How much is too much?

[Cmessier]

So I am finding myself at the point where I like kava just a bit too much. Like everything else, I have to take it to extremes. Double vision, trouble walking kind of extreme. It goes away fast but I get like this fairly often anymore. I try to be careful to take it right up to that point and not get all the way there, because I freaking love to be krunked.

I know Im not physically addicted, but I dont like the way I feel on a regular basis. Mind going a million miles an hour, cant relax and enjoy a PC game or a movie except with some sort of chemical. Used to be alcohol. I really think I am at the point of kava abuse LOL.

And I have always been like this. Overdoing it on things that make me feel good. The kava isnt to blame. I am.

Anyone ever feel like you use too much to the point of abuse?

 

[The Kap'n]

I dont like the way I feel on a regular basis.

I think you may have touched on something a bit deeper. I know what this feels like, and if you don't like the way you feel on a regular basis, it may be time to see a therapist to tell someone how you feel on a 1:1 level. There's absolutely no shame in it. I do. This world is already fast paced enough for us to try to sort out, having a helping hand, to me, is just requirement for the condition of being human. Also, there are some issues kava will repair for you temporarily, like situational or social anxiety, but once the kava is gone, your baseline anxiety is still there. In these sorts of instances I'd recommend seeing a professional, as continuing to put a band-aid on a sore that doesn't heal won't do you much good in the long run. We would much rather you be happy with you

 

[Cmessier]

I think you may have touched on something a bit deeper. I know what this feels like, and if you don't like the way you feel on a regular basis, it may be time to see a therapist to tell someone how you feel on a 1:1 level. There's absolutely no shame in it. I do. This world is already fast paced enough for us to try to sort out, having a helping hand, to me, is just requirement for the condition of being human. Also, there are some issues kava will repair for you temporarily, like situational or social anxiety, but once the kava is gone, your baseline anxiety is still there. In these sorts of instances I'd recommend seeing a professional, as continuing to put a band-aid on a sore that doesn't heal won't do you much good in the long run. We would much rather you be happy with you

Ive never liked how I felt on a regular basis. Therapist wont change it. Theyd wanna give me drugs. Im going to die. Dont want to. Norhing can change that and thats actually the root of my anxiety. Kava makes it all better. Can stop thinking about it for a while and enjoy life.

 

[The Kap'n]

Ive never liked how I felt on a regular basis. Therapist wont change it. Theyd wanna give me drugs. Im going to die. Dont want to. Norhing can change that and thats actually the root of my anxiety. Kava makes it all better. Can stop thinking about it for a while and enjoy life.

A therapist wont change that for you, you're 100% right. A therapist can help YOU change that, though, through helping you better understand yourself.

Just a point of information, but a therapist doesn't prescribe drugs. They couldn't prescribe me medication if they wanted to. I personally do not take any psychotropic medication.

To answer your original question though, too much kava is when kava tells you you're drinking too much. Styes, cracking skin, 100 year old hands. Those are the signs you're drinking too much. Those of us who have been there will tell you, kava has a limit. When we approach that limit, kava will let us know it's time to stop.

 

[Cmessier]

Funny thing us.....I feel just fine. No dermo for a while...nothin. i drink a lotta water during the day.

 

[ThePiper]

Hey you are not alone. Life is rough. The mind is a beautiful thing, but it can be so unforgiving living inside of it. I try to be grateful for the gift kava brings and I think being as conscious as possible when we choose to commune with this plant is maybe key to getting the most out of it without overdoing it. Mindful shelling if you will.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Ive never liked how I felt on a regular basis. Therapist wont change it. Theyd wanna give me drugs. Im going to die. Dont want to. Norhing can change that and thats actually the root of my anxiety. Kava makes it all better. Can stop thinking about it for a while and enjoy life.

I almost wrote a post this morning today asking if there was any research on therapeutic use of kava in hospice settings.

One of the greatest gifts kava has given me is a real reconciliation with the notion of death and the passage of time (kava as the great compensation and consolation, which ties into one origin myth of kava, where kava helps console a young man's grief for the loss of his sister).

I would really like if the last couple weeks of my life were spent with good friends, family, nice strangers, just shelling and chatting and hanging out. I still don't want to die, but I feel better knowing at least I got to drink some kava first. And everything else, too, of course.

Life's nice. Maybe I'll still get a little more of it. I think I'll have some grog while I think about that. But not too much.

Gotta listen to the kava, and like the good Cap'n says: "too much kava is when kava tells you you're drinking too much."

 

[kastom_lif]

@ThePiper, mindfulness and consciousness are important. Taking care of our own minds in important.

@Cmessier, I don't presume to know what's best for you. Kava is just a tool, not a solution. If you're feeling up to it, shoot me a message or maybe join the virtual kava circle some time.

- C O N S C I O U S -

 

[Krunkaroo]

I have been limiting myself to 15-17 grams a day for the last few weeks, it took discipline but my wallet thanks me.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

I have been limiting myself to 15-17 grams a day for the last few weeks, it took discipline but my wallet thanks me.P,

so could you say that you listened to the kava and kava gave you discipline?

i think kava tells us how to drink it, but we have to listen

 

[Krunkaroo]

@Krunkie McKrunkface
Indeed. Krunking does not feel beneficial to me on work days, even if it is in the evening. Sipping on a Tongan from 12pm to 5pm allows me to enjoy my work.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

On those occasions when I have had too much kava I feel guilty, like I accidentally insulted my mother.

 

[schatz]

I just saw this post for the first time and it really struck a note with me. Lately, for the last few weeks or so I have only been binge drinking the kava on friday and saturday night. Used to spend around 300 bucks a month and felt really guilty about feeling good for the money. Now I loo forward to Friday and Saturday more and sure do enjoy my kava more. To each their own and always listen to what the kava is recommending. In a few weeks I might go back to daily, but for now this is working quite well for my needs as I tend to overdue things also, your'e not alone there.

