Crohns disease and Kratom unexpected outcome

[BundyMcDiggyDoodles]

Figured I would write a post about this because it makes me happy. It is a tad long.... and I suffer from grammar-itis with a side of run-on-sentence-osis.

My 60 year old father has Crohn's disease, on top of cerebral palsy where he walks with crutches, and is legally blind. He was born severely premature for the 60s, 23 weeks. My gram always says he could fit in the palm of her hand. She's a little old french lady so thems be some small hands. At that point the doctors said he wouldn't live more than a couple years. When he was young around 7ish I think, he had to have his left eye lens removed because "it was fogged over with cataracts" rendering it completely blind. Given that he has all of these trials from birth he has always been a straight edge person to the extreme. Despises doctors and whenever I say I heard about this natural thing that seems promising he shoots it down, as always being "none of that shit work!". Which generally he tends to be correct about for the most part.

In his younger years when I was say 8 he almost died from a brutal Crohn's flare up. He was in the hospital for months it was terrifying. They ended up removing a portion of his intestines. The cecum which according to google is a pouch-like structure that connects the small intestine to the large intestine. They said he should have died then, because he is a warrior he did not. Eventually they swore he would not live longer than 10 years at most. It is now 30 years later, thank GOD! Granted though he is still kicking, his body has started to give him more trouble as he has aged. His Crohn's flares up often which is related to inflammation in the intestines, that in turn creates inflammation in other parts of his body. His stomach often hurts, which he pretends doesn't. Energy level goes through dramatic lows, aches all over, cognitive issues with a slew of other issues.

Where Crohn's effects absorption of nutrients, he used to have to do b12 injectables once to twice a month. To my understanding for natural supplements, but b12 specifically people in similar situations make it so b12 pills have a 4% or less bioavailability. You could always tell when it was getting close to the time of the month to take his b12. He would exhibit behaviors similar to early Dementia/Alzheimer's. Losing things constantly, forever searching for random unimportant objects. When combined with lack of sight makes it all the more frustrating for him. Quick to anger and outbursts, low motivation to do anything. Hard time comprehending information whether in conversation or otherwise. Drifting attention, dwelling on things from 40-50 years ago and getting depressed about them out of nowhere.

Also his left eye that doesn't have the lens would get intensely red. Which for a period of time he just assumed it was getting close to them having to take it out. He believes it to be getting smaller, I don't know if that is something he thinks or was told by the doctors that it would get smaller. They did tell him he would eventually lose the eye. The redness also was an indication of his ability to regulate his emotions. Over the years I tried all sorts of things with him, the regular all natural inflammation stuff. Turmeric, glucosamine, collagen, sulfur, you name it he most likely tried it for me with little to no results.

Out of the blue one day he goes "Hey Bud can I try some of your dirt?". I was awestruck!

Everyone in the family are what he refers to as "lab rats". He has 3 brothers, my gram and gramps, and most of the cousins (my generation) are big "Bob Marley enjoyers", not myself anymore. The family is constantly followed around by some invisible smoking skunk. Whether it is a holiday or just random visit, wherever it may be it is always and consistently clam baked/ fish bowled. Which drives him a little crazy because he is so opposed to it, he says "with all my challenges to begin with, why would I want to dumb myself down and make things harder." Honestly with how prevalent it is in the family, his strength to stick to his path is pretty inspiring. Him being able to do so, played a big part in me cultivating the willpower to come off IV dope. If he can maintain strict sobriety with all the trials and challenges he faces. There is nothing I can face that would be harder than the life he lived/lives.

He doesn't drink, smoke, take prescribed opiates, really do anything that could be construed as "mind altering", aside from the typical caffeine. So I asked what he wanted to use it for as a way to help guide the process and make sure there was some concrete goal or idea in mind he was striving for with it. His main goal was just to help with the intestinal pain and aches in his joints. Screws in the feet and ankles, bad knees, hand arthritis from walking on his hands his whole life with the crutches, shoulders. He also was hoping it would curb his hunger, given his aging and circumstances limiting activity he is heavier than he should be. If he gets too heavy eventually he won't be able to be mobile. The crutches not only help him get around which most of the strength come from the upper body, but also double as a sort of seeing eye cane. If he was wheel chair bound, he wouldn't be able to have a motorized chair otherwise he would be running into everyone and everything all the time.

The appetite thing I had doubts about. For me there are some strains that definitely make me want to eat more, very rarely do I notice one that makes me not want to eat or simply eat less. For everything else though I figured it could be useful for him.

Given that he has been a full blown straighter his whole life. I started him off low at .5 gram dose as a way to avoid any type of mental difference for him. He didn't notice anything, so over the next week or so I bumped it up slowly. Always asking how he feels regularly right after and a couple times in the following two hours of each dose. He got up to my single serving dose pretty quickly of 2.5 grams and still wasn't noticing anything. So we slowly kept going up a little more, while I was telling him this seems like too much for someone like him. I see it as if he is taking more than me I should worry about him where I had a severe battle with large amounts of opiates for 20 years. He still wasn't noticing much and wanted me to give him more.

Eventually he got up to about 5-6 grams in a dose, which I was nervous about. Granted he only takes one dose a day, at night after dinner. So 6 grams in a day isn't horrendous, but for a life long straight edge person, I couldn't help but worry. With this dose and most strains it actually got him where he wanted to be, comfortable. I keep him away from strains that can create hunger that I noticed in myself, the different ones I have given him have actually helped his appetite. I make sure he takes a break once a week for a day or two, most weeks.

