Looking for the right kava

[Abbas]

So I used to drink kava about 3-4 years back. I haven't had any in quite some time until recently where a ran across a kava bar.

I have been drinking a lot of alcohol over the past few months and really want to stop. I rarely get wasted but I see my alcohol consumption as a problem. Now I'm not trying to trade one addiction for another but when I was used to drink kava I rarely drank alcohol and if I did it was typically on special occasions. And even when I was drinking kava I was partaking every single day.

I used to buy my kava from BKH and kava by Rex. I'm looking for something relaxing/anxiolytic but something that is not going to put me to sleep during the day. I would also like a more sedative kava for at night. Any recommendations would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Ligermeat]

You might like nakamal at home's solomons. It's a great balanced strain that won't put you to sleep if you keep it in moderation.

 

[verticity]

Welcome to the Forum!

Be careful quitting alcohol. If you have been drinking every day, you may experience withdrawal, and should really see a doctor about that to prevent dangerous w/d symptoms. Kava will not help you with alcohol withdrawal, because it acts in a different way in the brain, but once you are alcohol-free it can help you stay alcohol-free, because it sort of scratches the same itch. Sort of.

For anxiety-relieving strains I would recommend: Borogoru from @Gourmet Hawaiian Kava or Borongoru from @Kalm with Kava
Boron is good for anxiety, but not very sedating at all. Boro is more sedating.

 

[ThePiper]

Try Moi or Mahakea from Gourmethawaiian kava. neither of those are sedating but they have good effects for anxiety. Mahakea is more well rounded, while moi is very head-based

 

[CactusKava]

So I used to drink kava about 3-4 years back. I haven't had any in quite some time until recently where a ran across a kava bar.

I have been drinking a lot of alcohol over the past few months and really want to stop. I rarely get wasted but I see my alcohol consumption as a problem. Now I'm not trying to trade one addiction for another but when I was used to drink kava I rarely drank alcohol and if I did it was typically on special occasions. And even when I was drinking kava I was partaking every single day.

I used to buy my kava from BKH and kava by Rex. I'm looking for something relaxing/anxiolytic but something that is not going to put me to sleep during the day. I would also like a more sedative kava for at night. Any recommendations would be helpful. Thanks

Hey there, @Abbas!

Right now I've got a sale going for my Loa Lawena, which is exactly what you would want to drink at all times. I can drink it during the day or at night without any issues. Also, all Cactus Kava orders come with a free strainer bag, so you'll have everything you'll need! Check it out here:

http://cactuskava.com/product/loa-lawena-kava

 

[Abbas]

You might like nakamal at home's solomons. It's a great balanced strain that won't put you to sleep if you keep it in moderation.

Thanks I'll have to check it out. I have a lot of research to do. It's been a while since I've looked into this

 

[Abbas]

Welcome to the Forum!

Be careful quitting alcohol. If you have been drinking every day, you may experience withdrawal, and should really see a doctor about that to prevent dangerous w/d symptoms. Kava will not help you with alcohol withdrawal, because it acts in a different way in the brain, but once you are alcohol-free it can help you stay alcohol-free, because it sort of scratches the same itch. Sort of.

For anxiety-relieving strains I would recommend: Borogoru from @Gourmet Hawaiian Kava or Borongoru from @Kalm with Kava
Boron is good for anxiety, but not very sedating at all. Boro is more sedating.

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily drinking all day everyday. Some days I've been fine with a glass or two of wine at night, other days I find myself drinking liquor at 10 in the morning. I get cravings when I stop more than I get withdrawal symptoms really. Like today for instance I've had no alcohol, went for an hour long run this morning have been super productive. But now I'm craving a drink. I've never really told anyone about my "issue" or talked about it at all. Thanks for the help. My plan is to cut back slowly and then stop completely.

Thanks for the tips

 

[Abbas]

Try Moi or Mahakea from Gourmethawaiian kava. neither of those are sedating but they have good effects for anxiety. Mahakea is more well rounded, while moi is very head-based

Awesome thanks

 

[Abbas]

Hey there, @Abbas!

