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Actual effects of Kava

Blinkyrocket

Kava Enthusiast
So, I've been looking around the forum and I've realized that I don't think I've gotten a full picture of kava's effects. Another member mentioned a "delay in visual processing" and that reminded me of the way the grass waving in the wind seemed to mesmerize me on that one day where I actually felt the full effects of kava, the thread "I'm a believer" explains this experience. Is this strange and cool visual effect normal? I'm wondering if once my reverse tolerance wears off, that it would go back to doing what it did that one day, or if that was an unusual experience created by a particularly strong brew.
 

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
For me, the average experience, which I don't consider the "full" experience, begins by just easing away some body tensions, lightening up my mood and reducing unnecessary thoughts...after another shell or few, I can feel my body movements becomes loose and sluggish, there's a slight, silly, wobbly buzziness in my head...behind my eyes and a deeper sense of calm with slow metered breathing. Lack of motivation for physical activity is almost always apparent. Heightened enjoyment for simple quiet relaxation.

The "full" experience is all those things, but more heightened, more enjoyable and with a more pronounced, yet rational, inebriation and a more undeniable sense of being "high". Your eyes can wiggle around, vision can lag slightly, the air on your skin feels good, stretching feels good, music sounds deeper, the world and air around you feel like a fuzzy embrace, you feel completely at peace and maybe even entertained by the strength of the effects...so much so, during the peak, there is no urge to drink more kava.

Unfortunately, I'm personally only capable of having the "full" experience a few times a year, with dry kava.

::chugger::::rootedgrin::
 
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Blinkyrocket

Kava Enthusiast
For me, the average experience, which I don't consider the "full" experience, begins by just easing away some body tensions, lightening up my mood and reducing unnecessary thoughts...after another shell or few, I can feel my body movements becomes loose and sluggish, there's a slight, silly, wobbly buzziness in my head...behind my eyes and a deeper sense of calm with slow metered breathing. Lack of motivation for physical activity is almost always apparent. Heightened enjoyment for simple quiet relaxation.

The "full" experience is all those things, but more heightened, more enjoyable and with a more pronounced, yet rational, inebriation and a more undeniable sense of being "high". Your eye's can wiggle around, vision can lag slightly, the air on your skin feels good, stretching feels good, music sounds deeper, the world and air around you feel like a fuzzy embrace, you feel completely at peace and maybe even entertained by the strength of the effects...so much so, during the peak, there is no urge to drink more kava.

Unfortunately, I'm personally only capable of having the "full" experience a few times a year, with dry kava.

::chugger::::rootedgrin::
Well, that's a shame about the infrequency of the full effects. I wonder if the people of the South Pacific enjoy a more consistent experience due to the availability of fresh kava.
 

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
Well, that's a shame about the infrequency of the full effects. I wonder if the people of the South Pacific enjoy a more consistent experience due to the availability of fresh kava.
Yeah, from my experience, strong fresh kava generally equals less negative effects and more positive effects.
It doesn't mean every night and every batch will hit you equally as strong...but in my experience, almost every night of drinking kava in Vanuatu was ideal or completely satisfying -- and almost every night of drinking dry kava since I got back has been disappointing in comparison.

I know that makes it sound like the difference is extreme...but it's not really that different, it's similar and familar, just better in all the right ways.
 

Blinkyrocket

Kava Enthusiast
That "delay in visual processing" I think is pretty normal at very high doses. I think it actually has something to do with the muscles around the eyes being paralyzed... At even higher doses, you can get blurry vision and double vision, which is annoying when it happens, but wears off pretty quickly.
Really? That's interesting, would paralyzing the muscles around the eyes cause things to become out of focus or different looking? Or would it just cause it to be hard to move your eyes?
 

verticity

I'm interested in things
Really? That's interesting, would paralyzing the muscles around the eyes cause things to become out of focus or different looking? Or would it just cause it to be hard to move your eyes?
It makes it hard to focus, but doesn't make things different looking. There must be some paralysis of the muscles inside the eye (i'm speculating here), i.e. of the muscles that focus your lenses in your eyes, that causes the blurriness, in addition to the muscles outside the eyes that make it hard to coordinate eye movements, and can in the worst case lead to double vision..
 

