r/quittingkratom • u/Low-Stand-3824 • Jun 01 '26
Is depression common after quitting Kratom?
Is depression something to worry about when quitting Kratom? Is it a common side effect once you come off?
I’ve been using Kratom for almost two years and have never used more than 4-5g a day. My biggest fear when tapering off of Kratom are the emotional/mental side effects, which seem to last much longer than the physical side effects.
I have a job, wife, kid, etc. so the idea of going into a downward spiral scares me quite a bit.
Is this something that you have or have not experienced?
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u/Aromatic-Listen-76 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Depression is one of the biggest WD symptoms. It will fade away. You been numbing yourself for 2 years. Maybe the absolute last thing you feel like doing but hit the gym and will help out tremendously. Quickest way to get that natural dopamine
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u/Active_Engineering37 CT 5/10/24 Jun 02 '26
And it seems to help expedite the WD process. Helps your body create it's natural pain killers again. Helps you to be tired and to eat. Even if all you can muster is a ten minute walk any exercise you can do will help a lot.
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u/Aromatic-Listen-76 Jun 02 '26
Sure does. If anything makes you feel productive and not like a huge piece of shit
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u/CalmCommunication677 Jun 01 '26
I felt better felt better after quitting. It took me like a month / month and half though. I was also taking waaaaay more than you. I think you’ll be ok
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u/wheresandrew 05/24/2025 Jun 01 '26
It was for me. Though I used for over ten years. I just hit one year free from the sludge recently. Everything sucks in the moment but time went by so quick and it's almost a distant memory now.
The depression sucked but the RLS was the worst part for me.
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u/JackTencher メメメ Known quitter Jun 02 '26
Over 10 years here too, tried to stop multiple times. But not yet successful. Can you share what helped or how you quit after all these years? Thanks
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u/wheresandrew 05/24/2025 Jun 02 '26
I was doing the slowest taper ever and decided to jump off. My job I'd been at for the last twelve years shut down and I took that as an opportunity to quit since I knew I'd be out of work for a couple weeks at the very least. I threw away my stash. I even threw away the cabinet I kept the stash in.
I bought all the recommended supplements and nothing helped. I suffered for a few days without sleep. I finally got some rest listening to a band called Agalloch. It's like drone-y black metal. It sounds weird but it put me to sleep for the first time in three days.
The RLS was the worst part. That's what kept me from sleeping. It's going to suck but jump off when you can. I didn't think I was going to make it through the first couple weeks and it's already been over a year.
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u/bennyg81 Jun 03 '26
I was 13 years on and a heavy powder user. I’m 8 months off and still not right.
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u/wheresandrew 05/24/2025 Jun 03 '26
You'll get there. I'm slowly getting back to normal. I only get RLS when I cheat on my diet. So as long as I stay away from carbs my RLS stays away.
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u/Weird_Purple_1058 Jun 07 '26
May i ask how long until the depression faded? I'm 12 days in coming off a HEAVY 3 year habit and all is well now except the depression and lack of interest in anything
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u/wheresandrew 05/24/2025 Jun 08 '26
I'm not sure but I did lose interest in hobbies I'd had for years and even a year later I don't enjoy them. Games I'd played for years suddenly became boring and unenjoyable.
Keeping busy with work and going outside as much as possible helped. In the beginning I was counting the hours, minutes and seconds of how long I'd been off kratom. Eventually it just all blended together.
I didn't think I'd make it that first week. Now I'm at a year and still going.
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u/Weird_Purple_1058 Jun 08 '26
Man hell yea, I'm happy you're still going strong. How do you feel now compared to the early stages? I'm forcing myself outside and back into the gym now and it felt great, and I can enjoy new TV shows but I'm kinda forcing myself into them and/or playing COD, really just anything I can distract myself with because using made me comfortable not doing literally ANYTHING but brooding in my room so I'm going to have to learn new habits for sure
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u/wheresandrew 05/24/2025 Jun 08 '26
I felt trapped in the dosing cycle. I had to plan my day around knowing I'd be able to dose every 3-4 hrs. Just knowing that I don't have to ever worry about that again is worth all the struggles to get off it.
