*Possible* shortness of breath from Kava?

[Russell Caruso]

The reason I say possible is because I get this weird, upper stomach discomfort a few hours and sometimes up to the next day after using Kava. Now, i'm not entirely sure if this is stomach related, because it results in a feeling like I can't take a deep breath. I breathe fine, I don't necessarily feel "winded" in that sense, but I have this urge where I need to breathe deeply, but can't. I can occasionally, and it's like a feeling of relief, but then that feeling comes back? I'm questioning if it's related to trapped gas, or if it's something more serious and I should take a break? I do have a history of gastritis. I'm questioning if Kava aggravates my gastritis, or if something else might be going on? I really don't know, but this has been the only downside of Kava, and I notice the higher the dose of Kava the longer this effect lasts into the next day. My diet isn't particularly good, but I only notice this effect when I have Kava. So i'm pretty positive it's related.
Has anyone else experienced this...? I know Kava is known for upsetting stomach, but it's just weird because I have never experienced Nausea from Kava, I take ginger, turmeric, and other stomach-healthy herbs daily but they don't seem to offset this feeling.
Is it only psychomatic? Is it an aggravated gastrointestinal tract? For the most part it seems benign, I still workout with this feeling, but I don't get that satisfaction from a really deep breath, if that.. makes any sense lol. It's really annoying.
Feel free to move this to the in-depth Kava discussion.

Edit: Forgot to mention that my primary method of consumption is 70% extract paste. Only a bit every night, I am not a huge consumer. This also happened when I did traditional prep.

 

[tarragon]

The reason I say possible is because I get this weird, upper stomach discomfort a few hours and sometimes up to the next day after using Kava. Now, i'm not entirely sure if this is stomach related, because it results in a feeling like I can't take a deep breath. I breathe fine, I don't necessarily feel "winded" in that sense, but I have this urge where I need to breathe deeply, but can't. I can occasionally, and it's like a feeling of relief, but then that feeling comes back? I'm questioning if it's related to trapped gas, or if it's something more serious and I should take a break? I do have a history of gastritis. I'm questioning if Kava aggravates my gastritis, or if something else might be going on? I really don't know, but this has been the only downside of Kava, and I notice the higher the dose of Kava the longer this effect lasts into the next day. My diet isn't particularly good, but I only notice this effect when I have Kava. So i'm pretty positive it's related.
Has anyone else experienced this...? I know Kava is known for upsetting stomach, but it's just weird because I have never experienced Nausea from Kava, I take ginger, turmeric, and other stomach-healthy herbs daily but they don't seem to offset this feeling.
Is it only psychomatic? Is it an aggravated gastrointestinal tract? For the most part it seems benign, I still workout with this feeling, but I don't get that satisfaction from a really deep breath, if that.. makes any sense lol. It's really annoying.
Feel free to move this to the in-depth Kava discussion.

Edit: Forgot to mention that my primary method of consumption is 70% extract paste. Only a bit every night, I am not a huge consumer. This also happened when I did traditional prep.

I can get sort of a tiny bit of what you are speaking of, but only if I am eating wrongly. You may be interested in a book called The Prime, by Kulreet Chaudhary, a neurologist who incorporates Ayurveda into her practice. The book is very interesting and tells we about the ways in which our gut influences the workings of our brain and overall state of health. This book provides simple tactics that can be employed to improve out digestion/gut health. I cannot tell you whether they work or not because I just started reading the thing. The author addresses the issue of how an unhealthy gut biome can lead one to depression, anxiety, insomnia, addictions, etc, many of the things people on this forum seem to be dealing with. This is why I am so curious to learn about how kava may affect the little critters who live in our intestines.