Right now I've got a sale going for my Loa Lawena, which is exactly what you would want to drink at all times. I can drink it during the day or at night without any issues. Also, all Cactus Kava orders come with a free strainer bag, so you'll have everything you'll need! Check it out here:

http://cactuskava.com/product/loa-lawena-kava

What are typical shipping charges?

 

[verticity]

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily drinking all day everyday. Some days I've been fine with a glass or two of wine at night, other days I find myself drinking liquor at 10 in the morning. I get cravings when I stop more than I get withdrawal symptoms really. Like today for instance I've had no alcohol, went for an hour long run this morning have been super productive. But now I'm craving a drink. I've never really told anyone about my "issue" or talked about it at all. Thanks for the help. My plan is to cut back slowly and then stop completely.

Thanks for the tips

Cutting back slowly is a wise plan. I'll tell you my own experience: I was drinking almost every day. I would go to a bar and have a few beers. Sometimes I would bring some beer home with me to drink. I didn't get really drunk, but I was drinking on average maybe 4 -6 beers per day. Then one day I just got inspired to quit. So I stopped drinking. Will power wasn't really a problem for me. I just didn't drink. I didn't sleep at all that night. I couldn't sleep for literally 4 days. I was a basket case, so I checked myself into the hospital. They gave me a shot of Valium in the ass, and then more Valium in pill form, and eventually I was able to sleep that night. I was tapered off the Valium over a couple weeks, which is the standard treatment for alcohol withdrawal, and I was like a new person. Unfortunately, due to my anxiety issues, I was put on a very low dose of Klonopin. Over the next 5 years my dose of Klonopin inched up (with doctors writing the prescriptions the whole time) until it was no longer a "very low dose" but more like "enough to sedate a hippopotamus" Getting off that stuff was harder than getting off alcohol. But I did, 5 years later. But that's another story... So what I'm trying to say is if you need Valium in a hospital setting for a few weeks to get off of alcohol, that is really not a bad thing. But I would not recommend long term use of that class of drugs (benzos)

 

[verticity]

Also you might want to try going to an AA meeting in your area. I did when I was early in sobriety, and it was helpful to have some companionship. People who know exactly what you are going through. I didn't stick with AA, because of philosophical differences, but it was a great help to me in early sobriety. You will find the people at the meetings are very understanding and non-judgmental.

 

[Edward]

At low level alcohol consumption you don't need to worry about withdrawals. Yes you'll get cravings but they get less and less over time. I don't want to enter myself in the top drinker competition but I drank nearly every day for over twenty years, less during the week but lots on the weekend but I didn't have any problems not drinking, just cravings. There's a fine line between liking a drink to unwind and alcohol dependency. Fortunately I was still just the right side of that line.

For two kavas that will suit your needs I would try Pouni Ono from KWK for daytime drinking and Borogu from KWK for the evening. Pouni is heady and not sedating at all whereas Borogu is still heady but packs a good bit of sedation afterwards. I just got the micronized of both of those and I would definitely recommend them. There are of course lots of different kavas that would suit your requirements and ultimately you'll have to find the ones that suit you best.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

I couldn't tell if someone mentioned this up there because I'm at work and there's alot haha. But I wanna mention @Abbas that you would not be trading one addiction for another... kava is in no way addictive... so don't hold your self back if you really need it one day to keep the alcohol cravings away.. you will not all of a sudden wake up addicted to kava. Thank god... so if you need to drink 6 tbsp every day for a month or two untill you get to flat ground then you can do that then you can just drop it whenever there's no issue... I used kava to help stay same after quitting an opioid and I went fucking ham at first and it saved my life. Now I drink however much I want cause I'm all leveled out lmao

 

[Abbas]

