An anxiety ridden new kava user needs your help..

[kl.Synaptik]

Hello everyone!

I'm new to kava and new to the site and I'm so glad I stumbled across this forum via Kavasseur. What a great wealth of knowledge you have accumulated here. Kudos to you all!

My main motivation for wanting to try kava is my anxiety. General and social. It has really affected how I have related to my family, friends and co-workers over the years - all in a negative way. I've tried SSRIs as prescribed from my doc, but it made it worse. I could get a script for benzos, but I do NOT want to become dependant so I have made that a non-option. Alcohol has become my medication. I would consider myself a binge drinker, with these binges usually accompanying some sort of social event. This self-medicating obviously has just made things worse in the long run. My goal is to remove that dependence with altering my lifestyle drastically. And part of that shift includes giving kava a serious chance to help me to achieve that goal.

I decided to go with Malekula Magic from Vanuatu Kava Store, mostly due to Douglas's raving review on the subject. With that in mind, and also the fact that it's not a heavy handed kava like WOW or SI, I thought it would be a great introduction for me to the world Kava. I read the negative reviews of VKS along with the positive, and decided to go for it. Of course, it would be too easy to simply order and receive. I need to pay via Paypal and after receiving a very quick response to my query I found out they are under a 'compliance review' with them which was to be completed yesterday, but alas, Paypal is still not available on their site.

So this brings me to the ultimate purpose of this thread:

Are there any other strains that are well known to quell anxieties exceptionally well?
Have you used MM from VKS for your anxiety? Should I wait them out and hope Paypal is relisted as a payment option? Is it worth it?
How has Kava in general helped your anxieties? Please share your stories

I should add that I am from Canada and as it stands now N@H is not an option for me, sadly.

Thanks so much for your time and sorry this ended up being so long (smiley: tongue)

 

[kl.ericm53]

kavabyrex.com Great product, reasonable prices and ships to Canada

 

[kl.alohasteve]

In my experience, kava has been very effective at combating my moderate social anxiety. I've dealt with moderate SA my entire life but I've never been medicated for it. Kava has been incredible. It relieves most of my physical symptoms while allowing my mind to stay sharp so I can function at full capacity in situations that would otherwise leave me frozen or locked up with nerves. I've used it before job interviews, public speaking, and other social events that might trigger anxiety with great results (I've gotten jobs, won debates, etc.) The only downside is that I've been told it mellows me out a little too much, so friends tell me that I need to be a little more emotional (in the public speaking context).



Kava is definitely not a cure-all, specifically for me it hasn't been too effective at treating my insomnia. But I definitely can say that it works for social anxiety.

 

[kl.Synaptik]

Thanks for your replies guys



@ericm53 - I poked around the site last week and with the good reviews I've read, it definitely looks promising. Which ones do you recommend? Thanks for your help in my quest to find the right one for me to start off with



@alohasteve - Thank you muchly for sharing your experiences. I, too, have dealt with SA most of my life. But 'dealt' really isn't an appropriate word to describe it, though, is it? 'Struggle' would be more fitting lol How you describe kava helping you is exactly what I'm looking for. Have there been any strains in particular that been more effective than others? One other thing I heard about was that regular kava use could potentially ease the anxiety in general as well; not solely just using kava prior to those certain occasions. Have you ever heard of that or seen a change in yourself since you started drinking kava?



Please don't get me wrong, steve, I totally understand and do not expect kava to be the cure-all of my problems, but there seem to be so many beneficial uses that I can't help but get so excited!!

 

[kl.Synaptik]

Update: Vanuatu Kava Store once again has PayPal as a payment option!! Just ordered. Malekula Magic here we come! I just hope I'm not one of the statistics of looong ship times and non-existent support.. I have faith all will be well

 

[Prince Philip]

For me, the best therapeutic kava is Tongan. It "Tongs." With that in mind, I recommend mixing the kava at 150% of what Kava By Rex recommends. Since Nakamal@home is no longer doing Tongan, Rex may be the best source, especially if he's doing Tongan White in Hawaiian soil. Even if it's imported from Tonga (and especially if it is), $25 a pound is damned cheap for anything that Tongan.



That being said, therapeutic kava should be filed away into the theory-only section. If you drink kava to cope, it will be a constant reminder that you have bad shit to cope with. Don't. Drink kava to experience deep pleasure. If your mind says, "I need kava," then give it kava, but hopefully as you become a daily kavassuer your mind will simply way, "I want kava, I like kava, can it be kava time now, please?" I forget I have PTSD about 90% of the time I drink kava, which is awesome compared to forgetting about PTSD about 0% of the time I was taking SSRI's and/or benzodiazapam for it.

 

[kl.Synaptik]

That's funny you mention Tongan, Philip.. I ordered some of the last batch of Tongan from N@H (I wanted to see what the fuss was about before it disappears) and having it forwarded to me via MyUS.com. Great service. I'll keep the Tongan from KBR in mind for future orders if the Tongan catches my fancy. Thanks for the recommendation! I also have some Soloman arriving too, for when my Kava skills improve Again, I wanted to see what the fuss was about.



You bring up some very important points too. I'll definitely try to focus on alternate reasons for my kava consumption, other than just soley a coping mechanism. Valuable advice. Thanks Phil! I'm overjoyed to hear Kava helps you with your PTSD also, and that you're off the anti-depressants and benzos. Bravo!



BTW, i received my shipment of Kava Kwik from Kava Kauai and sampled some for the very first time tonight! I mixed one heaping teaspoon to one cup of water and gulped it down (directions were 1tsp to 2cups). Twenty minutes later I prepared another. Being a virgin, the effects were present, but minimal. A slight numbing in the back of my throat, relaxed limbs and slight euphoria. Very chilled out though. I had a strong yearning to throw on a movie too lol I'm very excited to give it another go tomorrow evening. Hopefully later this week my Malekula Magic will show up and I can prepare a few shells up proper.

 

[kl.Synaptik]

Kava seems to be working its strange magic with my anxiety, but it's hit or miss. I think it was Douglas who said that kava hits you different on different days.. whoa, is that ever true. Some days my anxiety will be wiped clean, and on others it seems it may be elevating it. I think, though, that the days when my anxiety seems to be exacerbated by kava is when I've had a bit too much and my nausea anxiety kicks in. I abhor being nauseous. The days when it erases my anxiety my urge to socialize dramatically goes up and I become much more talkative and comfortable doing so. I'm usually pretty apprehensive, so this is a very welcome effect. My tolerance has lowered DRAMATICALLY. One shell from a Solomon batch of 1tbsp:1cup now gives me near perfect results for a good while before another is needed, whereas even 4 days ago two or three shells were needed. Just two days ago, I slammed two shells within 10mins and became very light headed and dizzy. I've found that I need to be more careful with my dosages! It's too easy to get kronked these days!



What a great adventure this has been so far. Thank You Kava. I love you And thank you all for this beautiful forum