Sleep was OK. Took a while to fall asleep. No sudden wake ups. I did wake up a fair amount. It was on the verge of insomnia. Woke up at 8:15. I’m happy with it. I was realizing last night in bed that the depression and anxiety I was feeling in the evening are completely normal for kratom withdrawals. It’s totally expected. I wonder if I pushed through the withdrawals for 5 days if things would even out and the brace would provide pain relief. It’s 10am now and I haven’t taken kratom yet. The pain is bad, but manageable. The mood is decent, but this will be as good as it gets for the rest of the day. Sitting at my desk right now hurts for sure. I’m still thinking of taking kratom once a day for a couple more days. I was thinking of a taper also. Go down to 5.5g or so twice a day. Give myself a soft landing on the mental side. I doubt the good feeling from the brace will be around very long, so the smart thing I imagine would be to go CT asap. I’m just not really up for it. A taper gets you used to not feeling high, while still easing the withdrawals, and easing the brain back into producing dopamine and serotonin on its own without a major shock. I can dodge the bad feelings a bit by playing games or something, but not very much. It also hurts to sit at my desk. I may wait for my 6.5g dose until noon or something to lengthen the good feeling later into the evening so I don’t dip like last night. It wasn’t that bad. I can do a few days of that. But it will only get worse if I go CT. I do need the tolerance break no matter what. If I knew the brace was THE answer, I would commit. I know nothing, as usual. I definitely feel withdrawals. They are mild. I think they cause some spasms too. Maybe I’ll wait a bit, then take some Zanaflex and see what it’s like after. Couch, brace/ice?? I am sniffling. Classic early withdrawal symptom. Started feeling desperate and lots of pain. Holding my breath. Took 6.5g just before noon. I suppose this is a valid tapering strat, but not a good one. I was really cold this morning, now I’m warm. Lots of pooping today already. I guess the withdrawals are advancing. I’m within my comfort level with them so far. But if I taper below 6.5 once per day, then I might as well just go CT at that point. I just hope this helps with tolerance. I just don’t want to be couch locked all day. I can do that with weed. I hate that. I hate drugging myself asleep mid day. I’ve done that for years with Flexiril. This allows me to be upright and do stuff. That’s the goal, isn’t it? I feel good mentally at 4pm. Pain is sharp and strong. I’ve been at my desk a lot. Short walk earlier.