another newbie looking for tips

[rapunzel]

Hello. I have been lurking a bit the last couple of months since I started kava. I am looking for anxiety relief, mostly, and some relaxation. I began with the capsules and tinctures, and was able to get some ok effects (gaia), but only with ridiculous doses. And the tincture tastes like ass. Not that I ever tasted ass, but I just know that ass must taste that way.

I became convinced after searching the internet that I need to try the real deal, so I ordered some borongoru and some guava concentrate from KWK. I tried the traditional prep with the borongoru, but I'm not so sure I am doing it right. Effects were decent, but I need it to be a bit better if I am going to tolerate the taste. I am following the basic recipe provided on the KWK website using 8-12 oz slightly hot water with 3 tbs. root powder. I am chugging about 4 oz at a time and usually finishing the whole batch within a , holding my breath and nose and immediately chasing with apple juice - I am struggling the taste and apple juice is pretty good at killing it. I do get some effects, but they seem very short lived. Curious how long the experts here do the kneading step and how many rounds of wringing out the bag do you do to get the most out of the powder? It seems like I am missing something in my prep.

guava concentrate - yummy! Again, effects seem short lived, and it would be pricey to use a lot. Also, I am not sure what type of kava is in it.

Also looking on recommendations for types of kava to try other than borongoru and any advice on making this a good experience.

Overall, I think I am liking this stuff. My anxiety is improved, and I am not needing to rely on benzos much (I have a very limited supply of ativan since my doc, being responsible, just provides a bit for energency/panic attack situations). I'm not huge drinker, but it is about zero now. I know you are not supposed to mix kava and alcohol, and it just feels like alcohol would ruin the nice kava feeling anyway. I would like it to help with sleep too, but so far that has not been the case, even though i feel more relaxed.

Anyhoo - any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Groggy]

Welcome to KF. There are a few solid vendors that offer sample packs and makes trying different types of kava much easier and affordably. GHK, KWK & BKH all have them.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Hello. I have been lurking a bit the last couple of months since I started kava. I am looking for anxiety relief, mostly, and some relaxation. I began with the capsules and tinctures, and was able to get some ok effects (gaia), but only with ridiculous doses. And the tincture tastes like ass. Not that I ever tasted ass, but I just know that ass must taste that way.

I became convinced after searching the internet that I need to try the real deal, so I ordered some borongoru and some guava concentrate from KWK. I tried the traditional prep with the borongoru, but I'm not so sure I am doing it right. Effects were decent, but I need it to be a bit better if I am going to tolerate the taste. I am following the basic recipe provided on the KWK website using 8-12 oz slightly hot water with 3 tbs. root powder. I am chugging about 4 oz at a time and usually finishing the whole batch within a , holding my breath and nose and immediately chasing with apple juice - I am struggling the taste and apple juice is pretty good at killing it. I do get some effects, but they seem very short lived. Curious how long the experts here do the kneading step and how many rounds of wringing out the bag do you do to get the most out of the powder? It seems like I am missing something in my prep.

guava concentrate - yummy! Again, effects seem short lived, and it would be pricey to use a lot. Also, I am not sure what type of kava is in it.

Also looking on recommendations for types of kava to try other than borongoru and any advice on making this a good experience.

Overall, I think I am liking this stuff. My anxiety is improved, and I am not needing to rely on benzos much (I have a very limited supply of ativan since my doc, being responsible, just provides a bit for energency/panic attack situations). I'm not huge drinker, but it is about zero now. I know you are not supposed to mix kava and alcohol, and it just feels like alcohol would ruin the nice kava feeling anyway. I would like it to help with sleep too, but so far that has not been the case, even though i feel more relaxed.

Anyhoo - any suggestions would be much appreciated.

My wife got into kava this year to help with anxiety and insomnia. She didn't get any effects for the first two months except for very mild brief lessening of immediate symptoms of anxiety. However, after 2 months those immediate effects got stronger and she felt a more built up effect throught the day. After about 6 months she began to like the taste. By the end of 8 months, her anxiety and insomnia were completely gone and she loves the taste of grog.