 

[SelfBiasResistor]

I've been experiencing similar issues. The longer I've been continuously using kava the less benefits I'm getting and the more severe the side effects. It would be much more helpful for side effects to be treated as side effects and not pretend we are dealing with some kind of spirit or god. It's easy just to say use it sparingly or on weekends but for people who turned to kava to treat issues like insomnia, chronic anxiety, chronic pain, inflammatory issues or to avoid other substances like alcohol, benzos, opiates, etc that is not a very helpful solution.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

There is always the issue which people keep avoiding dealing with: The difference between immediate effects and longer term systemic effects.

there are the immediate effects of kava, which are short term, expensive, problematic, etc etc, and then there are the longer term benefits of kava, which take time and maybe not so much money, just a lot of time and patience and effort and engagement. Other than that it's just a pleasant relaxing social beverage and nothing more.

It's understandable, people want help right away, especially if they are suffering. They want something they can buy, something they can have delivered, FAST!, and take right away and cure them right away, while also making them feel super good and have no problems.

But except for a very lucky few, it just isn't going to work that way.

Yes, my wife's insomnia and anxiety got fixed, but it took months and months and months. Lots of low doses, lots of day in day out with little immediate pay-off. Even so, 6 or 7 months to fix this stuff isn't that bad when you look at how many years she suffered with it. And how nothing else worked.

I got a bunch of stuff fixed but a lot of it was stuff I didn't even know I had wrong with me and I wasn't asking kava to fix for me. I was just having good dreams from kava and wanted to see where that led.

The main problem here is kava works well as a systemic health tonic to prevent things, and there is quite a lot of data to back that up, but it's not very good at treating things in the immediate short term. What it's good at for short term is making you feel good, and not much else. All the really good health stuff takes time, and even there, it's more in the nature of prevention rather than treatment. It's hard to conceptualize getting "relief" from suffering that you never have to endure, because kava prevented it for you, yet that is what kava is good at, and that is mainly what it offers. And for a lot of the stuff it does treat, it has to unravel the gnarled knotted mess those problems have become over time, often lots of time, years, decades, and that takes .... more time.

 

[gork]

Hmm well their as a thunking spiritual side that only you can answer. Though perhaps having help processing it would help. America (for example) is rather weird. Feeling playful silly, childlike. Buhda nature. Oh no no that just won't do. (Smiling and laughing IRL): [in a over the top picard voice) Oh no no that just won't do! You can't be curius, like taco's or admit you like disney cartoons (for example) oh no no their's something clearly wrong with you! how dare you grow tired of putyface jerkness or grumblies or depressing news! I simply don't know if it's bad or not to have a KavaKava habbit. On the physical side: Eua, Akua, and 11 year waka are amazing for helping some kind of inflimation issues I have is that bad? I simply don't know. On the other hand as I geeked out about eaarlier mix of Kula+Eua+Luena(SP) lead me to a case of the funzes and goofyness at renfair and I found myself enjoying dancing and being silly with a tarvern style band. a few pople joind me. The dancer parnert and I went on to enjoy renfair a bit more before it closed swapping emails.
Are these bad good, some mix? I simply don't know that either.
I simply don't know also: do we know if kava is habit making? Coffe and some teas like Lotus tea lead to rituals and habbits around them. So it's not like just becasue something is pleasent or helpful is bad ^_^
For example It's a bad idea for me to take a bunch of asprin to help with the inflimation weirdness. As far as I know soothing type of kavas are perfectly fine for that as long as it's not doing weird things and the wallet is happy. Why not?
What I'm asking that only you can sort out is: Is it the Kava it self that's the problem? or what leads you to feel like or maybe both? I've found some lead me to a interesting and pleasent creative place, wich is fine for weby-web and art stuff. Others lead me to a yen to listen to documenteries nice music or watch silly anime, play simple computer games or check on the SO and try to cheer her up. ^_^
Maybe to much is when you find yourself having case of giggles at work over some mistake you made (I speak to experience on that one) lol Forfunatly it worked out but you never know! Watching the Electeric Perade or enjoying Space Mountain after a cup of kava is soo fun.

I suppose my: I don't like how normally feel thing is: recently sure...but that's because several different musicles, sore calvesm, glutes, lates and stomach from hitting the gym 3-4 times a week. Yeah it talks! I think it's hook fang+toothless. Some Kava's help that. ^_^

 

[Pounigirl]

Watching the Electeric Perade or enjoying Space Mountain after a cup of kava is soo fun.

Oh my gosh! That would be SO MUCH FUN! Disney World unfortunately retired the Electrical Parade! (there go my childhood memories! Sniff!) But Space Mountain is still there! I have to try this next time I need to take a second mortgage out on my house! hehe

 

[dankerzee]

I just want to say that I love the support and camaraderie I see on here. Relaxing with some GHK Boroguru this evening.
I've recently had some breakthroughs with how I feel about myself. I think the Kava helped, but I definitely needed to progress over time with how I responded to life's situations, the thoughts I would allow in my head about myself, and distancing myself from unhealthy people. It does take time and effort. Kava will never bulldoze over strong emotions like some prescriptions I've had in the past, and I appreciate that. Kava takes the edge off but I still have to learn to deal with life on my own.
I'm glad to see positive and supportive people helping each other out.

 

[Cmessier]

Yeah its awesome to see such a community here. No judgement or condescending posts. Its appreciated.

Im currently well on my way to being krunked. Playing Nees for Speed 2015. When Im too krunked to do that Ill watch Banshee and then crash. I dont go into work tomorrow till much later so I can sleep in. I accept that I abuse kava. Makes me feel better.