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Medical uses

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KeepOnKrunkin'

Kava Enthusiast
Has the medical community fully investigated all the possible medical uses of kava yet? Is kava really physician prescribed treatment for ailments?
 

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
I believe in Germany kava is a prescription medication. It's becoming more and more studied as time goes on. It has been studied pretty intensely, but not as much as I'm sure it will be. I just hope it will remain a consumer product (dietary supplement) instead of a pharmaceutical one. It's looking good at this point.
 

infraredz

BULA!
Unfortunately they haven't investigated it fully (or as much as we would like), but I've found a few anecdotal reports of people being "prescribed" kava (most likely in the form of a gelcap extract or tincture).

There is certainly significant evidence for its anxiolytic, somnolent and local anesthetic effects, but unfortunately, most popular consumer-oriented websites (ie. webmd, drugs.com, etc) overshadow the beneficial aspects with all the hepatotoxicity nonsense. Even a significant amount of peer-reviewed articles cite renal and liver damage amongst the article, without regard to the aim of the study. Until we can have more systematic reviews addressing these claims in particular, it's unlikely it will become prescribed by any MD. Most, I would bet, would hear Kava and immediately say "Oh, you can't take that, it will ruin your liver. Here have some Xanax. What's that? Oh no, it's not addictive and has very few side effects."
 

yiki

Kava Enthusiast
I believe in Germany kava is a prescription medication
Unfortunatly, it isn't, as far as i know. Kava Pills were available before the ban, that's true. A while back the regulatory body responsible for medications reviewed all the new kava studies and came to the conclusion that there are no certain benefits to kava yet a risk for liver damage ... therefore, kava does not offer any advantages over benzos and should remain banned (i hope i remember it correctly).
 
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