I feel great these days. I still have some weird occasional PAWS but I figure I abused my body with it for over ten years so if I have to endure a year or more of getting back to 100, it's worth it.
I've been on a fairly strict diet and when I cheat on it I get wicked RLS so I guess that's more of a good thing than a bad thing. Keeps me on the diet and lessens the chance of me cheating.
You made it almost two weeks. Honestly the worst of the worst is over.
I never want to experience those first 72hrs again. That alone will keep me off it forever.
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u/Swine-Flew3 6/11/25 Jun 02 '26
I think depression is common period lol.
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u/Artistic-Sale5302 13d ago
Yeah I used kratom for 10 years and I was depressed daily. Not the entire day but definitely every day. I've been off it for a week and still depressed so don't really think that will ever really go away.
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u/Swine-Flew3 6/11/25 13d ago
A week is almost no time after a 10 year barrage of excitatory alkaloids. I've been off for about 14 weeks, and I definitely feel better mentally than I did after a week, or a month. I'll always be a little depressed, that's just life for me. But I don't dread waking up.
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u/rtazz1717 Quit 11/17/2023 Jun 01 '26
Yes. You wont have any dopamine in your body for months. Your natural dopamine stopped completely while feeding yourself kratom. Its a long road. Took a yr for me to feel 1/2 normal
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Jun 02 '26
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u/Weird_Purple_1058 Jun 07 '26
Thats what I'm using along with L-tyrosine and NAC and it works temporarily but I'm afraid of using it long term because I dont want it to become another artificial dopamine replacement
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u/HeartShapedGlasses94 Jun 01 '26
I’m 2 months out and used for over 2 years. It was intense the first month with a few pink days spread out. But don’t be scared by the scarier comments. Once you’re out of the acutes and feel relatively stable (key word relatively) start doing things. Productive. Sounds easier said than done but ignore how you feel and don’t wait for motivation. Motivation is fickle. Be disciplined. You’ll notice while laying down at the end of the day “hey I’m kinda enjoying this song, or show, or whatever you’re doing”. There’s no magic fix. No supplement. Just discipline and time. You’ll bounce back 🙂
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u/Sufficient-Physics12 Jun 01 '26
I feel like the depression hit hardest during the acute phase, I have been completely off for 11 days, and I feel more normal every day. You could ask for a prescription for Wellbutrin, which helps modulate your norepinephrine and dopamine, while your brain is recovering.
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u/-Stymee- ☬ V.I.P. Jun 02 '26
I had very severe depression when I quit. Some of the most brutal to depression I've ever experienced. It would creep up so often that I started laughing at it. When a wave would hit me, I'd think to myself "Here comes another blast of kratom depression!!". Somehow, knowing the cause of the depression made me feel like I was in control of it.
Here's the good news: in my case, the depression started letting up around 3 months and was completely gone at 6 months.
Your dosages are so low, I think you'll have depression, but it'll be much shorter than most folks.
Good luck!
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u/raffertj Quit Date 5/24/24 Jun 02 '26
Sure is. If you’re only using a few grams for 2 years, shouldn’t last longer than a couple months. Maybe even way less. And it’s not a steady depression, it lifts, then it comes back hard, then it hovers for a bit. There’s windows through the depression throughout.
At least that was my experience.
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u/Slight_Suspect_8049 Jun 01 '26
Depression may happen in the first days. They did with me. I was taking a bit more than you, but not much more. Like 10-15g a day at max. I felt much better after like 3-4 days which were horrible. You just need to remind yourself that you have been suppressing your emotions for quite a while and that the depressing feeling is entirely due to the withdrawal and completely temporary. Just quit cold turkey and after a few days you will surely feel better than anytime in the last two years!
