Misc Kava

[anonymouse77]

I have been hitting instant kava powder hard the last couple of weeks and now I'm scared what will happen when I stop. I can't afford to keep this up and I don't really like the effects but I can't stop. Does anyone know what it does - as in what I should prepare for when I stop?

Hoping someone can kindly advise. Thank you for reading.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Kava has no withdrawal... purportedly.

It is not an allosteric modulator or agonist like all other GABA drugs.

It's about as addictive as cannabis. Less so, actually. Any difficulty should be psychological.

There shouldn't be any physical withdrawal symptoms.

 

[anonymouse77]

Kava has no withdrawal... purportedly.

It is not an allosteric modulator or agonist like all other GABA drugs.

It's about as addictive as cannabis. Less so, actually. Any difficulty should be psychological.

Thank you for your reply. That's a relief. Not sure what allosteric modulator is but I believe an agonist acts like the neurotransmitter?

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Thank you for your reply. That's a relief. Not sure what allosteric modulator is but I believe an agonist acts like the neurotransmitter?

Yeah, kava alkaloids are unique and aren't like other drugs.

Most kava people say it's not even addictive, which I doubt. But it certainly doesn't have a withdrawal like alcohol or benzos. It's easy to stop, other than potential mental cravings.

 

[anonymouse77]

Yeah, kava alkaloids are unique and aren't like other drugs.

Most kava people say it's not even addictive, which I doubt. But it certainly doesn't have a withdrawal like alcohol or benzos. It's easy to stop, other than potential mental cravings.

Thank you for letting me know. That is reassuring.

 

[anonymouse77]

I didn't want to make a new thread but just wanted to update to say I have been off the kava for 4 full days now and I had some awful symptoms when I was on it and when I stopped and they are less but one that is still there is the palms of my hands are now rough and weird feeling (they feel wrinkly and thick and weird when I wash them and other times) and to the point other things feel much smoother to me that I touch. I was taking on average about 50g of the powder a day for about 2 weeks so went through 650g of the powder over that time. I know this is stupid but I bought it and couldn't stop until it was gone.

I had other awful symptoms. Do you think I have done permanent damage to my body? The palm skin feeling is not getting much better but might take longer. Please don't judge.

 

[JackARoe]

Kava has no withdrawal... purportedly.

It is not an allosteric modulator or agonist like all other GABA drugs.

This is good to know. My wife sips on kava all day every day since she gave up alcohol eight years ago. She goes through 2 kg every six or seven weeks. I’ve often wondered if she is physically addicted but now this makes me feel a little bit better knowing the mechanisms. She quit for a month a few times with the help of gabapentin no problem. I’ve always wondered if this was anywhere near the level of benzos. She can get depressed sometimes, but hey can’t we all. Thanks again snafu for all your knowledge.

 

[someguyontheinternet]

After long periods of daily kava use, the only symptom that I noticed was an increase in negative ideation which did suck

 

[anonymouse77]

After long periods of daily kava use, the only symptom that I noticed was an increase in negative ideation which did suck

Sorry to hear that. That might stabilise and stop after you're off it for a long period of time. I was having some crazy emotions on it and not all good. I would get irrationally angry at someone or something from my past.

 

[somnilicious]

The rough or scaly skin is a temporary and well known symptom of high, daily, dosing of kava. It will go away completely in a few weeks time. I've taken shit tons of kava over different periods of times and never experienced withdrawal or any real symptoms upon cessation.

 

[someguyontheinternet]

Sorry to hear that. That might stabilise and stop after you're off it for a long period of time. I was having some crazy emotions on it and not all good. I would get irrationally angry at someone or something from my past.

Thanks for your kind words, honestly its been a while since I experienced that. I mostly just keep some kava extract on hand now as a "just in case" and I found that GABAergics don't always agree with me.