verticity

I'm interested in things
Alcohol can have the same effect, and apparently it has something to do with an effect on the nerves that control your eyes and eye movements, not really paralysis of the eye like I just said:
"'We think it has to do with the effects of the alcohol on the brain and the brain stem and the nerves that control your eye movements and tracking. It slows down the brain so you can't get the eyes tracking on something quickly. The time it takes to get your two eyes — their images — to fuse to give you a single image increases when you drink."...'
I bet the double vision caused by kava probably happens by a similar mechanism.
 

verticity

I'm interested in things
So it's not "paralysis" of the eyes, but, like you said in your original post, has to do with delayed visual processing... So not "paralysis" but definitely "slowing down"
 

Blinkyrocket

Kava Enthusiast
That makes sense, and what I mean by "different looking" is hard to quantify. Ah, I wish it was more fresh on my mind so I could explain it better. But, it's not like any type of hallucinogen or anything. One of the things it did was make things feel slower of course, but in a sort of way where it seems like some of the information that you're seeing isn't actually being "seen" by the brain, making for a sort of skipping effect that I've felt after drinking too much alcohol as well. It's as if the frame rate has been lowered but the speed of time and passing events has not, so you're left with less visual information being consciously "seen". This effect is very subtle with kava than it is with alcohol, of course. And there's also another effect that I can't quite put my finger on... technically, I'm not really sure if what I just described was what actually happened, it was too long ago and my memory sucks.
 
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sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
That makes sense, and what I mean by "different looking" is hard to quantify. Ah, I wish it was more fresh on my mind so I could explain it better. But, it's not like any type of hallucinogen or anything. One of the things it did was make things feel slower of course, but in a sort of way where it seems like some of the information that you're seeing isn't actually being "seen" by the brain, making for a sort of skipping effect that I've felt after drinking too much alcohol as well. It's as if the frame rate has been lowered but the speed of time and passing events has not, so you're left with less visual information being consciously "seen". This effect is very subtle with kava than it is with alcohol, of course. And there's also another effect that I can't quite put my finger on... technically, I'm not really sure if what I just described was what actually happened, it was too long ago and my memory sucks.
Things can look different because stuff gets brighter on kava due to photo-sensitivity, your pupils might dilate slightly and make colors a bit more vivid...it also seems to share a similar but much milder version of an effect that is common in many psychedelics and entactogens, which is, an increased empathy and appreciation of nature...it will make your mind believe that things you see or more beautiful or visually stunning.
 

chandra

Kava Enthusiast
My experience when I'm really feeling good on kava is almost like the perfect alcohol buzz without any negative side effects and just a cleaner feeling altogether. Relaxed, talkitive, and just happy. Also some lack of coordination. I have a hard time finding kavas that have a strong effect on me and do everything I want them to do, so part of it is just experimenting with different kavas and different doses.
 

verticity

I'm interested in things
Things can look different because stuff gets brighter on kava due to photo-sensitivity, your pupils might dilate slightly and make colors a bit more vivid...it also seems to share a similar but much milder version of an effect that is common in many psychedelics and entactogens, which is, an increased empathy and appreciation of nature...it will make your mind believe that things you see or more beautiful or visually stunning.
I don't get photo-sensitivity, but I surely get sound-sensitivity, and not necessarily in a pleasant way...
 

Blinkyrocket

Kava Enthusiast
I don't get photo-sensitivity, but I surely get sound-sensitivity, and not necessarily in a pleasant way...
Same here, It sort of sounds like sound is being reverberated against the walls of a well. And, I remember thinking that the sound of my air conditioner running sounded very "harsh". I've had a few times where drinking enough seemed to cause only the undesirable negative side effects and none of the positive effects.
 

Zac Imiola (Herbalist)

Kava Connoisseur
Usually hawaiin kava gives me HD vision when the kavain kicks it. I think kavain is extremely responsible for this.
Almost all substances have an effect on my sense of vision . HD vsion being usually the most frequent
 

VictoryRider

Kava Enthusiast
...it also seems to share a similar but much milder version of an effect that is common in many psychedelics and entactogens, which is, an increased empathy and appreciation of nature...it will make your mind believe that things you see or more beautiful or visually stunning.
Exactly.

This past Saturday I had a mix of N@H's Stone and some GHK Hanakapi. Holy crap, very strong, got to the point of having trouble
focusing, etc.

But everything I saw was drop-dead gorgeously beautiful. The way the sunset-lit trees swayed, the grass, even the houses, bathed
in that light, was just gorgeous.

A common sight, made beautifully uncommon, by kava.
 
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