Hey everyone! I've been looking all over the internet for answers to this question and can't find anything satisfactory, so I thought I'd try here. I hope ODD is a good spot for this, it didn't seem quite basic enough for BDD but not advanced enough for ADD either. I started taking bupropion SR about five days ago for mild/moderate depression, and it's been working well so far. I haven't been planning on using any other drugs with it because it interacts with so many things and lowers the seizure threshold, and i'm so not down to have a seizure. The one thing I have considered using with it so far is kava, although I haven't done that yet. Sometimes it's just nice to sip on some kava in the evening to chill a bit, and I would especially like to be able to do this since I just met a dude who holds kava ceremonies, and it's been a while since I've gotten to do that. I'm just concerned about the combination of bupriopion and kava because bupriopion is an NDRI and according to wikipedia, one of the kavalactones in kava is an MAO-B inhibitor. MAO-B is partially responsible for the breakdown of dopamine. To quote wikipedia:
"Desmethoxyyangonin, one of the six major kavalactones, is a reversible MAO-B inhibitor (Ki 280 nM)[23] and is able to increase dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens. This finding might correspond to the slightly euphoric action of kava."
Additionally (again from wikipedia):
"Kavain, in both enantiomeric forms, inhibits the reuptake of noradrenalin at the transporter (NAT), but not of serotonin (SERT).[25] An elevated extracellular noradrenalin level in the brain may account for the reported enhancement of attention and focus."
Has anyone had experience using kava while on bupropion? And would using kava with bupropion lead to dangerously high levels of either dopamine or norepinephrine? Can you get something like serotonin syndrome but with dopamine or norepinephrine? I was thinking that this may be a safe combination because MAO-B preferentially degrades dopamine, but is only partially responsible for it: MAO-A also degrades dopamine, in addition to serotonin and norepinephrine. I'm especially curious to know if anyone else has experience using kava while on bupropion, I can't find any info about that on the internet elsewhere. Also, is there a chance that kava would lower the seizure threshold? It seems that it may act similarly to benzos or anticonvulsants according to wikipedia. Anyway, I may try a small dose of kava sometime soon to gauge it and work my way up slowly from there if nobody has any experience with this. I've just been really wary of using any other psychoactives while on bupropion since it does interact with so much. It would be nice to be able to use kava sometimes though, especially for occasional insomnia, which may be worsened by bupropion. Thanks yall!
"Desmethoxyyangonin, one of the six major kavalactones, is a reversible MAO-B inhibitor (Ki 280 nM)[23] and is able to increase dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens. This finding might correspond to the slightly euphoric action of kava."
Additionally (again from wikipedia):
"Kavain, in both enantiomeric forms, inhibits the reuptake of noradrenalin at the transporter (NAT), but not of serotonin (SERT).[25] An elevated extracellular noradrenalin level in the brain may account for the reported enhancement of attention and focus."
Has anyone had experience using kava while on bupropion? And would using kava with bupropion lead to dangerously high levels of either dopamine or norepinephrine? Can you get something like serotonin syndrome but with dopamine or norepinephrine? I was thinking that this may be a safe combination because MAO-B preferentially degrades dopamine, but is only partially responsible for it: MAO-A also degrades dopamine, in addition to serotonin and norepinephrine. I'm especially curious to know if anyone else has experience using kava while on bupropion, I can't find any info about that on the internet elsewhere. Also, is there a chance that kava would lower the seizure threshold? It seems that it may act similarly to benzos or anticonvulsants according to wikipedia. Anyway, I may try a small dose of kava sometime soon to gauge it and work my way up slowly from there if nobody has any experience with this. I've just been really wary of using any other psychoactives while on bupropion since it does interact with so much. It would be nice to be able to use kava sometimes though, especially for occasional insomnia, which may be worsened by bupropion. Thanks yall!