 

[JXL]

The reason I say possible is because I get this weird, upper stomach discomfort a few hours and sometimes up to the next day after using Kava. Now, i'm not entirely sure if this is stomach related, because it results in a feeling like I can't take a deep breath. I breathe fine, I don't necessarily feel "winded" in that sense, but I have this urge where I need to breathe deeply, but can't. I can occasionally, and it's like a feeling of relief, but then that feeling comes back? I'm questioning if it's related to trapped gas, or if it's something more serious and I should take a break? I do have a history of gastritis. I'm questioning if Kava aggravates my gastritis, or if something else might be going on? I really don't know, but this has been the only downside of Kava, and I notice the higher the dose of Kava the longer this effect lasts into the next day. My diet isn't particularly good, but I only notice this effect when I have Kava. So i'm pretty positive it's related.
Has anyone else experienced this...? I know Kava is known for upsetting stomach, but it's just weird because I have never experienced Nausea from Kava, I take ginger, turmeric, and other stomach-healthy herbs daily but they don't seem to offset this feeling.
Is it only psychomatic? Is it an aggravated gastrointestinal tract? For the most part it seems benign, I still workout with this feeling, but I don't get that satisfaction from a really deep breath, if that.. makes any sense lol. It's really annoying.

I get the same thing. I have it right now, and I haven’t had kava since yesterday. But I only ever have kava with a few drinks, and now that I’m having a drink again tonight after having kava with a few bourbons last night, the shortness of breath is back. It’s only returned with the drinks. Weird. And it’s not the first time.

I’ve noticed a strange feedback relationship between kava and the lungs. For me, it doesn’t linger in the stomach but in the lungs; I can taste it when I cough. Somehow it’s targeting the lungs.

When I searched online for kava+lungs a few weeks ago, I found a study which found that kava use can help with and/or prevent lung cancer. You can view it here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21721153

Here’s an article about it:

https://www.healthtalk.umn.edu/2014...-prevent-cigarette-smoke-induced-lung-cancer/

 

[Blinkyrocket]

I get it too, sometimes, and it makes sense. Kava inhibits Voltage Gated Sodium Channels. It does this not only in the brain but also in various smooth muscles like the diaphragm. So, it depresses the activity of the diaphragm, and this obviously means you aren’t breathing as deeply/quickly or both. However, Kava doesn’t depress the brain’s reaction to carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide is the gas responsible for the suffocation feeling.) like other depressants (benzodiazepines and opiates) do. Other depressants would depress your breathing without you ever feeling like you were suffocating. You could say this is a positive attribute of Kava, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

At the very least, it’s not a health problem. It’s just the result of Kava’s pharmacological actions. Like the guy above me said, Kava can be very beneficial to lung health.

 

[The Kap'n]

The reason I say possible is because I get this weird, upper stomach discomfort a few hours and sometimes up to the next day after using Kava. Now, i'm not entirely sure if this is stomach related, because it results in a feeling like I can't take a deep breath. I breathe fine, I don't necessarily feel "winded" in that sense, but I have this urge where I need to breathe deeply, but can't. I can occasionally, and it's like a feeling of relief, but then that feeling comes back? I'm questioning if it's related to trapped gas, or if it's something more serious and I should take a break? I do have a history of gastritis. I'm questioning if Kava aggravates my gastritis, or if something else might be going on? I really don't know, but this has been the only downside of Kava, and I notice the higher the dose of Kava the longer this effect lasts into the next day. My diet isn't particularly good, but I only notice this effect when I have Kava. So i'm pretty positive it's related.
Has anyone else experienced this...? I know Kava is known for upsetting stomach, but it's just weird because I have never experienced Nausea from Kava, I take ginger, turmeric, and other stomach-healthy herbs daily but they don't seem to offset this feeling.
Is it only psychomatic? Is it an aggravated gastrointestinal tract? For the most part it seems benign, I still workout with this feeling, but I don't get that satisfaction from a really deep breath, if that.. makes any sense lol. It's really annoying.
Feel free to move this to the in-depth Kava discussion.

Edit: Forgot to mention that my primary method of consumption is 70% extract paste. Only a bit every night, I am not a huge consumer. This also happened when I did traditional prep.

Kava has always caused an increase in GI activity for me, no matter what type I consume. I'd put my money on some gas that hasn't worked its way down from your upper digestive tract. Kava gas is one of the downsides we just have to work with.

 

[Go Krunk Yourself]

I get this, it's a combination of a few factors imo:

The Kava effects listed above.
Gastric effects.
Numbing effects from swallowing the Kava.

I have pulse oximetry device and nothing moves at all in terms of my oxygen numbers so seems fine.

Sometimes, especially after a session, I just feel like I can't get enoguh air but in all honesty a lot of that is my anxiety and over body awareness as well though.