 

[burn out]

They call the skin problems derma if I remember right and if you just put some lotion on and lay off the kava they go away. I used to drink loads of kava and never had any withdrawal from it. It's a very strange and unique substance. The high from kava can be intense and extremely enjoyable, I've talked about this on here before but I've had experiences with kava where after drinking a strong shell I would get a rush so intense that I remember thinking "this is more enjoyable than IV heroin". However, kava is much less consistent than IV heroin. Sometimes you can drink the same amount of the same kava and the euphoria just never arrives.

 

[vlzinspace]

I didn't want to make a new thread but just wanted to update to say I have been off the kava for 4 full days now and I had some awful symptoms when I was on it and when I stopped and they are less but one that is still there is the palms of my hands are now rough and weird feeling (they feel wrinkly and thick and weird when I wash them and other times) and to the point other things feel much smoother to me that I touch. I was taking on average about 50g of the powder a day for about 2 weeks so went through 650g of the powder over that time. I know this is stupid but I bought it and couldn't stop until it was gone.

I had other awful symptoms. Do you think I have done permanent damage to my body? The palm skin feeling is not getting much better but might take longer. Please don't judge.

Oh relax my boy. Its just Kava. You will be fine in time and sleep. Nothings really permanent damage unless you misstep or really aim for it.

 

[Gaz_hmmmm]

Oh no, you have the rough and scaly skin?
It will only progress and get worse!

It’s the Papua curse!

It only effects the white man for colonising Papuan land and destroying nature!

Your hands will end up hairy and it’ll end up all over your body, to the point you end up like a werewolve like mythological creature from Papuan stories of old.
You’ll be cursed to prey on your fellow white men every third Saturday night and look like a yeti every day.

Stay strong, invest in an electric razor and make sure you chain yourself down when those Saturday’s come!

 

[anonymouse77]

They call the skin problems derma if I remember right and if you just put some lotion on and lay off the kava they go away. I used to drink loads of kava and never had any withdrawal from it. It's a very strange and unique substance. The high from kava can be intense and extremely enjoyable, I've talked about this on here before but I've had experiences with kava where after drinking a strong shell I would get a rush so intense that I remember thinking "this is more enjoyable than IV heroin". However, kava is much less consistent than IV heroin. Sometimes you can drink the same amount of the same kava and the euphoria just never arrives.

Thank you for your reply and that's so interesting. I've never tried IV anything so I can't compare but that is interesting to learn. I believe I felt some pretty strong euphoria which is what made me hooked and have to keep doing it until I had none left although that didn't happened every time I had it so you are right. In the end I was sick of the up and down and was literally gagging and bringing some up when I tried to drink it the last few times. I wouldn't rule it out again in an emergency but I'd make sure I don't have a lot on hand. I still feel really prickly and dry/uncomfortable around the neck and the palms of my hand feel thick and dry and "peppery" if that makes sense. Thanks for letting me know the skin problems should reside.

 

[anonymouse77]

Oh no, you have the rough and scaly skin?
It will only progress and get worse!

It’s the Papua curse!

It only effects the white man for colonising Papuan land and destroying nature!

Your hands will end up hairy and it’ll end up all over your body, to the point you end up like a werewolve like mythological creature from Papuan stories of old.
You’ll be cursed to prey on your fellow white men every third Saturday night and look like a yeti every day.

Stay strong, invest in an electric razor and make sure you chain yourself down when those Saturday’s come!

So creative and "funny"....

 

[anonymouse77]

Oh no, you have the rough and scaly skin?
It will only progress and get worse!

It’s the Papua curse!

It only effects the white man for colonising Papuan land and destroying nature!

Your hands will end up hairy and it’ll end up all over your body, to the point you end up like a werewolve like mythological creature from Papuan stories of old.
You’ll be cursed to prey on your fellow white men every third Saturday night and look like a yeti every day.

Stay strong, invest in an electric razor and make sure you chain yourself down when those Saturday’s come!