I am grateful that this beautiful plant has been able to help him in this way!

To me the most interesting part however, isn't that it helped with his pain and digestion issues. Something about it has made it so not only does his left eye not get red at all anymore. Which is absolutely amazing, we have gone to doctors about it because it was so red initially. He thought it was some infection somewhere. The only thing initially that helped was the Lumify eye drops, which do nothing for the eye aside from remove redness. He was having to use the eyedrops twice a day and the eye would get less red, but still would be sensitive or felt like there was pressure. Now that he has been taking the kratom dose his eye never gets red, it doesn't hurt or feel like the pressure is high. It is such a big deal for him it is hard for me to articulate properly. When it was getting red it wasn't like a little bloodshot, but the entire white of the eye was fire truck or cherry red with no white showing.

The second interesting part that was equally if not more amazing to me. He at some point stopped taking his b12 shots and I hadn't even noticed. Previously it was extremely noticeable for anyone paying attention, the same behavior at the end of the month every month like clock work. We tried numerous things to help with that from getting more b12 so he could do one dose every week or every two weeks. Initially the though was simply that the amount he was being told to take hadn't changed for 20 years so it was just too low. The dementia type behavior started occurring earlier. It used to be couple days before he was due, to a week before he was due, to upwards of two weeks before he was due. The having more available and doing a dose every week or two weeks was helpful, but didn't completely remedy the situation. Where the kratom actually has! It has granted a huge quality of life increase for him and the family. Now when he can't find something it's usually just because he can't see. Which is easy, "tell me what is is and I got you pop." bing bang boom done deal. Before it was tear the house apart for something that didn't matter but he hadn't touched in 6 months to a year just because he was so upset he couldn't find it. Literally things he didn't need or want because he wanted to do something with them in the moment, just non important things he had no use for at the time but because he couldn't find it, he would freak out.

Then of course aside from the two unexpected, astonishing things. He also has had a huge decrease in intestinal pain, and it helped him with digestive regularity which is nice. Crohn's sucks in that regard, especially if you have to walk with crutches on top of not being able to see.

I just felt like it was interesting and wanted to share. Kratom is such a blessing of a plant. Double M is such a blessing of a community. I just love it and everyone of you, very grateful. I thank God for the trials in my path to get here.

[BallzDeep9]

Out of the blue one day he goes "Hey Bud can I try some of your dirt?". I was awestruck!

I just felt like it was interesting and wanted to share. Kratom is such a blessing of a plant. Double M is such a blessing of a community. I just love it and everyone of you, very grateful. I thank God for the trials in my path to get here.

What a great story. Yes - that 'Green Dirt Stuff' - as we know, raw powder Leaf is only 3% alkaloids... so 97% what ? yep. Crohns is a major issue, and other problems with digestive tract - NOW in 2024, we've finally come to a major breakthrough - Help for that issue, also relief for those who suffer Chronic Pain.

Kratom Extract, has been perfected now with the "discovery" of isolated 7-Hydroxymitragynine and 7-OH... there's always been a LOT of people who can't handle powder. Love the effects, which come from the alkaloids - But the bulky powder part - has little to no benefit. Just today there's a debate on Reddit group KratomVendors2 - in regard to discussion of 7-OH... Someone with a digestive problem, posted on this.

I'm a few years older than your Dad... with 7-OH you bypass the gut completely! Yes... it's best taken sublingual. Under the tongue. You CAN source 7-OH powder actually, too, but mainly it's tabs and shots. (With the liquid shots you really should keep in mouth, swish around for a good 5-10 minutes.) - here's the organization that is working, in cooperation, with AKA now - called HART : Holistic Alternative Recovery Trust: https://hartsupporter.com/

Scroll down. Those online vendors: Omega, and VII - are good sources. And 7-OH = a Retail product sold in Head shops... I would say, if your Dad's serving is 6 gram quality kratom ? That's = about 90mg Mitragynine - He would feel great with just a ½ Half tab 7-OH.. the same feel as kratom but stronger. Could even start with less than ½... it's here and it's truly a Godsend for the Chronic Pain folks and those w/ digestive issues.

[herbalhippie]

My daughter and her boyfriend were staying here a few years ago and he had a bad Crohns attack one day. By that night he
had been in the bathroom so many times and was in a lot of pain. I gave him 2 grams of kratom and he
said it was miraculous.

[GreenAnimal]

What a great post! I’m so glad he found it helpful for so many of his ailments. We need more positive stories like this to show all the good kratom does. This plant has saved me too.

Also, that’s hilarious he called it “dirt” hahah. That made me laugh.

[StarfishArtifice]

That's amazing! Had you never offered kratom to him before? Just curious. Man, I hope science makes progress sooner rather than later studying this plant for the sake of him and others.

[nomo]

My daughter and her boyfriend were staying here a few years ago and he had a bad Crohns attack one day. By that night he
had been in the bathroom so many times and was in a lot of pain. I gave him 2 grams of kratom and he
said it was miraculous.

love hearing stories like this and OP! i also have crohns and kratom has been a life changer. i've had a couple bowel resections and feel my intestines have never gone back to normal due to scarring and other issues (pelvic floor disfunction etc). i am now having more constipation issues due to that and i think the raw powder is only making things worse. im hoping 7-OH/extract could be the perfect solution im just clueless in that area. do you recommend anything in particular when it comes to that aside from what ballz has already mentioned? thanks in advance as always <3