Anyone ever tried kava?

[Freckles]

Has anyone ever tried taking kava for their anxiety or insomnia? If so, what was your experience with it like? Did it work for you? Did it not work?

I've tried a few different brands of kava pills from Amazon and grocery stores, which did nothing for me. Just recently I splurged and purchased a container of the real deal (since I read that the pills often don't work and it has to be the actual traditional kava drink for it to work). It still did nothing for me. I got no effect at all.

I know that a lot of people swear by kava for anxiety and insomnia.

 

[Misfits_Yoga]

I personally have had many forms of kava and don’t feel much of an effect. I also have consumed other things that have no effect on me but have strong effect on others like CBD oil. My husband loves kava tea, he gets the yogi brand. As with anything, different bodies respond in different ways. I know that’s not super helpful, but it’s just kinda the way it goes with herbs as with prescriptions, we all have unique systems and unique iterations of anxiety :/

 

[Cuchculan]

@Misfits_Yoga maybe you can answer this question. Does the body have to get used to Kava if a person has never taken it before? Something new inside their system. Maybe using 3 or 4 times a day. Kind of like anything else a person might start that is new to the body. Would it have any kind of negative effect to begin with, until it is fully in your system and the body gets used to it?

 

[Misfits_Yoga]

@Misfits_Yoga maybe you can answer this question. Does the body have to get used to Kava if a person has never taken it before? Something new inside their system. Maybe using 3 or 4 times a day. Kind of like anything else a person might start that is new to the body. Would it have any kind of negative effect to begin with, until it is fully in your system and the body gets used to it?

As far as I know, if it works, it works quickly. If not, there’s myriad reasons for that but I don’t know the specifics. Now, kava in pill form might be slower than tea or tincture, but kava isn’t like an SSRI, which does have to build up in your system and adjust your brain chemistry. So if it doesn’t do anything for you after you’ve tried a few different formats of taking it, I’d just go on and try something else. **I do remember that kava tea should be brewed with a fatty milk like coconut milk- this can help bring out the calming effect.

personally, I can’t think of any herb, vitamin, or pharmaceutical that has really helped me. I rely on accessing and shifting my ANS through breath and movement instead. Each of us will have different ways of modulating.

 

[Cuchculan]

Thank you for that. Just asking a question I thought Freckles should have asked. As she wasn't feeling great after using it. I was as curious as her as to if it was the Kava making her feel that way or not. More like some things we might take / eat and the body is not too keen on it. I did say to her that maybe her body just needed time to get used to the Kava. Bit like a person turning vegan. Cutting out all meat and eating only foods. The body was used to meat and all that kind of food. Feed it something different that it might never have had before a few times a day and at first I thought it might have an effect that may lead to feeling off. Until the body adjusts to the new intake. Not something I have ever tried myself. So no idea what it even tastes like.

 

[Misfits_Yoga]

Thank you for that. Just asking a question I thought Freckles should have asked. As she wasn't feeling great after using it. I was as curious as her as to if it was the Kava making her feel that way or not. More like some things we might take / eat and the body is not too keen on it. I did say to her that maybe her body just needed time to get used to the Kava. Bit like a person turning vegan. Cutting out all meat and eating only foods. The body was used to meat and all that kind of food. Feed it something different that it might never have had before a few times a day and at first I thought it might have an effect that may lead to feeling off. Until the body adjusts to the new intake. Not something I have ever tried myself. So no idea what it even tastes like.

It tastes like literal dirt, lol. Yeah, it’s a good question. I’m not an expert but I don’t think it’s very shocking for the system, not like switching a whole diet.

 

[Cuchculan]

If you took a bit too much would it run the stomach out of you? Sounds nice btw. Not. LOL. I won't be touching the stuff ever.

 

[Misfits_Yoga]

If you took a bit too much would it run the stomach out of you? Sounds nice btw. Not. LOL. I won't be touching the stuff ever.

Hahaha. The only negative thing I’ve heard about it other than the flavor is that your liver does have to process it out of your body. Like it doesn’t have health benefits just offers some people relaxation.

