Kratom Tolerance: Everything You Need to Know

If you take kratom for some time, you may develop kratom tolerance. It’s one of the most common reasons for kratom not working.

When it happens, your body becomes less sensitive to the plant. And the dose that you normally take does not deliver the same results.

Thus, to get the same effects as before, you need to take a larger dose. While it may seem like a good solution, it is not optimal in the long haul.

A larger dose means that you’ll go through your kratom reserves a lot faster. And will need to order it more frequently. That will require you to spend more and more money over time.

The good news is that kratom tolerance is preventable and also reversible. So, even if you have already developed it, you can easily get over it.

But, before we get into how to do it, let’s first look at why that happens.

Alkaloids Cause Kratom Tolerance 

Kratom has a number of different alkaloids that contribute to its medicinal properties. Two of the main ones are mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.

Mitragynine is primarily responsible for kratom’s pain-killing and stimulating properties. Meanwhile, 7-hydroxymitragynine causes the pain-killing, relaxing, and stimulating effects.

The two alkaloids are also the main ones causing kratom tolerance to develop.

When you take kratom, its alkaloids interact with the brain receptors. That usually happens within 10-30 minutes after you take your dose, but this time may vary with some strains.

That is when you’ll feel kratom kick in.

When alkaloid concentration reaches a certain amount, your brain begins to down-regulate these receptors. It does so to regain balance.

Kratom alkaloids don’t leave the body the moment you stop feeling the effects. Instead, they remain in your system for approximately 24 hours.

So, if you take kratom regularly, you don’t let alkaloids leave your body completely. Because of that, there is always some amount of them in your system.

Your brain knows that, and it keeps regulating the receptors to continuously find balance. Over time that develops into kratom tolerance.

How Can You Prevent Kratom Tolerance

1. Take the Right Dose

To make sure that you’re not taking more than you need, ingest the right dose that your body requires.

You can do so by first determining what your perfect dose is. Always start with the lowest amount. It’ll usually be 2-3 grams for most strains or even less if a specific vendor’s kratom is very strong.

You may experience kratom effects or not feel anything at all. If the latter happens, gradually up your dose until you feel the desired results.

When you know what the right dose for you is, carefully measure the amount of kratom that you intake each time. We recommend using a sensitive digital scale instead of eyeing your dose with a spoon.

Depending on what size the spoon is and how much you load onto it, the amount of kratom in it can drastically vary. So, you may be taking a lot more than you actually need.

2. Keep Track of Your Kratom Intake

The surest way to developing kratom tolerance is taking it whenever you feel like doing it. The problem with such an approach is that you’ll be ingesting kratom irregularly and even multiple times a day.

Some users end up taking as much as 30-50 grams of kratom powder a day. If that’s where you’re at, you definitely suffer from kratom tolerance.

This way you’ll be constantly adding a new kratom dose without letting the existing alkaloids leave your system. Alkaloid levels in brain receptors are never the same. They will fluctuate depending on how long ago you took your dose.

Along with alkaloid concentration, the intensity at which your brain will try to self-regulate will also vary.

It’s best to take a new dose when both of these are low. This way you’ll be allowing enough time for your body to reset.

To ensure that you avoid sporadic kratom intake times, keep track of the doses that you ingest.

You can do it via a journal, a mobile app, or any other means that works for you. Select the best time depending on your needs and the strain that you’re taking and stay consistent.

3. Take Magnesium Supplements

You may already be familiar with kratom potentiatiors. But, there’s one that we’d like to point out.

Magnesium.

Magnesium is effective for both – increasing the potency of kratom as well as lowering kratom tolerance.

Remember the receptors that were responsible for developing kratom tolerance? Magnesium is saturated in antagonists for these receptors and can help to keep them balanced.

4. Do Not Take or Limit Your Intake of Kratom Extracts

According to multiple users, kratom extracts can quickly develop tolerance. Or, they can make users immune to kratom powder, especially if taken for a long time.

Another problem with extracts is that you will need to calculate each dose. Kratom doses are normally measured in grams of kratom powder. That means that you’ll need to know how much kratom powder you would need in grams. Then, you’ll need to calculate that taking into consideration the strength of the extract.

This makes doses of kratom extracts hard to measure. And you can easily take a much larger dose than your body actually requires.

5. Rotate Kratom Veins and Strains

Kratom tolerance is most likely to develop if you’re continuously taking the same strain. To avoid that, many users suggest rotating vein colors and strains.

Since each of them will have a different concentration and potency of alkaloids, your body will have a harder time getting used to any one of them. Users also report feeling more sensitive to each of the strains if they rotate them.

If you’d like to do this, select a few strains with similar effects that would deliver the results that you need. Then, create a schedule of what days you’ll be taking each of them on.

Keep in mind that different strains will have different potency and alkaloid concentration. Therefore, you will likely need to take a slightly different dose for each strain.

6. Take Days Off

Kratom tolerance develops if you allow for kratom buildup to occur. This can happen if you aren’t allowing enough time between your doses for alkaloids to leave your system.

An easy way of preventing tolerance from happening and is not taking kratom every day.

Allow one or two days between each kratom dose. That will let your body expel the alkaloids that it has accumulated. It will also help you keep your kratom sensitivity low.

What If You Already Have Developed Kratom Tolerance? 

The best and the fastest way of lowering kratom tolerance is taking a break. How long of a break you’ll need, will depend on your individual body and how strong your tolerance is.

Time off will give your body time to remove the alkaloids that it has accumulated and reset. As a result, your tolerance levels will go down.

Observe how your body is feeling. When you feel recovered and any side effects are gone, try taking your initial dose of kratom again.

And most importantly, assess why tolerance developed in the first place and what you can do to prevent that from happening again in the future.

Have you ever experienced kratom tolerance? Why did that happen? What did you do to overcome it? Perhaps you’ve discovered your own tricks for preventing and lowering kratom tolerance?