allergic reaction not sure how to continue

[Ryanakamal]

hi everbody,
havent been here in a while but i had this happened and would really aprreciate some advice.
up untill past summer i enjoyed my kava mostly from gke but they went belly up so i had to cut down and order from overseas (shipping aaaargh)
i mostly used moi from ghk but i had many other cultivars until i tried kumakua. atr first i had some weird itch on my head in a way as it felt a bit sunburned. and i figured it was actually this. i limited myself to 1 maybe 2 times a week again because getting it over here is expensive. so i didnt really payed attention until one time i had a long session with a friend and after he left i took it to myself to drink the rest. at the moment that itchy feeling was present but not overwhelming, then i went to sleep and maybe 3-4 hours later i woke up incredibly itchy. my forehead torso upper arms as if stung by some poisonous plant really nasty stuff. it did not clear until nighttime the next day, i did not understand what happened but it went away so fixed right?
ff a week later gke sent some extract and no explanation or letter or what and why (ordered maybe 4 months ealier meduim grind) and found out over here that they went dark and they pulled the plug on their operation. i tried some and it was quite disguisting but it worked. and gave the remaining liquid to my friend who was more happy with it as i.
i had my kumakua again maybe 2 weeks later and again itchy head but this time i woke up INCREDIBLY itchy and i am no stranger to itches but i never had such a horrible itch in my life.... and to make things worse my face was swollen to the point i didnt even look like myself, all red swollen i coud see my eyebrows.. and my upper arms and torso fire red. this took 2 days to recover and by day 3 it was gone and began searching what it could be .
finally found this but due to some really bad luck and family situations i didnt feel like posting and well screw cancer..

recieved 2 pounds borugu from kalm with kava and forgot about it. until now
my question is since this borugu is from vanatu and other in chemical markup as hawaian can i cautiously proceed to see if i get no ill effects from this?
and gke only had vanatuan strains and other than dry skin i had no problems with this in years.

i to my knowledge never had an allergic reaction to anything, and during that episode i did not have any swelling of my througt or shortness of breath.
i have some cetirizine tablets my friend gave me as he thought my normal skin issues this would help but i have some cream from the doctor wich i use but the tablets say their for allergic reactions so if i try it and it happens again i can maybe use those?

i can really use some good grog and i hope somebody can give me some experience or tips.

 

[Ryanakamal]

after this jack and "cola" bender i will guinnipig myself. buy bitcoin at >-22%

 

[KrunkMunster]

allergies suck. i've heard that many people drink through mild kava allergies and they disappear, but you've got to be careful with this stuff. @KrunkMunster is our in-house expert on kava allergies

Hardly. LOL. I just pulled together existing information that others had posted.

Basically what this rash is, is a kind of hives. There's something about the kavalactones that can build up in your system and cause your immune system to have a slight reaction to them. The bad rash went away for me -- I just drank right through it. Others did this as well, and the rash went away. I will throw out a word of caution here, that it is possible for a person to have an actual food allergy to Kava, which can be quite dangerous. If you get really bad hives (very itchy, etc) and other symptoms of a food reaction, then you should probably go see a Dr ASAP. Anaphylactic shock is nothing to fool around with.

I don't get much of a rash anymore. However, occasionally I will get a minor re-occurance on my neck. I notice it most with Stone from N@H -- not sure why. I don't think there is anything bad about this variety of kava, as it is one of my favorites, but my body just seems to be a bit more sensitive to it. If the rash lasts more than a few days, I'll just cut out kava for 3-4 days and it goes away, or I'll put a bit of Hydrocortisone cream on it and it subsides.

I will also add that you might want to cut out the extracts and just stick with traditional prep and see how that works for you. I tried extracts when I first started drinking kava and I found them to really exaggerate certain aspects of Kava. For example, I thought one extract of a heady kava was excessively heady to the point of being unpleasant. I think there is something about regular medium grind kava where you get the full profile of kavalactones, etc, that seem to balance out the kava. If you want more effect, just drink more. Long run, I think you'll enjoy Kava more if you stick with this.

 

[Ryanakamal]

hmmm i see. i hope it is just that strain that gave me that reaction but the prospect of that itch and the swelling put me off not to mention going in to some shock. i will do some more research and maybe try something like putting some root on a place on my skin or something. but geeez body why kava and not something else grrrr