Squanch Fijian Waka - Muscle spasms and tingling

[goodtimecharlie]

Hey Guys, I have a question. Has anyone experienced persistent muscle spasms and tingling in the hands/arm after drinking Kava?

I just received my Squanch Fijian Waka (first time with this brand), and it is probably one of the best Kava's I have ever had! The effects are undeniable.

However, after drinking, my left arm spasms (subtly) all night and through the next day accompanied by tingling in my left ring and pinky finger.

I researched how more magnesium, electrolytes and potassium may be needed and adjusted my supplement intake accordingly. It has not helped and I am curious why all of the sudden this has happened after drinking Kava for years. Thanks for any insight!

 

[The Kap'n]

Hey Guys, I have a question. Has anyone experienced persistent muscle spasms and tingling in the hands/arm after drinking Kava?

I just received my Squanch Fijian Waka (first time with this brand), and it is probably one of the best Kava's I have ever had! The effects are undeniable.

However, after drinking, my left arm spasms (subtly) all night and through the next day accompanied by tingling in my left ring and pinky finger.

I researched how more magnesium, electrolytes and potassium may be needed and adjusted my supplement intake accordingly. It has not helped and I am curious why all of the sudden this has happened after drinking Kava for years. Thanks for any insight!

Could it be that your kava was so strong you ended up sleeping on your arm in an incorrect way? I've done it.

 

[goodtimecharlie]

Thanks for the reply! The spasms actually occurred before sleep and prevented me from sleeping. I'm wondering if my body simply didn't agree with the chemistry. No doubt the kava itself was strong and very enjoyable. I just never encountered this before and it is concerning.

 

[Squanch72]

I have no idea, never heard someone say that.
Before I got into Kava my mid thirties took a hard dump on me. I ended up with chronic sinusitis that causes migraines and neuroathy pains in my hands and feet. High humidity and weird pressure systems heighten the effects. I also get muscle spasms before bed like shakes in my legs then I know I am about to fall asleep.
This all happened before Kava and is still going on after Kava, but thought I would mention it

 

[The Kap'n]

Thanks for the reply! The spasms actually occurred before sleep and prevented me from sleeping. I'm wondering if my body simply didn't agree with the chemistry. No doubt the kava itself was strong and very enjoyable. I just never encountered this before and it is concerning.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. Squanch's post above alerted me to my poor memory.

That's quite strange. I've seen one other person report this in the last two years. The longer I keep up with kava, the more I realize that one kava can affect two different people in completely opposite ways. To me it sounds like something neurological, but how kava could be doing that, I'm afraid I don't have any answer for you there. My only other question is how hard were you going at kneading? Is it possible the consistency of the root being different caused you to make a change to your kneading phase?

 

[goodtimecharlie]

Thanks for the reply guys! I think it was just simply a weird reaction and certainly not something that will stop me from using Kava. It also could have been triggered by something unrelated to kava, that just happened to coincide on the same day.. who knows?

@ Kapmcrunk, I kneaded as normal, though I did use a larger amount than usual- I think about 3/4 cup of powder. Im trying a few new kavas in my rotation right now and will see what happens when I come back to it. could have been a simple fluke.

I must say though, the Squanch Kava may be one of the best I've had. I usually enjoy kava time's Ambae and N@H's Stone...to give you an idea what I deviate to usually.

 

[tutti196]

It could be rls or parkinsonism like syntoms, I know some dont want to read it but on some kava users me too, kava seems to lower the dopamin in your brain you could try a suppliment like mucuna pruriens and see if it helps

 

[The Kap'n]

It could be rls or parkinsonism like syntoms, I know some dont want to read it but on some kava users me too, kava seems to lower the dopamin in your brain you could try a suppliment like mucuna pruriens and see if it helps

I know this will sound weird, but kava actually increases AND decreases dopamine among different parts of the brain at different times. Kava has been compared to Parkinson's when consumed in MASSIVE quantities. So much so that the person can barely walk and can only shake and sorta fall around instead of put one foot in front of the other. Not had this happen this badly to me personally, but I have seen videos of people who have. They look like they're trying to mix some type of liquid dance and pop n' lock.

 

[tutti196]

Kap that barely walking is not so of a problem but this tickling sensation that you can only get rid of when you have to move that part of you body and sometimes pain is my problem its not thats only a problem on some kava but all kava for me. And yes I'm prone to rls in the first place but I have that only once a week If I drink kava I have it 15 mins after Kava for close the rest of the duration.

And as I said there are more menbers that have this problem or dont thinks its a problem because of kava.

 

[goodtimecharlie]

a few months back I had shingles triggered by trauma to my left arm...it all healed with anti virals. Maybe the nerves got agitated again somehow and coincided with the day I tried the new Kava out of coincidence. The shingles symptoms occurred on the left side and correlate with the nerve pathways. Since these new symptoms started, he spasms have stopped but I have residual noticeable Neuropathy in my left fingers as of two days later. I am also prone to RLS and have read those reports as well on kava related parkinsonism, but those seemed to have involved extracts. I put a hold on Squanch for now and am working through the frozen fresh I got off Pu'u O Hoku Ranch. I will give it a week and try the Squanch again to ensure a direct correlation. Just want to stress that the Squanch Kava is amazing, and this is simply a result of my unique body chem's reaction.

 

[tutti196]

Its definitly not only extracts you should search in this forum about parkinsonism there are some here that have this problem and rls even it says „legs“ it can very well augment into the arms and fingers anyway its the same problems what parkinsonism is about just even worse

 

[PurimGrogger]

My similar yet different experience:
Several weeks ago, I was dealing with a nerve issue between my spine and shoulder due to a shoulder injury. When having Kava and lying down during that time I was experiencing similar symptoms, where my back, shoulder and arm muscles would twitch, not entirely unlike hypnic jerks (those minor zaps before sleep - and also a cool name for a spacey psychedelic punk band*), albeit much stronger, and more unsettling and discomforting. Maybe similar to what I've read about Parkinsonism, in these instances it almost felt like while my body was relaxing, the area of the impacted nerve was still suffering from injury-related contraction, causing a clash (that band name is already taken) of sorts with the rest of the body.
Here's the thing: I was having (and enjoying) Squanch at the time, but along with a few other strong grinds, all in pretty large doses. Which is to say, I believe Squanch itself is not a root cause (a Kava-themed band* now) but rather, that strong kava may be causing these effects. I didn't only notice it happening when having Squanch, but Squanch was in rotation among others over a couple weeks. Of course, medically, I have no idea what I am talking about, but just sharing my impression and experience here. Finally, strong kava is strong kava, but I do not mean necessarily in an x% kavalactone measurement because, as we know, different KLs do different things (see, e.g. @Kapmcrunk 's post this morning here regarding bioavailability differences between different KLs).

I'll also add that as the injury healed, these symptoms were alleviated, but concurrently I also brought down the strength and dosage of what I was having, so I haven't really isolated a variable.

*One of the things I do is practice intellectual property law; steal these ideas and I will crush you.

 

[BoomKanani808]

Yup had that a few times, spasms and it was like a itch i couldn't scratch. Couldn't sleep it was miserable. This was from a kava from one of the folks thats makes it here in Hawaii. But i have had no problem with any other kava companies.

 

[BoomKanani808]

But i cant assume it was the kava, it might of been something that was out of whack with my body at the time.

 

[Krunked up Tong]

I've also been experiencing this the past couple of days. Not sure what's going on.