Kava Hangover

[Jerome]

I drink a lot of kava with little to zero negative side effects. This morning I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a tank. I'm still having trouble functioning.

I didn't drink enough water last night, pretty much skipped dinner besides a couple bites of meat, and took quite a bit of kava. I haven't felt this bad since I had the flu a couple weeks back!

Yuck!

 

[The Kap'n]

The skipping dinner part is probably what got you. When I do that I feel totally 100% drained the next day.

 

[Jerome]

This is how I used to feel when I was younger, drinking kava powders of questionable origins for long hours into the night. Times have certainly changed since then. Its nice to have this wealth of information and consumer protection that didn't exist back in the late nineties.

But yeah, I bet you're right @Kapmcrunk . Should have had a good meal!

I'm a bag full of mcdonalds and advil plus a gallon of water into treatment and I'm starting to feel better. I know I'm bad if I resort to Maccas! I just realized the Aussie name for Mcdonalds is the same as the fibrous material we remove from our kava. Funny.

 

[KavaKitty]

I drink a lot of kava with little to zero negative side effects. This morning I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a tank. I'm still having trouble functioning.

I didn't drink enough water last night, pretty much skipped dinner besides a couple bites of meat, and took quite a bit of kava. I haven't felt this bad since I had the flu a couple weeks back!

Yuck!

Okay, regardless of what you're doing, NEVER skip meals and ALWAYS keep yourself hydrated. Water is your friend, and I've noticed especially with kava that it's imperative to keep yourself well hydrated. Kava is a diuretic, so it squeezes out more fluid than you'd usually expend. If you don't like water, get some water enhancer (basically just flavoring with a minimal amount of calories). And eat, always. I've suffered from anorexia in the past, and it's sometimes hard for me to remember to eat, but you really have to. Besides, eating a meal gives you a couple hours' break from the kava, because it's pretty ineffective on a full stomach.

I hope you feel better.

 

[24601]

And eat, always. I've suffered from anorexia in the past, and it's sometimes hard for me to remember to eat, but you really have to. Besides, eating a meal gives you a couple hours' break from the kava, because it's pretty ineffective on a full stomach.

Just wanted to say me too (I've been in various treatment programs for anorexia for the past year and am finally in a good place with it) and messing up my eating is something I really have to watch out for with kava.

Also me too to the original poster, I had symptoms that felt like the flu that forced me to take a 3 day break, and aside from the possibility that I was actually sick or overworked, I also didn't hydrate or eat properly. I definitely won't make that mistake again.

 

[Jerome]

Okay, regardless of what you're doing, NEVER skip meals and ALWAYS keep yourself hydrated. Water is your friend, and I've noticed especially with kava that it's imperative to keep yourself well hydrated. It's a diuretic, so it squeezes out more fluid than you'd usually expend. If you don't like water, get some water enhancer (basically just flavoring with a minimal amount of calories). And eat, always. I've suffered from anorexia in the past, and it's sometimes hard for me to remember to eat, but you really have to. Besides, eating a meal gives you a couple hours' break from the kava, because it's pretty ineffective on a full stomach.

I hope you feel better.

I promise my skipping meals has nothing to do with anorexia and I really can't speak to that illness with any knowledge. For me, fasting occasionally, usually no more than 24 hours, helps me stay at a healthy weight and does wonders for my overall feeling of well being. Humans have gone periodically without food, either willingly or unwillingly, throughout history, for as long as we've existed. I tend to believe its a western curse to feel we can't experience hunger and need to snack constantly. This and poor dietary choices may account for our obesity epidemic.

That being said, if you struggle with anorexia. By all means, don't go without food! I do not have that problem. Intermittent fasting helps me effortlessly lose belly fat if I let it build up. But, as with all things, moderation!

Just like how I should have gone with the kava last night!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[KavaKitty]

I promise my skipping meals has nothing to do with anorexia and I really can't speak to that illness with any knowledge. For me, fasting occasionally, usually no more than 24 hours, helps me stay at a healthy weight and does wonders for my overall feeling of well being. Humans have gone periodically without food, either willingly or unwillingly, throughout history, for as long as we've existed. I tend to believe its a western curse to feel we can't experience hunger and need to snack constantly. This and poor dietary choices may account for our obesity epidemic.

That being said, if you struggle with anorexia. By all means, don't go without food! I do not have that problem. Intermittent fasting helps me effortlessly lose belly fat if I let it build up. But, as with all things, moderation!

Just like how I should have gone with the kava last night!

Thanks for sharing.

I do a fruit fast every 3 months for 3 days (nothing but apples and pears and literally GALLONS of water). It helps to flush the toxins that city life allow to build up in your system, as well as getting rid of belly fat, as you said. But, being in recovery from anorexia, I cannot go with NO food, or I start that vicious cycle over again. Plus, I get "high" from starvation, if that makes any kind of sense (I'm sure anyone who's done it knows what I mean) and I don't want to feel "high" from anything. I don't even allow my kava consumption to take me to that point; I want to be clear-headed, always. But I get what you're saying about fasting and, as I said, I do it myself.

And you're right about Western culture and the whole food thing. McDonald's is the perfect example of that, and places like it. Hell, you don't even have to get out of your car.

 

[Jerome]

I do a fruit fast every 3 months for 3 days (nothing but apples and pears and literally GALLONS of water). It helps to flush the toxins that city life allow to build up in your system, as well as getting rid of belly fat, as you said. But, being in recovery from anorexia, I cannot go with NO food, or I start that vicious cycle over again. Plus, I get "high" from starvation, if that makes any kind of sense (I'm sure anyone who's done it knows what I mean) and I don't want to feel "high" from anything. I don't even allow my kava consumption to take me to that point; I want to be clear-headed, always. But I get what you're saying about fasting and, as I said, I do it myself.

And you're right about Western culture and the whole food thing. McDonald's is the perfect example of that, and places like it. Hell, you don't even have to get out of your car.

Interesting. I'd never heard of the "high" response from not eating. I can see how that could happen. There is a strange, almost pleasurable, mellowness I experience when I go a while without food. My brain becomes clearer, I don't have physical strength but my mind is more focused. But I can't go long, I like food too much!

 

[Edward]

I don't think going without food for a period of time does you too much harm (I'm talking hours not days here). Anorexia is really unpleasant and well done to anyone who has beat it and got back to "normal" eating. I often go for up to 8 hours without eating if my work pattern messes up my kava pattern. I tend to eat more in the morning and early afternoon these days and then stop until after I have had my kava in the evening. If I get a late work day I often don't have kava until 8 or 9 pm and so I'm not eating until 10 which can be a full 8 hours after my last food. Even then if I've had enough kava I don't feel like eating much and will just have a small snack. I'm at the top of my healthy weight range for my height so I haven't got too much to worry about there anyway. I'm slowly losing weight now I rarely drink alcohol anyway.

On the hangover thing it's almost always to do with hydration for me. I've been using sachets of rehydration salts that they make for when you are ill. Rather than using 6oz (200 ml) of water I mix it into a 500ml (don't know how many oz that is but a standard small drinks bottle) of water and it makes something that tastes pretty similar to a sports drink but with less total sugars and a lot cheaper.