Dermo from GHK Mo'i Instant? (or in general)

[MikeB]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to soon start drinking Mo'i instant a lot more regularly. I'm a bit worried about dermo. I've never gotten it before but want to keep prepared for it as I increase in frequency here.

Has anyone ever gotten dermo from Mo'i instant before, or any instant GHK sells?

How about micro?

Thank you!'

 

[Groggy]

I drank GHk everyday for three months straight, I never got dermo, I noticed my lips got dryer, but by drinking more water it solved that problem too. I was drinking med grind.

 

[MikeB]

OK nice, what cultivar was it?

 

[Groggy]

Moi, nene, hiwa. papa kea and hanakapi ai.

 

[Crunked]

I've never had any problems with GHK kava -- except I always want more

 

[MikeB]

Well good! Also, are you folks prone to dermo in general? Like have you ever gotten it from any supplier?

 

[Jonathan]

I get dermo from N@H Stone, KWK and BKH products, but only on my hands, nowhere else. I don't get any whatsoever from GHK kava, even though I have generally dry hands in the winter. GHK doesn't increase that at all, whereas others do. The worst I've gotten is from N@H Stone kava, and from BKH 11-year waka.

But like I said, hands only, nowhere else...

Don't worry about GHK in that regard.

 

[The Kap'n]

I'm prone to dermapothy and I get it from every type of kava no matter which vendor. With this in mind, when I drink GHK kava, my dermo almost goes completely non-existent. I'd say you're solid sticking with Moi.

 

[MikeB]

You guys are awesome and thanks for clearing that up.

One final question, let's say I want to be super paranoid. I'm debating between med grind, micro, and instant. In general, which of these would be least likely to give dermo? I'm asking also because I may want to venture outside of the GHK circle at some point in the future and hope I can minimize my risk.

I would guess that as a general rule, instant is least likely to lead to dermo, and med grind is most likely? It's caused by something in the non-kavalactone plant particulate matter that some strains have, right?

 

[Jonathan]

You guys are awesome and thanks for clearing that up.

One final question, let's say I want to be super paranoid. I'm debating between med grind, micro, and instant. In general, which of these would be least likely to give dermo? I'm asking also because I may want to venture outside of the GHK circle at some point in the future and hope I can minimize my risk.

I would guess that as a general rule, instant is least likely to lead to dermo, and med grind is most likely? It's caused by something in the non-kavalactone plant particulate matter that some strains have, right?

This is not empirical, and some may disagree, but I'd say instant and micro are more likely to lead to dermo, because you're ingesting essentially the whole root (depending on how it's made of course). That's just my experience though. I think it has to do mostly with the makas, because I never get any hint of dermo from GHK micro products, and he removes the makas before grinding into micro.

 

[Edward]

From what I have read on this good forum dermo is related to how much makas you get in your finished product. I may have read that wrong though. I've drunk med grind and in the early days wasn't straining so good. I got a strong flavour and a more powerful effect but also more upset stomach. Since I've been straining med grind better it's been better on my stomach for sure. I've never had dermo anyway but only been drinking for about 6 months now. I think most instants are made from either fresh juice or prepped kava so I suppose they're not all created equal. If you want the convenience of instant and the piece of mind that you know what's in it why not make your own? Have a look at my thread. I would guess that out of anyone GHK instants are going to be extremely high quality.

 

[Crunked]

IMHO true instant (dehydrated kava juice) or medium grind (strained) would be the least likely to cause dermo (providing they are definitely Noble). Micronised is just finely ground root (except for GHK which is made using a special process to have the makas removed). Ordinary micronised from other vendors, or dry root that is not strained, i.e. toss-n-wash, is the most likely to cause dermo and tudei is the most likely of all, as well as having other very undesirable effects.

 

[kavadude]

@MikeB My personal opinion is that dermopathy is basically a result of dose + frequency of kava consumption. I have gotten it from drinking only instant in the past.

This is the best paper I know of on dermopathy: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/ijd.12546/

The thrust of it is that kavalactones (which we would hope are present in kava of any brand/preparation type) are most likely responsible for kava dermopathy. The other proposition is that it may be related to specific gene mutations -- which would explain why some people on here never seem to encounter it.

I prefer med grind simply for cost effectiveness, since I have never found instant or micronized to help me avoid side effects (and in fact micronized causes me some GI issues).