Once you’ve found a reputable kratom vendor who uses 3rd party lab testing to ensure purity, your next step is to figure out how much kratom to take and how often to take it. Each person is different, so you have to decide what works best for you and your individual needs.
We will be discussing regular strength, powdered kratom — not raw leaves, enhanced, tinctures, resin, or extract, which are sometimes used in special cases when symptoms are severe.
Kratom is being used to relieve pain, eliminate depression, calm anxiety, increase endurance, enhance motivation, and improve mental focus. But before you can receive these benefits, you have to arrive at the best dosage amount and frequency of usage.
Arriving at the Perfect Dose for You
(1) The first and most important principle is to take the LOWEST possible dose that provides the effects you seek.
Lower doses of all types of kratom tend to be engergizing and will increase stamina, while larger doses tend to be sedating and better for relieving pain.
You should NEVER increase your dose amount or frequency, in a misguided attempt to experience a hoped-for thrill. Kratom is NOT a recreational, “get high” party drug. If you try to use or abuse kratom in this way, you’ll be very disappointed. It’s also best not to mix kratom with alcohol, opioids, benzos, or other medicines. Kratom is a dietary supplement that provides relief from pain, anxiety, lethargy, and depression, according to those who use it.
You must adapt a mature, responsible attitude and establish the LOWEST possible dose amount, and frequency, that satisfies you, without causing you to be dangerously dizzy, excessively jittery, or helplessly incapacitated. Overdosing, on purpose or by accident, is basically unheard of, because if you take too much kratom, your body will probably just vomit it out.
Deliberately taking a higher dose, or taking your regular dose of kratom too often, will accomplish only bad things. You will develop a tolerance more quickly, which means you’ll have to continue to take kratom at that higher amount or greater frequency, to continue getting the effects you need, and this will result in a need to spend more money on larger packages of kratom than you orginally required.
It’s best to START SMALL. Try taking 1 or 2 grams, and see what happens. Kratom takes only about 15 minutes to kick in, then the effects steadily climb as the hours go by, peaking in anywhere from 2 to 6 hours. Some people say one dose of kratom can last as long as 12 or 24 hours. Others feel a need to take another dose after 3 to 8 hours, depending on their level of pain, anxiety, lethargy, or depression. Again, as with everything related to kratom, it’s very personal. You can’t really use the experiences of others as hard, fast rules — they can only serve as guidelines to consider.
Go SLOW on dosing. If the first, small dose didn’t seem to do much, try taking another small dose of 1 or 2 grams. Then wait for at least one hour. 4 to 6 grams should be the maximum amount needed, but not necessarily. Each person is different. There’s no getting around the fact that you have to experiment with kratom dosing until you achieve exactly what you need for your own personal needs and body chemistry.
NOTE: There may be emergencies and exceptional events when you will want to increase your dosage amount and/or frequency. A day when your symptoms are suddenly magnified, an unexpected injury, an acute stress that came out of nowhere, a new pain, an inexplicably negative mood, a sad occurence, a mysterious and persistent lack of energy, a troubling development in your personal life, or some other situation that may require a temporary boosting of kratom usage. Don’t feel bad, it happens to everyone. Just don’t then settle in to using kratom at that higher amount or frequency as a standard routine. When the crisis is over, go back to your regular schedule, and you should be fine.
An amazing thing about kratom is that most people find that once they calculate the right dose amount and frequency, they NEVER feel any need to increase it. Kratom users can maintain the exact same dose for years without any change. This is very different from pain medicines like the pharmaceutical opioids or street heroin, which requires users to keep increasing the dose amount and frequency until they reach an insanely high level to achieve the desired effects. This great steady dosing attribute of kratom is one of the things that enable kratom users to live a normal, productive life — not having to interrupt what they’re doing to go get another fix.
If you can skip days and not take kratom every single day, that will help you avoid building an immunity to kratom’s effects. Your receptors will “reset”.
(2) Secondly, you must know how kratom varies in effects according to vein color.
The general rule of thumb is:
White vein = stimulating — with some pain relief.
Green vein = mood boosting — with more pain relief.
Red vein = sedating — with powerful pain relief.
Please remember that this guideline pertaining to kratom vein colors is not absolute for all cases or all users. You may find a Green Malay kratom better at relieving your pain than a Red Horn, for example. As you experiment with different types of kratom, you’ll find one that you favor and use the most, but always have some variation in the kinds of kratom you use. Rotating the types of kratom will help you avoid developing a tolerance to a specific alkaloid profile.
(3) Thirdly, you must understand what is a low, moderate, high, and very high dose of kratom, in terms of grams.
- Low dose = 2 to 4 grams
- Moderate dose = 5 to 8 grams
- High dose = 9 to 12 grams
- Very high dose = 13 to 15 grams
In most cases, no more than 15 grams of kratom should be used, but there are exceptions, depending on the severity and intensity of symptoms.
NOTE: Even with regular kratom products, each strain and batch can vary rather widely in potency and longevity of effects. For example, a White Borneo may be stronger than a White Elephant. A Chocolate Bentuagie may be more potent than a Red Maeng Da. The amount of energy, pain relief, and feelings of well being can vary according to what product is being used. So this information on dosing is merely a loose set of guidelines, and not set in cement, iron-clad rules. These are simply general principles that apply in most situations with most types of regular kratom powder.
There is also a personal factor in how any specific kratom product will affect you. A person in seriously intense pain will require a higher dose, and more frequent doses, than someone who has mild pain, for example. Effects can vary according to how active you are. Moving around will activate the kratom quicker and make the effects more intense, while sitting or lying around, relaxing or watching TV, will tend to slow down the effects and make them a bit milder.
Drinking lots more water is important for getting kratom to circulate in your system, and because kratom is very dry and dehydrating, extra water or other fluids are needed to prevent constipation. Your current mood and expectations can also help determine how a kratom product impacts you. What other medicines, herbal substances, or dietary supplements you may be taking can determine how kratom affects you. Drinking coffee, black tea, herbal tea, energy beverages, or caffeinated soft drinks can have an impact, too.
(4) Next, you must know how to translate level teaspoons or capsules into grams of kratom. Then you must know how many grams equals a low, moderate, and high dose.
People tend to measure their kratom dose amounts with teaspoons or by number of capsules. The most common Kratom capsule is a size 0, which holds 500 mg, or 0.5 grams (one half gram) of Kratom powder.
1 level teaspoon = 4 capsules = approx. 2 grams.
2 level teaspoons = 8 capsules = approx. 4 grams.
3 level teaspoons = 12 capsules = approx. 6 grams.
4 level teaspoons = 16 capsules = approx. 8 grams.
5 level teaspoons = 20 capsules = approx. 10 grams.
6 level teaspoons = 24 capsules = approx. 12 grams.
7 level teaspoons = 28 capsules = approx. 14 grams.
Kratom has a very bitter taste, so many people prefer to use kratom in capsule form.
But kratom acts faster and more strongly when the raw powder is taken as a mixture in applesauce, chocolate milk, coffee, or orange juice, or is taken by the toss and wash method of putting a teaspoon of kratom powder in your mouth, and immediately washing it down with some liquid such as water, juice, or coffee. Soda can upset the stomach, so it’s best to avoid using it to administer kratom to your system. Also, it might be a good idea to eat a little something prior to taking kratom, so your stomach is not entirely empty.
According to customer reports, once you find the perfect dose amount and how often to take your kratom dose, you probably won’t have to increase them as time goes on. It’s so wonderful that the right kratom dose and dosing schedule can continue to provide the benefits you need for many years with no change, other than skipping days if possible, and varying the types of kratom that you use now and then.