It wasn't just dry skin. There were other issues and I was averaging 50g of powder a day and was feeling very unwell. Your creative reply really did add a lot and was helpful though.

 

[Neuroborean]

They call the skin problems derma if I remember right and if you just put some lotion on and lay off the kava they go away. I used to drink loads of kava and never had any withdrawal from it. It's a very strange and unique substance. The high from kava can be intense and extremely enjoyable, I've talked about this on here before but I've had experiences with kava where after drinking a strong shell I would get a rush so intense that I remember thinking "this is more enjoyable than IV heroin". However, kava is much less consistent than IV heroin. Sometimes you can drink the same amount of the same kava and the euphoria just never arrives.

yeah, in my opinion kava is so unique

comparisions with alcohol or cannabis are not good, it seems a bit like both of them to an extent because they share some mechanism in a way and kavalactones/weed/alcohol are all "dirty drugs" in terms of receptor affinity (a lot of different effects) but..... it feels much cleaner than both (I hate alcohol and weed feels like shit for me since 2015, being a chronic user before..)

Kava high can get pretty pretty intense, more than kratom for me, once I developed tolerance and the honeymoon phase was over. Now I get floored by kava very easily, to the point that after my 4th shell I tend to get zombified without any will to do anything and I need to lay down and do something passive, like listening to music, I guess I'm so sensitive to GABA drugs, but the same feeling with beers or wine is not even fun in any way.
I don't know why it's so inconsistent, if it wasn't and the flavour was a bit better this would be much more popular than alcohol, but sometimes I feel that people like to feel "fucked up", like, they want to blackout and things like that, because for non-spiritual drug users being fucked up= being under the influence of a drug.

I think that's the same reason why people would prefer mdma to 6-apb, 3-fea or 3-mmc that in my opinion are superior substances compared with mdma.

 

[Neuroborean]

It wasn't just dry skin. There were other issues and I was averaging 50g of powder a day and was feeling very unwell. Your creative reply really did add a lot and was helpful though.

I feel some light cognitive deficits the day after drinking a good bowl...I prefer not to use it if I need to use my brain seriously the next day......definitely kratom is more a nootropic than kava, but only when you're on it, after using kratom all day or daily you can get some stupid cognitive deficits too... like forgetting words for some seconds. I also feel very apathetic and fatigued some days after using kava, seems to be pretty draining in terms of dopamine exhaustion, for whatever reason.

what were you feeling?

 

[anonymouse77]

I feel some light cognitive deficits the day after drinking a good bowl...I prefer not to use it if I need to use my brain seriously the next day......definitely kratom is more a nootropic than kava, but only when you're on it, after using kratom all day or daily you can get some stupid cognitive deficits too... like forgetting words for some seconds. I also feel very apathetic and fatigued some days after using kava, seems to be pretty draining in terms of dopamine exhaustion, for whatever reason.

what were you feeling?

Thank you for your reply. I will write more soon to your other reply but this one made me laugh as I watch this livestreamer who is currently in Thailand and drinks kratom all day and he frequently forgets words as he's talking and will be constantly saying "the what-do-ya-call-it" and I thought it was from the kratom. He just raves on endlessly for hours and hours. I don't watch him all the time but hate-watch him now and then.

I only had kratom properly years ago when I bought 2kg online and then didn't want to get more addicted so didn't buy more and then years later I tried to find the vendor again and couldn't and got scammed once so gave up. It's illegal here so I don't bother with it now. I do like opiates but I can't get them any more.

The kava was interesting but unpredictable as you say. I got that initial euphoria after taking it then that went and I got annoyed a lot so it swung between the two. The kind of annoyance where things from your past come up and you want to yell at the person responsible. I didn't like that effect. I've still got the dry skin and it's bad and scaly under my eyes and dry and flaky all around but I bought sweet almond oil to try to moisturise it. Also dry skin all over. When I was on it it was like I had been sprayed with pepper spray and my eyes/tears were stinging badly.