Experiencing severe depression from kava

[Kavanaught]

I have found that the next morning after I drink kava, I wake up feeling very down with an intense feeling of depression, but it gets better after four hours. I drink about half cup medium grind root to 3 cups water between 3:00-5:00 and go to bed at around 9:00. I hate to think about quitting kava, as it plays a huge role in decreasing my night time stress level. I have tried about 25 kavas, and I feel the same for all of them. Hoping for any input, thank you.

 

[Groggy]

I have found that the next morning after I drink kava, I wake up feeling very down with an intense feeling of depression, but it gets better after four hours. I drink about half cup medium grind root to 3 cups water between 3:00-5:00 and go to bed at around 9:00. I hate to think about quitting kava, as it plays a huge role in decreasing my night time stress level. I have tried about 25 kavas, and I feel the same for all of them. Hoping for any input, thank you.

Welcome to the forums

Have you considered cutting back on the dose, 1/2 cup to 3 cups of water is really strong, maybe try a 1/4 cup and see how you feel the next day. I'd do this for a week to see if you notice an improvement.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Welcome to the forums

Have you considered cutting back on the dose, 1/2 cup to 3 cups of water is really strong, maybe try a 1/4 cup and see how you feel the next day. I'd do this for a week to see if you notice an improvement.

8 TBS in 2 hrs does seem a heavy/fast dose. Even in my heavy krunks I do a total of 6 TBS but it is stretched out over maybe 4 to 6 hours, and that's getting very krunk. Of course, we are all different and have different tolerances. But that does seem like a lot of root in a very short space of time. I'd probably overdose at that level and start getting vertigo and seeing double. I would also have to hydrate like crazy, especially the next morning, from the moment I woke up, but also in the last hour before going to bed.

 

[Kavanaught]

It sounds like I have no choice but to cut down and wish I had a lower tolerance. Believe it or not, I was drinking a full cup of powder and I was sleeping great, but it was getting too costly. Thanks for both of your input.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

It sounds like I have no choice but to cut down and wish I had a lower tolerance. Believe it or not, I was drinking a full cup of powder and I was sleeping great, but it was getting too costly. Thanks for both of your input.

not surprised you were sleeping great, but you would have to have drunk a huge amount of water to sustain that. IMO, anyway. The more kava one drinks, and the higher the concentration, i.e. the greater number of TBS of medium grind in smaller amounts of liquid, the more water one needs. That's what I found, and it's always more water than I think or expect. I also need the full 8 hours. If I only sleep 6 hours after a heavy sesh it is not good, but with 8 hours, and water before and after bed and 8 hours of sleep, I'm always fine.

Really hope it works out for you. Ideally you should get what you need at a smaller dose. 100 g a day or night or especially in a 2 hour period, that's a very large quantity.

 

[Kavanaught]

I have found that if I drink too much water, I end up getting up twice in the night to use the bathroom, but that probably beats having the depressed feeling. Thank you.

 

[Kavanaught]

I didnt drink any kava last night and am still experiencing the depressed state. Could it be residual effects from drinking it 36 hrs ago? If the half life of kava is not that long, than I would just as soon drink it again tonight.

 

[The Kap'n]

I generally hate questioning people's feelings because I realize how subjective this is, but I feel like I need to in this one case. So, go easy on me. Are you sure what you're feeling isn't sedation, and not depression? The after effects of kava can linger on into the next morning and make it hard to get going.

If you're feeling emotionally depressed 36 hours after kava, then it's most likely external.

 

[chandra]

One of the things kava does for me is bring the things I try to run from to the forefront of my mind. I go into a kind of self-reflective state and deal with the crap that I repress most of the time. Is it possible it's something like that? Something that the kava is trying to help you deal with that you don't want to look at?

 

[Kavanaught]

kapm crunk,that is a good point. Since it has been 36 hours, I question if it was the kava.

 

[Kavanaught]

chandra, for me, kava helps me to put things on the backburner for a few hrs, stuff that I keep on ruminating about over and over again.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

I didnt drink any kava last night and am still experiencing the depressed state. Could it be residual effects from drinking it 36 hrs ago? If the half life of kava is not that long, than I would just as soon drink it again tonight.

Effects and timing is a complicated nuanced thing. On the short end of the scale, I've had a lawena krunk drop out, I mean completely drop out, looked away for one secnd and looked back and it was gone, after maybe at most 20 minutes. I've had a Squanch post krunk mellow hang on for hours and hours after the last shell and every time I ever had a Dua Na Bilo sesh at night I had a wonderful euphoric mellow the next day that lasted from 4 to 6 hours after waking.

I have also felt kava effects for several days after not having any. My guess is just as it took me weeks to build up levels of kavalactones in my body for it to kick in, it would similarly take some length of time to get it all out of my system, and I'm guessing in my case that might be 2 or 3 weeks, perhaps longer, I'm not curious enough to experiment unless I have to. Or as Donnie Van Vliet once put it, "My smile is stuck, I cannot go back to Frownland."

 

[Noname]

One cup is a lot.. 3-6 tablespoons of good kava blend and strain method should get the job done.. Drink it and don't expect anything just let it do its job.and go 4-6 hours without food you can even do maybe 3 hours without food everyone is differnt.. Too full you ruin session and too hungry it may ruin session get the timing right..
Also I've heard Ppl lose kava buzz from eating and others feel it stronger after eating. Try differnt things and see what works