. I am a functional addict and that sometimes can be a lot worse because you don't see how bad off you are really.

I still have several substance issues to work on (another story for another day unless you really want to know) but opiates were a huge part of my drug problem. I consider it a big win and hope to look back at this and say it's been two years next year this time.

To those who are in need of hope, encouragement, have questions or just need to chat feel free to hit me up. I am happy to assist others along in their journey to quit.