Kava and Depression

[Megan]

I started taking kava to help with my anxiety, which had only started a few months ago. Now that I am through RT, and I am finally feeling the edge taken off of my anxiety I realize that my depression was right there all along, probably hidden below the more pronounced anxiety symptoms. I was diagnosed with post-partum depression 8 years ago and it has gotten worse over the years. I just got off of welbutrin 6 months ago because I thought my life circumstances had improved enough for me to be able to cope without it. I guess my question is, have any of you found that kava has helped with depression with long term use? I hate feeling sad and unable to cope with everyday life when I have so much to be happy about. I would rather not go back on anti-ds but know that may be inevitable. Thanks guys.

 

[The Kap'n]

Anxiety induced depression will see quite the improvement, but using kava for major depression alone is one I believe hasn't been studied all that thoroughly. Proceed with caution, but as always please let us know if it does help. I'd say it will, but that's just my enthusiasm for kava talking. Depression being as dynamic as it is, you never know what might help or not.

Good luck to you though, I come from a long line of depression/addiction/anxiety genetics, and kava for sure has helped me in all of those areas.

 

[Blippy5]

I think it does helps some. It will probably vary for everyone.

 

[Squanch72]

Kava has helped me so much with my life-long depression and anxiety. I stopped using any meds years ago as they never helped me. And the reason I found kava was from wanting to try Xanax. I definitely don't get the blues anymore and I don't dwell on negativity anymore. But like Kap said I wouldn't skip a prescribed drug if you really need one.
Kava is so medicinal for me that I can really feel my anxiety come back when it gets out of my system.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

Yeah kava helps with depression for me. If your already off the anti depressants, then I reccomend trying some alternate methods. Sam e is apparently amazing and even good in conjunction with anti depressants... and if you truly feel like your serotonin is the issue then try something like kanna for a few weeks and see how you feel. There are a lot of options and you could still have some residual post acute withdrawls from coming off of the antidepressants. Aka it could take a bit before your actually producing serotonin and regulating it properly on your own again.

 

[Deleted User01]

I know when I get depressed, it does help. And it carries over to the next day as well. However ... I do not think I suffer from "clinical" depression and I would always tell anyone to see a Doctor if your symptoms don't get better. One more thing, my wife was suffering from some depression and they put her on Xanax for a while. It made her feel good but she finally got off it and went to Zoloft. These are her words about Xanax, "You take one and you feel good but 2 hours later you want to take another one". This coming from someone who never took drugs or alcohol in her life. She was referring to the addictiveness of Xanax. So giving Kava a shot is the smart play but back off if your symptoms get worse and see a Dr.

 

[KavaCat]

I do suffer from depression, and it can help, but not always. In fact sometimes it makes me even worse, but usually only when the kava is wearing off, and if I'm very tired. This is an exception to the rule, as the euphoric strains usually help a ton, but I do want to warn you off being absolutely reliant on it. If you're at suicide risk, for instance, you should probably be on meds. If you're like me, and you're not going to harm yourself even without any treatment, there's nothing to do but try it and see. 95% of the time it's helpful. Get your vitamin levels checked, too, if your doc hasn't done so. A lot of vitamin deficiencies compound depression a lot. A LOT. I love taking mega doses of b vitamins... feels so great.

 

[Deleted User01]

As a fellow member, I want to give a shoutout to @Squanch72, @Mrbinx69, and @KavaCat for laying it on the line and sharing their experiences with depression. You can't buy that type of information anywhere. And it's free right here with the Brotherhood that we call "The Kava Forums".

 

[Kavakaize]

Some Kava varieties give me a huge mood lift !

 

[VictoryRider]

A while back I read a study about some European doctors that used kava as a treatement for depression. They claimed (IIRC)
that the correct dose and regularity helped their patients greatly. This was back when kava was still sort of controversial.
I don't have a URL for the article, but I'm sure a google search would find it/them.

As with anything, YMMV.

