Kava Dermopathy

[infraredz]

Backround
I had started consuming Kava for anxiety and insomnia problems 5 months ago. I had used it sporadically before, but not consistently enough to break through the reverse tolerance which happened 5 months ago.

I mainly used Stone, although I would more rarely use others (2nd most common was Fu'u, next to Solomon's). I blend 5tbsps of Kava in a blender with soy lechtin, let it sit overnight, then blend for 2-4 mins. After that I would strain with a nylon stocking, then wring it out and drink.

Progression
It's been exactly one week since I started to get reddish 'stretch mark' type line near my armpits along with peeling. I stopped drinking Kava that day. As the days went on, I started to feel hot or sunburned mostly on the back of my neck and shoulders. The rash started to progress over a period of two days to my entire torso and even down to the tops of my thighs and up my neck. (see attached photo at bottom for image). I was applying moisturizing lotion to the affected areas once a day and taking a multi-vitamin. It was still like this until today.

Treatment
After reading as much as I could, I decided to try to try taking Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and went out and got some along with more vitamins. I took 50mgs of the diphen. and the rash seemed to respond fairly quickly. It didn't cure it by any means, but I was getting desperate seeing as it was a week and still not better (and actually had gotten worse after ceasing kava intake). Now, the rash seems to be isolated to my armpits and the sides of my torso beneath them. I have taken a multi-vitamin as usual, but no lotion was applied today.

Questions/Hypotheticals/Comments
Is it possible that this is actually some sort of acute allergic reaction? I know that food allergies can occur at any time (ie. you could drink milk every day as a kid then have a glass one day and feel symptoms of lactose-intolerance) and I wonder if a dose-dependent allergic response is really what's happening here. The dermopathy really presented itself after I started to consume Fu'u which was incredibly finely ground. It seems that there is a general consensus that the more actual root (ie. sediment at bottom of bowl, toss and wash) you consume, the worse it will be. What is the best way to strain finely ground root? I have recently stumbled across something called a Chinois which is a very fine metal strainer, but this wouldn't allow the squeezing of the root fibers (which I believe to be important). So then, what is the best way to strain the very fine particulate found in all kavas, but mostly in finely ground ones like Fu'u?

Niacin has been proven to not help with dermopathy in Pacific natives.

Here is the quote that led me to taking some diphen:

Kava drinkers are thus sometimes recognizable by their bloodshot eyes and ulcerous skin. These symptoms occasionally are wrongly diagnosed as ichtyosarcotoxism, or ciguatera (fish poisoning), which is an occasional health problem in the South Pacific. Such reactions are only found in heavy drinkers and can be attributed to the properties of kava's active constituents, lactones. The lactones in kava are related to sesquiterpenical lactones - "allergens capable of causing severe eczemas... what provokes the aggressiveness of these substances is the presence of an alpha-methylene-butyrolactone group which enables them to attach themselves to the skin proteins thus easily forming complete antigens, which are responsible for the series of biological reactions, which finally lead to the state of allergy" (Benezra and Dupuis 1983). Skin lesions, called kani kani in Fiji (Frater 1952), disappear if kava consumption is reduced. Kani kani seems to affect only those drinkers susceptible to the allergens.

From "Kava, the Pacific Elixir", p.60



Attached is a photo of the Lt. lateral side of my abdomen. Other than the afore-mentioned, this is the general appearance of the reaction although in reality, the skin appears to have much more flakes and dryness.

 

[kavadude]

I recently used the rolling pin method that Piper methysticum posted on the forums and gave it a very quick run through my kava strainer (from Bula Kava House) at the end. Doing it this way cuts down on a lot of the fine particulate matter in the final drink because you don't push a lot of it out while kneading. However, I haven't tried it with any fine ground kavas.

 

[infraredz]

When you strain through the Kava strainer, I'm guessing you're left with wet root. Do you then squeeze that? That's what I was doing with the nylon (ie. I wasn't really squeezing/kneading that much, only once at the end)

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

I finally got a double lined fijian strainer, it works great. A couple weeks ago I used a nylon and noticed it let a lot more sediment through. I also got quite a bit more buzzed from it...nauseous too. I have read a few posts of people having allergic reactions to kava. It doesn't always happen from the start. There's definitely been a couple times that I've felt itchy spots on my stomach after my 1st shell...still haven't had dermopathy though.

 

[infraredz]

Where did you get the fijian strainer? I know BKH has one, but I heard a user say it let through 25% of his Fu'u...