It did a bunch of neat things for me, too, but again, it took me 2 months of daily small doses to get any effects (aside from vivid dreaming). But then once it did kick in, it fixed a bunch of problems I had, most noticably by relieving me of all of the symptoms of a life-long inflammatory disorder. Also, we both completely stopped drinking alcohol, which benefited us both. For both of us it took a long time of just slogging through, day after day, no effect, foul taste, spending what seemed like a bunch of money for nothing. But looking back, to fix what were for both of us decades long problems we'd suffered, and which had been decades in the making, the time to fix us was remarkably short and the money spent probably the best bargain we've ever known.

Of course, it's usually different for everybody, and I'm not saying everybody, or even anybod for that matter, can expect their experience to match ours in any way. But it is at least something to consider.

Kneading a bag of root usually takes me around 10 minutes, with 5 being about the shortest possible and around 15 min being the longest. It depends on the grind and cultivar. But I can knead up a 1/2 gallon at a time like I did for wife and me last night and we drank some last night and again today and there's still some in the fridge, although it went to 5 washes in total, and about 1.5 gallons total grog, out of 1.25 cups of root. Not bad. That's a lot of grog.

 

[rapunzel]

Welcome to KF. There are a few solid vendors that offer sample packs and makes trying different types of kava much easier and affordably. GHK, KWK & BKH all have them.

Thanks! I ordered a sampler from KWK today. I also order a little bitof micronized to try.

 

[rapunzel]

My wife got into kava this year to help with anxiety and insomnia. She didn't get any effects for the first two months except for very mild brief lessening of immediate symptoms of anxiety. However, after 2 months those immediate effects got stronger and she felt a more built up effect throught the day. After about 6 months she began to like the taste. By the end of 8 months, her anxiety and insomnia were completely gone and she loves the taste of grog.

It did a bunch of neat things for me, too, but again, it took me 2 months of daily small doses to get any effects (aside from vivid dreaming). But then once it did kick in, it fixed a bunch of problems I had, most noticably by relieving me of all of the symptoms of a life-long inflammatory disorder. Also, we both completely stopped drinking alcohol, which benefited us both. For both of us it took a long time of just slogging through, day after day, no effect, foul taste, spending what seemed like a bunch of money for nothing. But looking back, to fix what were for both of us decades long problems we'd suffered, and which had been decades in the making, the time to fix us was remarkably short and the money spent probably the best bargain we've ever known.

Of course, it's usually different for everybody, and I'm not saying everybody, or even anybod for that matter, can expect their experience to match ours in any way. But it is at least something to consider.

Kneading a bag of root usually takes me around 10 minutes, with 5 being about the shortest possible and around 15 min being the longest. It depends on the grind and cultivar. But I can knead up a 1/2 gallon at a time like I did for wife and me last night and we drank some last night and again today and there's still some in the fridge, although it went to 5 washes in total, and about 1.5 gallons total grog, out of 1.25 cups of root. Not bad. That's a lot of grog.

Thanks! I do see some good potential with kava, as I am getting some effects. so I will stick with it. Notably, I was having some terrible anxiety a few weeks ago. Basically waking up each morning with this awful impending sense of doom. That has stopped. Not sure is it is the kava or a coincidence - either way Ill take it. In general, my anxiety is less right now than it has been in months.

still working on prep. I am doing ok with it. I didn't realize about the multiple washes at first, so I must have wasted a lot! I don't get any mouth numbing sensation with it that I read about. Not sure if that means my prep isn't great or if it is because I chase with apple juice immediately.
I have ordered a sampler as well as micronized to try - all KWK. looking forward to trying some more!

