Does anybody else take kava daily instead of a medication for depression/anxiety

[kilakila]

How long have you been taking the Ativan? .25mg is a very small dosage. What were you taking at your max? I have been a regular benzo user for a few years now, mostly Xanax and Klonopin. Kava has really helped me reduce my dependence on them, with the exception of sleep. I take them in pretty close proximity if I'm trying to get a full 8 hours of sleep. The short acting benzo gets me to sleep and the kava keeps me asleep when the Xanax wears off. This works so much better than my prior solution before finding kava, benzo + alcohol. No blackouts and I'm never concerned about whether I'll wake up after . Seriously, though, the kava keeps my benzo and alcohol use to a minimum, not optimal yet but I am getting there.

Sorry didn't get around to seeing this earlier! .5mg ativan was my max, twice a day if needed. I'm hyper sensitive to any pharmaceuticals. Went into a semi-manic state after one dose of Paxil! I don't think my seratonin is low! So no SSRIs for me, thank you. Over the past year I've been on xanax for panic attack, for a total of maybe 6 weeks, klonopin for one month and hated it, and ativan for 3 months, as needed at first but then became daily. BUT I know after I had been using it daily I was having a paradoxical reaction - it wasn't withdrawal or tolerance because within 20 minutes of taking it, I was shaking, buzzing and uber anxious. FINALLY convinced my pdoc I needed off and needed valium to stabilize me before taperingvoff completely. He finally agreed and I stopped ativan completely and take just 2mgs Valium once a day. Will stabilize on this for a couple of weeks, then start tapering. With the help of kava I think I'll be just fine. I haven't had any alcohol while on the Valium and I only have kava in the evening about 12 hours after Valium, maybe about 4 times a week. I intend to raise that amount once I'm off the Valium.
Oh yea, I'm also going to have special blood tests to determine how I metabolise pharmaceuticals as I am so sensitive. It will be helpful should I need anything in the future and probably also determine that I'm not damaging anything with kava usage.

 

[kilakila]

When I discovered kava I was near the bottom of a Valium taper, but just couldn't shake it. I got through RT with GAIA capsules, then quite benzos completely and started drinking kava daily. I haven't touched a pill since, and that was three years ago.

That gives me a whole shell-full of hope!!!!!