 

[infraredz]

Interestingly enough (and ironic), Mos3z posted this an hour ago or so on the old board:

Just for reference, its been about 3 weeks now since I had kava and my skin is finally almost back to normal.
Interestingly after about 1 week off of it my skin got far worse than its ever been. crazy bad dermopathy, cracked hands, entire body flaking skin.

I wonder why it gets worse before it gets better...

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

Got my strainer from the Boutique Samoa store in southern california...i've seen them around on websites before. Before this I was using a paint strainer to squeeze...and then laying another paint strainer over a cup and pouring what i squeezed through that. Back in the day I used a nylon too and it seemed fine, but I always had chunkier grinds like Stone, Chief's Jungle and Mahakea.

 

[infraredz]

Yeah, the nylon worked well with Stone but once I got finer grinds it seemed to let significantly more sediment through. Good thing I'll actually be going through OC and can take a quick little detour off the 405. Also, you said their Kava is good in an earlier thread. What would you describe the mind/body mix as or relate to another strain? Is it potent (or at least, worth whatever price they sell it at)?

 

[sɥɐʞɐs]

It's definitely worth it to me. It's strong, 27 dollars and I don't have to pay or wait for shipping. It's my 1st experience with Fiji Waka and the closest thing I'd compare it too that I've tried would be Stone. I guess it's more of a body feeling...loose, sedating and peaceful. At higher doses it can really make your body and vision wobbly, but you smile about it.

 

[infraredz]

Yeah, that sounds like Stone to me. 27 bucks for almost 1/2 kg isn't bad at all, plus I'll get a chance to try a Fijian kava from my homeland.

The effects you describe sound exactly like Stone to me where there's that threshold where above it is almost intoxication.

 

[infraredz]

Even though it seemed to respond well to anti-histamines yesterday, today it isn't as much and it's spread to my hands.

 

[KavaGurl]

I had the exact same thing on my hands not long ago. All I did was use a very heavy moisturizer..Burt's Bees Hand Cream. That cleared it right up after only a week of use, and I hadn't stopped my kava intake.

 

[infraredz]

The peeling is way worse than it shows in the first photo. I tried moisturizing and it but like I said, it still kept spreading... I wonder if there's truth to the reports of people's skin getting better (where they keep drinking kava but start putting lotion on). In all truth, the actual reports I see of it getting better, people keep drinking kava. Weird.

 

[KavaGurl]

That IS strange...but I can see where there could be truth to it, because that's what I did..just kept drinking! lol..Maybe we need to power through it.

 

[infraredz]

Yeah, reading through threads on the old forums, a lot of people say they just start putting lotion on or taking a vitamin and it goes away without stopping drinking kava

 

[infraredz]

I spoke to two other kava drinkers today, and they too confirmed that the dermopathy gets worse after stopping. They said it takes 2 weeks to heal, and vitamin E oil in a bath or some sort of infusion applied to the skin was the best treatment.

 

[The Kap'n]

http://amzn.com/B00121UVU0

That'll fix your hands.

 

[infraredz]

Will that work for my body too? That's where most of the rash is.

Also, as an aside, the kava last night did not seem to make the condition worse, or better. I would have been surprised if it got better, but it does seem (from 5 people's anecdotal reports) that for some reason, the rash gets worse over the course of a few days once you stop. Anyone have any ideas why this is?

 

[Piper Methysticum]

I recently used the rolling pin method that Piper methysticum posted on the forums and gave it a very quick run through my kava strainer (from Bula Kava House) at the end. Doing it this way cuts down on a lot of the fine particulate matter in the final drink because you don't push a lot of it out while kneading. However, I haven't tried it with any fine ground kavas.

Kavadude that is another plus of the rolling pin method I didn't realize. The repeated dunking and wringing the kava out with the strainer cloth/trad. method will probably push more minute root particles through the cloth and into the bowl. With the rolling pin method the kavaloactones are extracted with the rolling pin so the strainer bag would only be used once as a conduit between the ziplock bag with the kava beverage and the bowl.

I got dermopathy (red dots/blotches) on my arms the worst when I was toss and washing Fu'u and Stone.

Rolling pin method demo:

 

[infraredz]

Again, I don't knead or wring kava in the traditional way, just to be extra clear. I use a blender with lecithin and then strain with a nylon stocking, then squeeze the stocking once to get all the liquid out.

Thanks though, that is quite the creative method!