Cutting back slowly is a wise plan. I'll tell you my own experience: I was drinking almost every day. I would go to a bar and have a few beers. Sometimes I would bring some beer home with me to drink. I didn't get really drunk, but I was drinking on average maybe 4 -6 beers per day. Then one day I just got inspired to quit. So I stopped drinking. Will power wasn't really a problem for me. I just didn't drink. I didn't sleep at all that night. I couldn't sleep for literally 4 days. I was a basket case, so I checked myself into the hospital. They gave me a shot of Valium in the ass, and then more Valium in pill form, and eventually I was able to sleep that night. I was tapered off the Valium over a couple weeks, which is the standard treatment for alcohol withdrawal, and I was like a new person. Unfortunately, due to my anxiety issues, I was put on a very low dose of Klonopin. Over the next 5 years my dose of Klonopin inched up (with doctors writing the prescriptions the whole time) until it was no longer a "very low dose" but more like "enough to sedate a hippopotamus" Getting off that stuff was harder that getting off alcohol. But I did, 5 years later. But that's another story... So what I'm trying to say is if you need Valium in a hospital setting for a few weeks to get off of alcohol, that is really not a bad thing. But I would not recommend long term use of that class of drugs (benzos)

Dude that's crazy but I'm glad to here you have recovered man! And the AA thing isn't really for me.ive heard enough about it to be a little turned off. But if it comes to the point that I feel like I need to I will.

 

[Abbas]

I couldn't tell if someone mentioned this up there because I'm at work and there's alot haha. But I wanna mention @Abbas that you would not be trading one addiction for another... kava is in no way addictive... so don't hold your self back if you really need it one day to keep the alcohol cravings away.. you will not all of a sudden wake up addicted to kava. Thank god... so if you need to drink 6 tbsp every day for a month or two untill you get to flat ground then you can do that then you can just drop it whenever there's no issue... I used kava to help stay same after quitting an opioid and I went fucking ham at first and it saved my life. Now I drink however much I want cause I'm all leveled out lmao

Thanks for your insight. I look forward to getting away from alcohol. I feel so much better, productive and more energetic when I don't consume alcohol for periods of time. It's a hard cycle to break though especially because I was in hospitality for a while and those people are always partying. It's difficult to step away from that lifestyle although it will be easier now that I no longer am a bartender.

 

[Abbas]

But back on the kava subject one more question. How is the value of instant compared to medium grind root?

 

[Abbas]

At low level alcohol consumption you don't need to worry about withdrawals. Yes you'll get cravings but they get less and less over time. I don't want to enter myself in the top drinker competition but I drank nearly every day for over twenty years, less during the week but lots on the weekend but I didn't have any problems not drinking, just cravings. There's a fine line between liking a drink to unwind and alcohol dependency. Fortunately I was still just the right side of that line.

For two kavas that will suit your needs I would try Pouni Ono from KWK for daytime drinking and Borogu from KWK for the evening. Pouni is heady and not sedating at all whereas Borogu is still heady but packs a good bit of sedation afterwards. I just got the micronized of both of those and I would definitely recommend them. There are of course lots of different kavas that would suit your requirements and ultimately you'll have to find the ones that suit you best.

I have a lot of kava varieties to try. thanks for the recommendations

 

[Edward]

But back on the kava subject one more question. How is the value of instant compared to medium grind root?

I have used a lot of instant due to my job and quite honestly I think it's about the same value wise but a lot of people see the higher price and just think instant is more expensive. I use QKP from Vanuatu Kava Store via GKE and I find once I have been drinking for a few days that I only need a couple of teaspoons per shell. With med grind I need between 2 and 4 tablespoons per shell. That's a big difference. I've only just recently been trying out micronized and I think that's the way to go if you're looking for a trade off between convenience/portability, taste and price.

 

[verticity]

Dude that's crazy but I'm glad to here you have recovered man! And the AA thing isn't really for me.ive heard enough about it to be a little turned off. But if it comes to the point that I feel like I need to I will.

Ya, AA is not for everyone (including me, actually) but it's nice to know it's always there if you really need it...

 

[verticity]

What are typical shipping charges?

@Gourmet Hawaiian Kava ships for free. Most other places use Priority Mail. For example, for my most recent order from @Kalm with Kava the shipping was $9.75 (this was an order for a total of 3 lbs of kava)

(GHK uses Priority Mail for orders of 1 pound or more, too, but you don't to pay for it--or rather, the cost of shipping is rolled into the price of the kava, which is a bit higher than other places).