 

[KavaCat]

As a fellow member, I want to give a shoutout to @Squanch72, @Mrbinx69, and @KavaCat for laying it on the line and sharing their experiences with depression. You can't buy that type of information anywhere. And it's free right here with the Brotherhood that we call "The Kava Forums".

No no! You can totally buy it! I'll take $10. Haha.
But seriously, I don't mind talking about it. I've dealt with it on and off since I was a teenager, which makes it oddly easy to talk about. I've recently made friends with a pharmacology student who is recommending that I actually try dopamine-boosting vitamins, too. The odd thing is, one of the best ways to boost dopamine is to exercise. Guess what's required in your brain to motivate you to exercise, though? ...Dopamine.
And after he mentioned that, I do suffer all the symptoms of a dopamine deficiency. There was about a three month span a couple years back where I was doing a lot of cardio. I felt amazing, and had lost a lot of weight, but I stopped during the holidays and could never get started again. I wish I could remember what made me so damned determined to start in the first place!

 

[Steve Mariotti]

I suffer from depression. Long term life-long depression. Kava has both helped and hurt with depression. My depression is anxiety-fueled. That is, anxious worrying leads to self-reinforcing internal monologue which leads to depression. Kava can stop that first bit, which is great, but it doesn't always give me mood elevation like my anti-depressant does. I take Cymbalta daily, and it gives me a baseline mood (that still craters from time to time) whereas kava doesn't seem to *set* my mood so much as make my mood more peaceful.

If I'm dragging my ass because I'm feeling low energy and depressed, adding kava doesn't give me a lift. Even heady kava. I eventually stopped drinking it every day because after some time it felt like it was ADDING weight and all the caffeine in the world wouldn't get me to work that day.

So I've had a mixed bag. In terms of quieting the anxious voice that leads to depression, it's done WONDERS for me. As far as mood lifting, I get much better results from exercise (riding my bike, a brisk walk, epic air guitar at a metal show, a trip to the gym) than I do kava.

Sleep helps too, though with depression that can be a double edged sword too. I can tell you that if I get shitty sleep even one night, the next day can be depression hell for me. When I don't get enough rest, everything seems 100x harder and I feel like I'm at the edge of tears and about to lose my shit over the tiniest thing.

Finally, eating good vitamin-rich, protein-rich food can be the difference between escaping the depression gravity well and getting sucked in: all other things being equal.

Kava has proven to be no magic bullet in that area, but it's still pretty magical in every other way.

 

[Megan]

THANK YOU ALL <3
I think I still may be in the limbo of withdrawal from the wellbutrin because I feel like a zombie. I can't FEEL anything other than stress or a "heavy weight", as emo as that sounds. It is a horrible feeling though. It takes something huge for me to feel any real emotion, sad, mad, happy....I just feel blah all the time.
I think I am going to give it a little while to see if I can do without meds, but I will go back to them if I need to. The wellbutrin actually wasn't too bad. But I swear I lost a year of my life to celexa....I pretty much have no recollection of anything that happened while I was taking that stuff.
I agree that exercise is extremely uplifting, yoga especially has been so good to me, but with anxiety/depression it is hard to be motivated to do anything, even if you know it will pay off.
I am going to try KWK fiji loa waka as my next kava purchase as it seems like the general consensus is that it is a pretty uplifting strain.
The ability to feel less anxious (without alcohol) has been wonderful....and I feel like I have probably just hit the tip of the 'Kava Iceberg' : )

 

[Blippy5]

I'm going to double what @Steve Mariotti said about helping sometimes, but if your already down it doesn't really. Interestingly, when I'm low I feel much less affected by alcohol, kava, or drugs.

I never realized how awful alcohol way to my depression until I started kava, and stopped drinking regularly. Even if it's just in that way it helps.

