Dosing schedule for medicinal kava use for anxiety?

[MikeB]

I was thinking about taking a small amount of kava every day to help with my anxiety. I suffer from anxiety sometimes and kava really helps with it.

I'd like to come up with a basic dosing scheme. I don't want to take so much that I get "krunked" or whatever, nor do I want to take enough to get knocked out and fall asleep - I just want to take enough to experience the anxiolytic effects. So I guess that means I want something "heady," right?

The main thing I'm trying to do is figure out how to time my regular medicinal kava intake with regard to meals. So if kava only lasts ~1.5-2 hours if consumed on an empty stomach, how should I time it along with meals to last throughout the day? It would be nice to see something like:

===
Wake up: take 1 Tbsp of Kava
1 hour later: eat breakfast

1 hour before lunch: take another 1 Tbsp of kava
1 hour later: eat lunch

1 hour before dinner: take another 1 Tbsp of kava
1 hour later: eat dinner
===

Has anyone tried something like this before? I would like to get on a regular "routine", if you will.

 

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

You might think of taking a smaller dose even more frequently if you have to. Start off by trying to find your lowest effective dose, if a teaspoon will work and lasts for a few hrs then you can take another dose a few hrs after your first one.
Some will drink a strong brew at night and still have the anxiolytic effects the next morning, even though the krunked feeling is gone the anxiolytic effects feeling is still there for some people. This is what it's all about when you are looking for your dosing for what ever it is your using kava for. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions, aloha.

Chris

 

[Deleted User01]

@MikeB. I like your thinking on Kava for Anxiety. Do you really have anxiety early in the morning or does it start later than that? The reason I say that is you want to wait till the last minute to take your dose so you don't feel sleepy later. Also, a good dose of Nene at night will make you feel somewhat sedated or mellow the next morning. At least it does that for me. It may take a few days of nitecaps to get there. So maybe the "afterglow" can get you thru most of the morning and then take a dose before lunch to get you thru the rest of the day without feeling sleepy. It's liking drinking beer early in the day, you want to avoid the washed out feeling that comes later. Let us know what schedule and dose worked for you. I'm interested in that. I may even copy it.

I like your idea of not necessarily trying to get Krunk. Kava is good medicine and you have to find the right dose. Getting Krunk accomplishes little for me except wanting to lay down on the couch. And in some cases, that is the prescription. "Take 4 tablespoons of Micro, lay down on the couch, and forget about it."

 

[kavadude]

Mike, you're going to have to experiment. I think @Vekta doses as infrequently as once a week. Many report a multi-day anxiolytic effect, hopefully you will be one of them.

 

[Roaddog]

I some times take a small kava, during the day, but generally wait till evenings. I find I struggle to get motivated on an early day kava. Much love. Roaddog....

 

[yepimonfire]

Next day anxiolytic effects work best with heavier kavas. And in my experience heavy kavas are the worst for daytime use. I'd drink something like boroguru at night and something like fiji waka during the day. As much as I like them, again in my experience, GHK kavas don't do much for my anxiety, however your experience may vary. Waka is a good balance, not heavy and sedating to the extreme, but not all heady either.
If you did decide heady kavas work well, frequent small doses seem to work best given they seem to wear off in a couple hours.
More something you'd have to experiment with.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD

 

[Steve T]

I guess it depends on the person. I drink kava at night, rarely during the day.

When I'm working I'm either too busy to be anxious , or I'm flat out stressed but it's to be expected. IMO when you finish your work or day that is when you need a refuge and an anxiety-free zone. If you're anxious all night it just feels horrible: you can't relax and enjoy yourself, the night passes quickly, you just count the minutes until the next stressful morning, and your sleep is effected make you more stressed. And during the day, just knowing that you can definitely relax once you get home reduces anxiety. Therefore that is when I get krunk. Just knowing you have the safety net works for me. And as many have said here, the anxiolytic effects also persist through the next day.

Daytime drinking works for a lot of people here. I just don't find a tiny glass of kava to be effective, and then to have to worry about driving, farting, explaining to others why you're drinking a brown fluid, etc.

 

[Roaddog]

ya, Like I aid, I haedly ever day drink. But today, seemed like a good day for it. Sort of my day off. I feel good, right know, an hour after 3 shells. But I usualy start feeling bad about 3 hours. Then Ill take an evening kava in about 4 hours, and its all good. But at some point today, Ill have to do some laying down. That's part of a day time kava, going to need a nap. . Also Ill pay with a good evening case of Dermopathy, too. But a day time kava can be done, if that's all you have planed for the day, Kava.

Now I have heard on the islands, day time kava use, is more frequent. I have heard, that fresh kava root, is much more suitable for day time use. Unfortunately, I have not been able to try fresh. Much love. Roaddog....

 

[Vekta]

@MikeB

Kavadude is correct. I have kava about once every week to week-and-a-half.

I use about 2 tbsp in around 10-16 oz of water by eyeball. It took me a while to get to this point. If you're looking to use kava once a day the one tip I'd give you is don't mix two or three different cultivars of kava until you know what's what. Kava blends are great but oh boy can it floor you depending on what's in the mojo...

Find a single cultivar that really works for you and stick with that for a while.

 

[Deleted User01]

@MikeB. Ok, I tested the theory today. I took .5 tablespoon of Mahakea at 11. Just 3 oz of water and .5 tabs and it went down really easy. Another at 2:30 and another at 4:30. That's 1.5 tablespoons in all. That might have been a little too much however because I started listening to Cheech and Chong videos on UTube at around 4:00. I'm still working and I'm feeling very good. So maybe a little less might keep you from Cheech and Chon. I will l take my Nene nitecap tonite and I will do without Kava tomorrow.

Also, you can do no better than listening to @Vektas advice. He has been around her since the old forum and he knows a thing or two. That's for Vekta. You know I don't give these out to just anyone. Yes sir, it's the world famous Frosty the Zombie Snowman Smiley Face.