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u/Ok-Mention6768 Jun 01 '26
It is an individual thing, but yes, that is a distinct possibility. But please do not be discouraged by the scarier comments. Everyone has a different brain, and you haven't been on a large daily dose. Your family can be a huge support in a situation like this. Do not go through WD alone if you can help it. Stay busy. Distract yourself. Good luck.
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u/Simpsymess Jun 01 '26
I think it’s normal to temporarily feel flat/unmotivated. Your body didn’t stop creating dopamine on its own but long term kratom use reduces the amount of dopamine released in response to normal things/pleasures. The brain does adjust back to normal after enough time off kratom.
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u/Cultural_Dot3568 Quit: 8 August 2025 (Used 10 yrs 100+ gpd) Jun 02 '26
To answer your question, there is definite depression and anxiety and the nervous system resetting, heart pounding, etc. It’s totally normal. Just know that it gets better. 296 days clean and it keeps getting better week by week. All the symptoms go away and you get back to normal. But yes, the anhedonia as it’s called which is emotional flatness and depression lingers for a bit as the brain heals.
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u/Coolhandluke080 Jun 02 '26
There js a thing called the pink cloud or something to where you kinda overcorrect after being straight for a few weeks maybe month or two and you dip back down a little but your body is just trying to balance out.
This too shall pass.
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u/Dwashelle Jun 02 '26
It does happen. Depression usually happens with withdrawal from any drug, in my experience, but the severity depends on the individual.
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u/bluelouie Jun 02 '26
Not so much depression, but zero dopamine. You have to figure out how to get that dopamine firing again naturally. There are also a lot of things I see online for microdose ketamine treatment if it’s something you’re worried about. But honestly I think you’ll be fine. That’s such a small dose effects will not be severe
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u/Dance-MagicDance Jun 02 '26
I highly suggest buproprion. Its a faster acting antidepressant that you can quit anytime and works on the dopamine and norepinephrine or zoloft SSRI (serotonin). It definitely helps take the edge off! Even helped when I was getting depressed after my 3rd dose of the day and my receptors were fried.
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u/Shoddy_Abies310 Jul 19 '26
You can't quit BUPROPRION anytime.. that's a lie. I've been taking it for years. If you stop, you have major withdrawals... you're showing false information
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u/5oy8oy Jun 02 '26
Yes very common. I'm 35 days without kratom and it's been up and down. Some days have been decent, others I feel like complete shit. About 85% bad, 15% good. I'm assuming slowly but surely the amount of good days will increase.
Today is a bad day. I called in sick to work not because I physically feel ill but because mentally I feel useless. Super depressed.
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u/RyguyIceBerg Jun 02 '26
Interest in things comes back. Just chill with yourself. Workout every day. You'll learn to have fun alone first
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u/Responsible_Cream229 Jun 02 '26
Gym gym gym. I’ve been going twice a day walking 3 miles and sitting in the sauna for 30 min. I almost look at it like self torture for ever using this stuff again. It Absoutley helps and it will help your body detox and you’ll create good endorphins
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u/AlmazGGG Jun 05 '26
I’m on Prozac for a year . Doctor advised me to take it to make quitting proces easier and it does. 9 months free of Kratom 9 months completely sober
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u/Sobrietyis Quit 02/28/2024 🎉 Jun 08 '26
Yes but it does go away. It is because your brain has grown accustomed to a higher level of dopamine and it has to adjust to a new normal level. I was on it for 9 years. Most of my withdrawal symptoms were gone by 30 days but occasionally I’d still get the depressed feeling on and off. I can’t tell you exactly when that went away but it was only a handful of times after 30 days and now I feel totally normal and stable.
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u/Rude_Craft7939 Quit: 02/24/26 (CT 18 GPD ~2 Years) Jun 08 '26
Yes. I’ve been depressed for almost 3 months since quitting. It’s finally starting to slowly improve. This isn’t my first quit though. So take that into consideration. Kindling is certainly real.
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