Quit Drinking Then Got Hooked on Kratom | What No One Talks AboutQuit Drinking Then Got Hooked on Kratom | What No One Talks About
Sober Motivation: Sharing Sobriety Stories
Lauren shares how a seemingly put‑together life hid years of alcohol and opioid addiction, a frightening crisis, and time away from her children. She then explains how a legal kratom product rapidly became a devastating new addiction and what helped her commit to recovery again.
1:02:52•30 Apr 2026
Quit Drinking, Got Hooked on Kratom: Lauren’s Hidden Battle with a ‘Legal’ High
Episode Overview
- A polished family image can hide severe addiction and emotional turmoil, making it harder to ask for help.
- Legal substances like kratom and 7‑OH can act on opioid receptors and lead to intense dependence, withdrawal and serious life consequences.
- Honesty about all substances, even those sold as supplements, is crucial in support groups and with sponsors.
- Recovery may require treating it like a full‑time job at first, using meetings, movement and stories from others to keep focused.
- Children can be deeply affected yet remarkably forgiving, and rebuilding trust with them often starts with consistent sobriety and accountability.
“"Just because it says supplement doesn’t mean that it’s okay. I was all about sobriety. I was not looking to get high at all."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of Sober Motivation follows Lauren as she shares how a life that looked picture‑perfect on the outside spiralled into secret addictions, near‑tragedy, and, eventually, a fierce commitment to recovery. From her first drink at ten years old, alcohol became tied to fitting in and people‑pleasing.
She talks about growing up in a family where “everything was swept under the rug”, and how that carried into adulthood as she tried to be the “perfect” mum while chaos brewed behind closed doors. There’s early motherhood, postpartum depression, a devastating opioid habit fed by access to pharmacy drugs, and years in a turbulent marriage where she felt it was her job to “fix” everything.
Things begin to stabilise after an earlier recovery from opiates, seven years working at a Christian school, and a renewed focus on her kids. But alcohol creeps back in, leading to blackout drinking, a terrifying incident with a gun, jail time, and 72 days away from her children. As she puts it, “I just wanted to feel normal… and I didn’t feel like I was being a person.” The episode then shifts into territory “no one talks about”: kratom.
After giving up alcohol and getting active in AA, Lauren tries a legal kratom shot marketed as a supplement. Within three months, she’s spending up to $120 a day, losing her job, wrecking her car, and slipping into psychosis: “It totally stripped me of more, so quickly, more than almost anything had before.” Brad keeps the space calm, curious and non‑judgemental, asking the kind of questions many people in recovery quietly wrestle with.
This one’s especially helpful if you’re sober from alcohol but tempted by so‑called ‘legal’ highs or supplements marketed as harmless. You might come away asking yourself: what’s really hiding behind that label?
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