r/AskDocs•
jankyladies

Scared to bring up kratom use.

Hey. 41 female 119 lbs 5'7 SLE chronic migraine. Medication Mirtazapine 7.5 mg estradot .25 200 mg progesterone, Botox for migraine. So I got put on Mirtazapine for insomnia and constantly waking up every 45 minutes. I'm told from perimenopause. I was sleeping around 3 hours a night for six months. The mirtazapine worked however causes me to have really bad RLS so I was spending hours flip flopping around before I could finally fall asleep. A friend said to try Kratom for the RLS. It worked. I sleep great as long as I take Kratom before going to bed. The mirtazapine helped with my anorexia and I have got back into the healthy BMI range from using it. My doctor had mentioned wanting me on the mirtazapine to gain weight and sleep. (Bmi 16) I didn't realize how obsessive and weird I was about eating until the mirtazapine calmed my anxiety and fear of food down. I went from only eating yogurt and dinner to eating a healthy range of food throughout the day. This has been amazing. I feel like I'm out of crisis now. (Bmi 18.5) The relief to not constantly worry about it is immense. However I can't sleep at all without the kratom due to the RLS. I am very health conscious and don't smoke or drink or anything due to this so taking the kratom is wearing on me. I know it's not healthy. Im scared to stop the mirtazapine though. I've tapered down from 15mg to 7.5 hoping it would help with the RLS. It does not. I'm afraid if I stop the mirtazapine I'll spiral back into unhealthy eating habits and insomnia. I had mentioned the RLS before to my doctor but he was pretty dismissive which was why I went to the kratom.
If I bring up the kratom I'm worried he will think I'm a drug addict. I don't take enough to get high, it's strictly for the RLS.

I feel like I'm stuck and I don't know how to handle this.
Are there medications I can take to help with the RLS ? I was put on the mirtazapine because I can't seem to tolerate ssris. Every time I've taken them I've basically went bananas. Zero sleep and I get so wound up I eventually start acting strangely and my doctor pulls me off them. My doctor tried putting me on mood stabilizers once and then antipsychotics to counter this but said it was excessive and to avoid them because my mental health is good outside the anorexia. I am not depressed and I don't have anxiety outside the food issues since I was a child.

What would you do for me ? Do I have options?
I've stopped the kratom before without an issue and would be very relieved to do it again.

Posted Mar 8, 2026, 6:04 PM UTC

01
Loading comments…