kl.bukukava
Kava Curious
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.
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.