What's new

Dermo Dermo from low dosage and short time on Kava???

David718

Kava Curious
I see there are tons of posts about Dermo but I'm surprised to have developed it form such low dosage.

I've been using Kava for less than 2 months. 4 days a week on average. I tend to drink about 2 shells (8oz) per day. So about a tablespoon of ground root to the 8oz water with some milk. The only thing I can think of is that I'm using a blender and straining through a coarse strainer, not a fine one. Would a fine strain be the game changer?

I barely feel the kava's it's somewhat of a placebo effect I think. The Dermo is manageable but it makes me wonder what else is happening in your body and should I continue drinking...
 

Zaphod

Kava Lover
I see there are tons of posts about Dermo but I'm surprised to have developed it form such low dosage.

I've been using Kava for less than 2 months. 4 days a week on average. I tend to drink about 2 shells (8oz) per day. So about a tablespoon of ground root to the 8oz water with some milk. The only thing I can think of is that I'm using a blender and straining through a coarse strainer, not a fine one. Would a fine strain be the game changer?

I barely feel the kava's it's somewhat of a placebo effect I think. The Dermo is manageable but it makes me wonder what else is happening in your body and should I continue drinking...
I guess it is possible since everyone is different, but it took me as a newbie 6-7 months of daily microgrind use before I really hit my first dermo wall. If you are using at a level you would call placebo (i.e. not full on krunk) it seems unlikely. That said straining will definitely have a strong effect on managing dermo. What size is your strainer bag?
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
I see there are tons of posts about Dermo but I'm surprised to have developed it form such low dosage.

I've been using Kava for less than 2 months. 4 days a week on average. I tend to drink about 2 shells (8oz) per day. So about a tablespoon of ground root to the 8oz water with some milk. The only thing I can think of is that I'm using a blender and straining through a coarse strainer, not a fine one. Would a fine strain be the game changer?

I barely feel the kava's it's somewhat of a placebo effect I think. The Dermo is manageable but it makes me wonder what else is happening in your body and should I continue drinking...
Yes, you have dermo from consuming indigestible plant matter. Strain it out and the problem should go away.
 

Intrepidus_dux

Kava O.G.
Yes, you have dermo from consuming indigestible plant matter. Strain it out and the problem should go away.
Agreed. Get a better strainer and try kneading it if you can too just for some better grog. Amazon has some nylon nut milk bags for cheap and you can specify the microns you want in your search.
 

David718

Kava Curious
Thank you for the feedback. My strainer is pretty open. The kava isn't thick but I guess more root gets through than should. I'll make the recommended adjustments and see how it goes.
As far as potency goes, would kneading make it more potent Kava than using a blender for 3 minutes. I use a 16oz to 2 tbsps of root in a magic bullet. Very convenient.
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Thank you for the feedback. My strainer is pretty open. The kava isn't thick but I guess more root gets through than should. I'll make the recommended adjustments and see how it goes.
As far as potency goes, would kneading make it more potent Kava than using a blender for 3 minutes. I use a 16oz to 2 tbsps of root in a magic bullet. Very convenient.
It would be about the same, but you may be blending too much. In my krunk prep I only use the blender for maybe 30 seconds total. I then let it sit for 10 minutes. Then strain. The sitting after blending seems key.
 

David718

Kava Curious
It would be about the same, but you may be blending too much. In my krunk prep I only use the blender for maybe 30 seconds total. I then let it sit for 10 minutes. Then strain. The sitting after blending seems key.
Great advice. Thank you!!

Sounds like my magic bullet is on it's last leg, because of excessive blending, so this helps.

So to recap: Blend less, Fine strainer (for the dermo), and let it sit. I add 2oz of half/half to 14oz water.... am I forgetting anything else?

Sounds like I'm enjoying some Kava tonight(y), thanks to you. I've backed of for few days and dermo seems to have improved.
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Great advice. Thank you!!

Sounds like my magic bullet is on it's last leg, because of excessive blending, so this helps.

So to recap: Blend less, Fine strainer (for the dermo), and let it sit. I add 2oz of half/half to 14oz water.... am I forgetting anything else?

Sounds like I'm enjoying some Kava tonight(y), thanks to you. I've backed of for few days and dermo seems to have improved.
It should be allright, let us know, although any kind of blend n strain will lead to dermo unless you use a fine enough cloth bag to pour it in for the final straining.

For me it's a fairly simple equation. Toss n wash is any time you get indigestible plant mater in your stomach, and all natural methods of preparing grog yourself will involve some degree of toss n wash (I mean, it's like original sin, if you drink grog, you are to some extent a toss n washer, so no one can get on their high horse about it). And in general, more toss n wash = more likely dermo and less toss n wash = less likely dermo. The key then is keeping as much indigestible plant matter out of your grog as possible, though the digestible plant mater is quite lovely in that suspension, so it's not a simple question of keeping out all plant mater. You want the good stuff and you want to avoid the bad stuff. Luckily for us, the indigestible matter doesn't break up in grinding and kneading as much as the softer digestible matter, so filtering works to help prevent dermo, IMO. All this is IMO, I have no science to back it up, but I suspect I might be correct about this stuff, as I haven't had dermo in a year and a half now, and I drink grog all day every day.
 

muddywaters

Kava Enthusiast
I can also agree with from my own experience that more sediment consumed = higher chance of dermo. I only caught it on my hands when I integrated micro into my sessions but it hasn't progressed any further. I just deal with it, it's not like in my situation it's painful or itchy just looks bad. In fact my skin on my face and elsewhere has never been better. MY hands were always prone to getting more rough than everything else. ALways exposed to the elements, not as great circulation, add in kava and it's a perfect recipe for dermo just waiting to happen.
 
Top