 

[Mr. Kava]

I went through a time where I was on antidepressents too(first Prozac, then Celexa, Lithium, and finally Wellbutrin). And Wellbutrin had the roughest withdrawl symptoms for me ( anger, more depression, low energy). In the end, I had to own up to the fact that I live in a constant state of low level depression and anxiety. The only cure that I have found is the usual complex cocktail of better living habits: fostering good relationships, better diet, some exercise, a regular meditation routine, and some sort of spiritual practice that involves social interaction. Its always a bit of a daily struggle beneath the surface. Don't give up!

 

[Kava Steve]

I suffer from depression. Long term life-long depression. Kava has both helped and hurt with depression. My depression is anxiety-fueled. That is, anxious worrying leads to self-reinforcing internal monologue which leads to depression. Kava can stop that first bit, which is great, but it doesn't always give me mood elevation like my anti-depressant does. I take Cymbalta daily, and it gives me a baseline mood (that still craters from time to time) whereas kava doesn't seem to *set* my mood so much as make my mood more peaceful.

If I'm dragging my ass because I'm feeling low energy and depressed, adding kava doesn't give me a lift. Even heady kava. I eventually stopped drinking it every day because after some time it felt like it was ADDING weight and all the caffeine in the world wouldn't get me to work that day.

So I've had a mixed bag. In terms of quieting the anxious voice that leads to depression, it's done WONDERS for me. As far as mood lifting, I get much better results from exercise (riding my bike, a brisk walk, epic air guitar at a metal show, a trip to the gym) than I do kava.

Sleep helps too, though with depression that can be a double edged sword too. I can tell you that if I get shitty sleep even one night, the next day can be depression hell for me. When I don't get enough rest, everything seems 100x harder and I feel like I'm at the edge of tears and about to lose my shit over the tiniest thing.

Finally, eating good vitamin-rich, protein-rich food can be the difference between escaping the depression gravity well and getting sucked in: all other things being equal.

Kava has proven to be no magic bullet in that area, but it's still pretty magical in every other way.

I have to agree with Steve, but add that there are some strains that help better than others, like Hanky Paik Ai @ GHK...


@Steve Mariotti the sleep thing is a must for sleep anxiety..l. 'tis why I am so screwed up severe sleep apnea on top of severe social anxiety

 

[ILIkeBeer]

I as well have depression... which is how I found Kava. I found it when I was going through withdraws from SSRI's specifically lexapro... I got some Kava tea from the store and I tried it hearing it was good for anxiety and such... I was at work and I got completely krunked at work I could not believe how great it made me feel. The only issue for me is I think it only made me feel better when I was taking it... that is to say it is kind of like alcohol which I of course abuse, I don't know for sure but I have felt mentally good the day after taking kava as well but that could just be a coincidence.

 

[Piper Methysticum]

So much good info here it's hard to add anything. Totally agree, exercising makes me feel alive and you can't go wrong with a high quality for a mood boost. A good Waka will make me smile so I can totally see that helping with depression in some way.

 

[August West]

Withdrawal from some of those medicines sucks, really bad. I've been diagnosed with depression and hospitalized for it multiple times as a teenager. I spent my senior year of spring break in a ward.

Personally the side effects of all the meds outweighs the benefits. I also couldn't stay sober long enough to know if the medicine helped or not.

Small doses of kava help me with symptoms of depression. Heavy/regular consumption will just make me tired all the time and sickly feeling.

 

[August West]

The brain zaps are the worst. Sadly, I've withdrawn from several addictive substances many times, and the brain zaps from ssri's were psycologically the worst feeling I've had to endure.

For some, the medicine literally saves their lives. For me, I'll just deal with the blues and do my best to keep my head up. I had man boobs, feelings of asexuality, pear shaped weight gain, and my dad pointed out my thinning hair at 17 years old. My stupid doctor told me it was nothing to worry about and it would go away on its own. Luckily once I miserably tapered over six months, I went back to normal minus minimal permanent gyno.

Sometimes I wished my body would be more tolerant to the medicine, so I could find something to maybe help with the blues....but I can't take it