muscle twitching day after drinking kava

[hypnos]

I've noticed that sometimes, the day after I drink a strong mug full of kava, my arm or leg will start twitching. I used to experience this type of twitching a year ago, usually as one of the symptoms of a panic attack. This time, though, there's nothing like a panic attack, just the twitching. Does anyone else experience this?

 

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

I have never experienced this, did you get your kava from a good vendor? It might be something else and not the kava or if it was from a junk vendor then it might be the kava. I hope that you are able to figure this out. Aloha.

Chris

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

Sometimes I have a random twitch or sudden jerk. Nothing continuous, just a one-shot.
I've read stories of over-indulgence by the islanders that results in some kind of shaking...but that's while they have been drinking massive amounts, not the next day.
Once I got a friend of mine heavily rooted on some strong stuff once, and it gave her a temporary slow moving head-bob. Parkinson's-esque. When I googled to see if I could find any info about it, I did come across a couple rare instances of a similar thing happening. Also warningS against parkinson's patients using kava.
...and there's a small percentage of people who acquire permanent parkinson's-like movements from certain medications.

 

[blindy107]

Something about increased patellar movement as well. I feel like I have that on occasion now. My left leg will bob while I'm standing still. Like bouncing on my toes but not quite.

 

[August West]

I tend to make my grog quite thick, resulting in dehydration due to lack of enough water consumption. my legs get quite achy, especially in the patella region, if I don't remind myself to drink plenty of water throughout the day. (i drink entirely too much coffee too) personally, I also sleep like a rock after drinking kava, which occasionally causes knots and soreness due to sleeping on one body part all night without readjusting.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

Can't say I've ever had twitching or jerking, wither during a drinking session or the next day. I've had spastic-speech (reordering of words) when feeling foggy the next morning, though.

 

[Wigman]

Are you on an SSRI, by any chance? Or an atypical like Wellbutrin?

 

[hypnos]

Are you on an SSRI, by any chance? Or an atypical like Wellbutrin?

Yeah, I take fluoxetine.

 

[faubel]

Yeah, I take fluoxetine.

That'll do it. I'm taking a mild mix of antidepressants and using kava gave me muscle spasms...kind of like twitches but enough to make me suddenly move my leg or arm or torso. I dropped the 5mg fluoxetine from my mix (for reasons independent of kava use) and the twitches are much less noticeable.

 

[2Intense]

Some diuretics can lower your magnesium level. Could kava be the type that does? Any doctors in the house? I know low Magnesium levels will cause cramps and twitches. I supplement Magnesium Glycinate every other day to help with cramps. Without question the hydration battle is constant for kava drinkers.

 

[50ShadesOfKava]

I notice some muscle tension, rather than twitches, and certain strains can make my nerves feel on end. I tend to take calcium zinc magnezium before and after drinking kava as its a mild muscle relaxant. Sometimes I add potassium to the mix as well. All good for calming nerves / muscles. Your electrolyte level could also drop from all the urination in our Nation. Do you find this with only certain strains or just kava in general?

 

[Wigman]

Yeah, I take fluoxetine.

As I understand it, even though SSRI's are supposed to act on serotonin, they also affect dopamine levels because serotonin modulates dopamine. Too little dopamine can cause tremors, spasms, and other motor control issues (Parkinson's, tardive dyskinesia, etc.). You may have noticed this when you first started on fluoxetine, before your body adjusted to the medication.

Several kavalactones act on dopamine levels, also, lowering and raising the concentration depending on dosage. I'd be willing to bet that there is a chemotype out there that will greatly reduce this effect, but since it seems like we really don't know the exact actions of the kavalactones, it's difficult to make any recommendations (and I can't remember at the moment which one is supposed to exhibit the most dopamine antagonism). The weird thing is that MAO-B inhibitors, which some of the lactones are believed to be, should help with the twitching.

If you decide to keep drinking kava, keep us updated on which strains affect the twitching! I'm super interested in this sort of thing, and it's helpful knowledge for shellers everywhere, as a huge number of folks are prescribed SSRI's (including my girlfriend, which is one of the reasons I did so much research on this particular subject to begin with).

 

[cellowars]

This sounds exactly like conversion disorder (CD). CD is a psychiatric condition where a person has abnormal movements, convulsions, and/or catatonia in response to severe anxiety. I have it myself, and it seems to be responding well to lithium treatment.

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