 

[Freckles]

I personally have had many forms of kava and don’t feel much of an effect. I also have consumed other things that have no effect on me but have strong effect on others like CBD oil. My husband loves kava tea, he gets the yogi brand. As with anything, different bodies respond in different ways. I know that’s not super helpful, but it’s just kinda the way it goes with herbs as with prescriptions, we all have unique systems and unique iterations of anxiety :/

Thanks for all the info, Misfits_Yoga. I'm the same as you- a lot of things that have a strong effect on others, like kava and CBD, don't work at all for me. Medications too. Nothing works for me. My therapist is making me ask the shrink about an antiobsessional med (which I didn't even know was a thing) and I really don't want to. I don't want to waste time on another med that doesn't work.

And thanks, Cuchculan, for asking questions for me. You always got my back.

I guess Cuch is asking if taking too much kava would make you sick to your stomach because when the suggested 1 tbsp dose of kava wasn't doing anything for me, I went and took 2 big heaping tablespoons and was nauseous the rest of the night. Big mistake.

And yes, Cuch, kava does taste awful. For a few days I was drinking that stuff as soon as I woke up in the morning before breakfast because supposedly it works best on an empty stomach. I wanted to take it when my stomach was empty as possible. Ugh. Choking that stuff down first thing in the morning was not fun. It took me about a half hour to finish the whole cup because it tasted so bad. I wanted to gag.

 

[Cuchculan]

Sounds like no fun at all. I am always skeptical of these products. Like I told Freckles, if they were that good, you would only be able to get via a doctor and in a chemist. Not just go out and buy them in a health food store or send away for them. i think if you had mild anxiety, I am talking very mild anxiety, it might do a little something. But it your anxiety is chronic it won't do much for you at all. I remember somebody sending me a bottle of that Bach remedy. two drops on your tongue and your anxiety is gone? Tell me another one. That was just useless. Have tried a few things over the years that just tasted horrible. Apple cider vineger. The taste off that stuff. Enough to make you want to get better so you never have to taste it again. I am just as dubious about some alternative treatments as well. If they were all that good why are they not been used by the medical world? I know they like to sell off their medication. Is worth millions to them. But when they saw CBD did work, they were quick to snap that up and turn it into something medical. If things did work it would be snapped up and made medical. Because there would be money to be made from it.

 

[Misfits_Yoga]

Yeah, I think a lot of herbal remedies have merit but are definitely hit or miss. I think some of them, like you said, can help with like regular anxiety not chronic anxiety. I honestly believe the bottom line is that any of these things, including pharmaceuticals (which are usually man-made versions of the chemicals found in these exact plants or literally already in our bodies like melatonin and distilled into higher quantities, just saying) are just little helpers to give us a push into changing out own brains. Brain plasticity and building habits and overall wellness through all kinds of lifestyle changes is where true shifts happen. Unfortunately, we’re sold so many “quick fixes” that really might give us a tiny leg up but aren’t, in the end, going to fix anything.

Freckles, I hear you about the meds, I’ve been on a bunch and honestly was so suicidal when they put me on Prozac and sleeping pills at the same time. I barely remember that year! That **** just messed me up bad. I already have a hard time accessing emotion and that just made me numb.

I think, if your doc really wants you to try something else, sit them down and tell them NO if you don’t want to and ask them to help you another way. They’re working for YOU after all. You’re paying them to help you, and so you’re entitled to ask for what you want. If they don’t wanna help, find another doctor. Learning this was so hard for me bc I’ve had such terrible experiences with doctors but my husband’s mom has been a nurse for a long time and so he usually goes to bat for me on these things.

Anyway, there are lots of ways to gently shift your lifestyle to create more support for yourself. It takes a long time, but if you’re willing to choke down kava first thing in the morning it sounds like you’re willing to dedicate yourself look up BJ Fogg’s work on Tiny Habits. He has a TED talk that sums it up nicely. He’s a good resource for adding new habits to your life that can support you in working with anxiety. You can look into things like gut health and spinal posture and things like that bc they have a bigger effect on anxiety than you might think! Hope that helps.