Well, I'm now more worried about insomnia than anxiety. I haven't slept well the last 3 nights, even thought I've started riding about 22 miles a day on my bike. The first 2, I was trying to go without the kava capsules because I wanted to make sure some things I was experiencing were actually side effects of something else (which I discussed on another thread and appears to have been the case). I wasn't able to sleep on those nights, even after using melatonin and antihistamines. Finally a few hours before my alarm was going to go off, I got desperate and used a Kava Candy. It actually worked both nights that way.
Last night, I went back on the Gaia capsules. I took 3 before dinner. Several hours later, I noticed I had a headache and some congestion, but I assume they were not related (probably due more to lack of sleep and my new exercise plan?). When I went to bed, I had a lot of anxiety hit me because I was afraid of another sleepless night, even after taking the capsules (since all the other stuff I typically use hasn't been working). At the time I wasn't sure if it was the capsules or the anxiety, though - it felt like I had an elevated heart rate, I was shivering and couldn't relax. I considered taking a Kava Candy, but I didn't want to make things worse if it was the kava that was doing this to me, so I finally got up and took a hot bath. Then, I crawled back into bed, and got a good 4+ hours of sleep before my alarm went off. Today, I still have the headache (I'm not sure what kind of pain reliever is safe to take), and am having a hard time staying awake. I'm hoping that after my success last night, if I take 3 capsules before dinner again it will work like it used to.
I'm actually running low on my first bottle of capsules, so I ordered another one from Amazon (they even had a convenient $1 coupon last night) so I'll have something while I decide what kind of kava powder to order, and who to order it from. Someone suggested a few inexpensive options earlier in this thread, but I'm having a hard time deciding between them, or if I should go with something else. Does anyone know what kind of kava is in the Kava Candy? It seems pretty good at relaxing me, but the other ingredients may help in that.