Having A Hard Time With Some Mental Issues & Would Seriously Appreciate Help

[kl.bukukava]

Hello. I'm here at the Kava Lounge, hoping to share experiences with regular Kava users.

I'm a young guy, early 20s. I am trying Kava in an attempt to reduce my anxiety attacks, & invasive self-conscious compulsive thoughts.

But also for recreational purposes at night. I am a former habitual opiate user, and I am currently in suboxone maintenance treatment.

So I am also interested in learning more about possible neurological interactions and synergies between Kava and Buprenorphine.

Background in psychoactive substances is vast, but the height of my use has past years ago. No longer using any illicit substances.

I currently take around 1mg of Suboxone (bupe + naloxone) and then stretches of Ambien (zolpidem) for sleep.

It can be noted that I am currently off of Ambien 4 days now, as I am waiting to fill my prescription. So I could be in a slight withdrawal.

Although I only take 5mg of Ambien each night, 10mg on the rare occasion that I am trying to get to sleep early.

I am here to find out possible problems, brain chemistry wise, when mixing kava and suboxone mainly.

I typically do not take Ambien on nights I take kava. But I must take my suboxone daily to avoid immediate withdrawal/sickness.

I usually take most of my Suboxone in the morning, under my tongue, and a pin-point sub-mg line intranasally at night.

I've been taking suboxone daily for around 1.5 years.


I have had severe anxiety all my life, and have been diagnosed with it many times by many physicians throughout my life.

Mainly it was situational anxiety, where I would clam up and often have panic attacks when with friends or at school and work.

I over think, cannot speak, and my cognition dulls, making me feel slow, afraid, over-think every muscle movement, obsess.

At home, my anxiety seems to come out of nowhere.

My body tenses up, I often hold my breath without noticing, my senses become over stimulated, and I become paranoid.

This leads to rapid heart beating, a bit of shaking, tense muscles in my lower to middle back, neck, and upper skull.

(at least i think this is caused by my anxiety, I am here to ask if kava, or something else, could be causing some of these)


The most uncomfortable and severe of these symptoms, to me, is the pressure in my skull, and the tingling at the exterior scalp.

I have obsessed over this for as far back as I can remember. However, since beginning kava, I feel like it has increased.

I am wondering if this is a byproduct of my anxiety, a byproduct of daily suboxone use, or possibly an interaction with kava.

The top of my head where I imagine my brain to be feels swollen from within, or full of pressure, squeezed, or suffocating.

This is accompanied by general cognitive fogging, a slowing of my thoughts, difficulty in pulling up information, etc.

This subsequently scares me, the muscles in my neck tense up, as do the muscles in my back.

It can progress into light headedness and sometimes a general feeling of unstability, uncoordination, shaking, etc.

I am almost legally blind by an astigmatism in my right eye, and when this all happens, my good eye sometimes (rarely) can go out of focus. (shortly)

This head pressure and these symptoms have seriously worried me all my life and when I do speak to a doctor about them, I can never remember them all.

Taking a hot shower (shocking my body?) does temporarily help relieve the head pressure, but it returns shortly after the shower.

I have had a ritual of 2-3 showers a day just to feel normal at the peak of this head pressure, for all my life.

Can this head pressure be attributed to anxiety, or does it just trigger my anxiety? Can it be attributed to suboxone, or kava, or their interaction?

The pressure was present before being on suboxone, but less so, and I have recently been dealing with it more and more it seems.


So I am here to see if anyone will help. If not, this thread/post will be a bank of these symptoms so I can return to them in the future & have them here.

Thank you for any help. I sincerely appreciate any input. This has wreaked havoc on my life and is harming my life presently. Thank you.

 

[Prince Philip]

I understand where you're coming from.


Unfortunately, I'm not sure any of us understand biochemstry enough to really help you, and if we do, we're going to err on the alarmist side to avoid being sued.


A pharmacist or doctor may be able to help.


The problem is that the domestication of kava is a bit like the domestication of a dog. While talking about "a dog" makes sense, there is so much variation within the species, as the result of breeders selecting for special traits, similar to how kava farmers have cultivated their different breeds (albeit by clonal mutation).


My best advise, which if you follow you give up the right to sue me, is to experiment with different countries-of-origin, different cultivars, different age-at-harvest, etc.

 

[uuku pi]

I feel some of the same symptom OVER thinking . My entire life people have told me to stop. lol IF I could have stopped I would have. Until I started doing the kava I was very unhappy with myself. For me the type of kava I take is very important. Borogu is the one that decreases my symptoms fast. Also the shower thing ....me tooo. Also I am an artist, I make things. Until kava I would become unable to make any decisions on or about my work.(like what to do next) .Deleted User, the term radical self-awareness is perfect. It is why most of us are here,me anyway. I now take nothing to fix myself but kava. I no longer waste so much of my time freaking out. Bukukava I feel for you buddy and I will try to think of more helpful stuff. I do think knowing we all have similar issues is helpful. Also that we have gotten better. If you keep writing so will all of us here.

 

[Prince Philip]

You might want to try getting a little religion.


I'm an Unformed Frummist.


It's sort of like being a member of a "reformed" religion, only instead of cherry-picking something existing, I'm making it up as I go along.


My favorite books are my own Holy Words, as collected in "Prince Philip: Wise Words and Golden Gaffes," Dawkins' "Ancestor's Tale," and "Kava: the Pacific Elixir." (Dawkins also has a very respectful section about Frummism in "The God Delusion," which also explains how John Frum is building his "Ultimate Boeing 747.")


It puts kava into a different cultural context then just self-medication... it's also self-meditation. Kava lets me enter into Frumspace, which may or may not be numinous, but is certainly very different than the usual state of being.

 

[jkw]

If you are using kava as an anxiolytic, there are some other herbs that will work too and might even work better.  Passion flower is supposed to be as effective as Xanax, but with no dependance or long term issues.  You can buy it in capsules and take it 2x daily.  Or a tincture of valerian root applied sublingually during periods of acute anxiety.

 

[mos3z]

i've also had amazing success with l-theanine

 

[kl.Jerome]

Have a look at the symptoms that accompany severe anxiety and panic disorder.  The swelling feeling is something I had constantly.  It was always reassuring to read that the bizarre and terrifying sensations I felt were common symptoms. 

There is an old but excellent book you may want to read called "Hope and Help for your Nerves", by Dr. Claire Weekes.  I highly recommend it. 

I was paralyzed by anxiety as well for many years and it took a lot of work to get out of it.  Kava won't be a magic bullet I'm afraid, but it does help sometimes. 

For me it was the above book, getting used to the symptoms until they started to fade, and plenty of exercise and good nutrition. Eventually you'll be able to identify your anxiety and panic and then just brush it off.  But it takes a LOT of agonizing work... 

The brain's ability to rewire itself is amazing and I do believe you can beat panic disorder. 

Good luck!