 

[Pounigirl]

Welcome to the Kava Forums Rapunzel. For general day timey anxiety I keep going back to Ozia Original's 24 wave. It's really nice and tastes great too. For nighttime and sleeping, I'd go with Squanch's Waka. It seems to work for everybody! Good luck with your searching.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Thanks! I do see some good potential with kava, as I am getting some effects. so I will stick with it. Notably, I was having some terrible anxiety a few weeks ago. Basically waking up each morning with this awful impending sense of doom. That has stopped. Not sure is it is the kava or a coincidence - either way Ill take it. In general, my anxiety is less right now than it has been in months.

still working on prep. I am doing ok with it. I didn't realize about the multiple washes at first, so I must have wasted a lot! I don't get any mouth numbing sensation with it that I read about. Not sure if that means my prep isn't great or if it is because I chase with apple juice immediately.
I have ordered a sampler as well as micronized to try - all KWK. looking forward to trying some more!

That waking up with impending doom used to happen to my wife for years maybe 3 or 4 nights a week, then hard to get back to sleep, sometimes impossible. That did completely stop since kava, so it could be that is what's happening to you. It could be a coincidence, though in my wife's case it definitely was not. She really does not miss that experience at all. It wasn't even one thing or group of things that she could pinpoint and fight against or deal with, just "impending doom" as you put it. Very frustrating it was. To see her enjoy relief from that means all the world to me.

I threw away a ton of good root before I learned about multiple washes. Oh well. Live and learn. What can ya do, eh? As for the numbing, don't worry about it, it doesn't actually mean anything. I only get it about half the time. Depends mostly on the cultivar, IMO. And I've had great root that didn't numb and fairly mediocre root that totally numbed my mouth and throat. As I say, don't worry about that at all, just focus on what you actually feel, or rather, what you don't feel and want to avoid feeling. With the anxiolytic effect, it can be hard to prove success for kava because you can't prove a negative. That's the tricky thing about prevention. But if you can step back a little bit, after a little while, it's not hard to see, as in my wife's case, "hm, used to not drink kava, experienced frequent anxiety, started drinking kava regularly, anxiety diminished and then disappeared and has not recurred. Could be a connection."

 

[rapunzel]

Thanks again, krunkie. I did happen to not have any last night- it can be tough to get to as I have two little ones. And I happened to wake up with impending sense of doom this morning - it is beastly. So I quite inclined to stay the course and see if I continue to notice anything.

Would love for it to help with sleep. I have been having trouble falling asleep, and then waking too early. Usually, my insomnia has been waking in the middle of the night and not getting back to sleep. A lot of it is over active brain. Anything good for sleep? I am using borongoru and it doesn't seem to affect sleep for me. I know kava doesn't help sleep per se, but sounds like it can shut up the brain, which is really what I need!

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

well, the good news is that what you are suffering from are the kinds of things that kava is very good at helping with. The slightly bad news is that it will probably take some time and money to get there and it won't taste very good to you for a while.

I'm like a scratched record on this one point here at KF but again I have to mention the distinction between immediate short term effects and longer term systemic effects.

Kava's fairly lame at fixing immediate sleep problems. Few kavas will reliably perform, except for maybe Nene. Some kavas even keep people awake in the short term. One thing to remember, if using kava for sleep issues, paradoxically, do not take it right before bed. Stop drinking kava at least an hour before bed and maybe 2 or 3 hours would be even better.

However, from a longer term perspective, once your body has started responding to kava and the anxiolytic effects start to kick in, the sleep gets better and better. And then it's basically good sleep every night, if it's working for you.

One point about money, though: for short term immediate effects, that's more expensive because people typically will have to use a bunch of grind, anywhere from 2 to 4 to 6 to 8 or even more TBS to achieve immediate powerful desired effects. But for longer term systemic effects, you can get those from consuming much smaller amounts of kava, 1 or 2 TBS a day, but it takes time for the effects to build up. What my wife does is enjoy a combination of the two. She has her daily maintenance doses. But whenever she wants, she has larger amounts for short term pleasurable immediate effects, or to quell a sudden feeling of work-related anxiety or muscle or joint pain, that kind of thing.