BourbonMac
I like herbs
I'm sure this has been brought up some on the forum but I only saw a few threads. I had a few questions though. So for one, I've found kava/kavalactones in general to be highly variable. One night I'll feel nothing, the next I'll feel mild sedation, then heavy sedation, then maybe immense MDMA like euphoria for 30 minutes before it turns into sedation. This will be a bit of a long read and I appreciate any answers.
I started off with micronized Loa Waka kava, unstrained (never making that mistake again... the constipation was crazy). I guess a lot of people strain micronized. TMI, sorry haha. When I passed a bowel movement it looked like some alien creature. It was just a bunch of tiny balls into one stool, meaning the unstrained micronized KWK kava slowed my gastric emptying rate/digestion quite significantly. According to their website I've had this problem mildly with the 30% extract from fijivanuakava but not as much. Some magnesium oxide will do the trick. On the micro, I'd take miralax night after night and get nowhere. This didn't happen at first, more like 2 weeks after taking it. I had upset stomach from it initially but that went away pretty quickly, and I always had ginger root on hand when my stomach did hurt and it would make it feel fine.
I generally took between 10 and 15g. The first time I took 7g and felt great, but I'd also had a 2:1 ratio caffeine/L-theanine tablet and kava inhibits the enzyme for breaking down caffeine, so there was this added euphoria to it. They synergize generally well together at a lower dose of kava, and I must say, if you are having a brutal headache, kava, some ibuprofen and a little caffeine will DESTROY it. I was 10/10 on the pain scale, need my wisdom teeth out which is scheduled in a month and I believe that's where the headaches stem from. I had chronic sinus problems last year and got surgery in May. I'd been having headaches for months up to that point but that was mostly my sinuses.
But yeah, it's a bit annoying honestly. I have both Vanatu medium grind from fijivanuakava, sipping 20g of it right now after taking 4g of the kava extract. The recommended dose is like, 1 gram. I'm not really sure why it tends to take me around 3.5g to feel it pretty strong. One night I completely forgot what my scale was at and took like 6g, the euphoria was MDMA like, I couldn't believe how great I felt. But then there was another night I started at 3.5 and upped it to 5.7 and still felt very little.
At the moment I feel a pretty strong relaxation mentally and physically, it really helps sooth the joints and chill me out and I'm pretty sleepy. But then sometimes it does very little or is stimulating even without caffeine. When I'd taken 7g the first time I knew kava was a lot of what I'd felt, because I had an afterglow in the morning very strongly. Even this morning having dosed like I did tonight I had a nice afterglow.
I do use an AluBall for medium prep, generally shaking it for 3-5 minutes with warm to almost hot water. Some people have told me the AluBall makes very weak kava to the point where you basically won't feel anything. This hasn't really been the case for me. I've seen many mixed opinions. Some kneaded for decades and switched to the ball and thought it was more worth it. That any reduction in effect was minimal. I wouldn't know as I haven't kneaded it yet, I have ADHD and am quite impatient haha. I often don't really have time to do this kneading process and feel like I'd probably mess something up. Others have noticed no change, some have even said it was stronger (probably straining it wrong or something).
Anyway, back to the beginning. Is it normal for kava to be so inconsistent? It's frustrating because when it works it works damn well, it's one of my favorite herbal substances I've ever tried, ESPECIALLY because I suffer from chronic tinnitus even if I don't necessarily feel it strong the previous night. The worst you could imagine. Hissing, piercing electrical static, metal clanging together, it's just awful. But while I'm taking kava, it's like 90% gone. Like in general, as long as I'm taking it daily my tinnitus is way down. I have no clue why this is, there's no studies behind it, and I haven't figured out the cause of my tinnitus. It started in May 2021 when my sinus issues went away.
Shortly after my surgery it went away completely until August when it gradually got worse and worse. After I ran out of micro, my tinnitus was so awful. My GP and I think I'm building up fluid in my ears on and off and based on my eardrums not always moving, it's quite likely. Perhaps kava just dries it out, or something. It does tend to dry out skin for a lot of people so I wouldn't see why this is impossible. I've seen a few threads on here of people using it for tinnitus. I have no idea why it works. When I ran out of the extract it got very bad. I had traditional grind that I'd usually take like, 40g of, but it didn't seem to be enough to lower the tinnitus as much. As soon as I get the extract, it's instant. All of today has been phenomenal for my ears and right now it's like, completely silent.
Even with the medium grind it was inconsistent. I mean I'd generally say it was consistent in the sense that I'd feel calmer and such, but one night I did 60g, a high dose, and didn't feel very much. The following night I did 40g and felt it stronger. I personally don't believe in reverse tolerance though I could see how it might be like THC which doesn't work for some people for awhile. So many people seem to have this experience where they need to take it more and more to get effects and then they can get good effects off less. I personally just didn't experience it, it's simply inconsistent and I wish I knew why. I'd say the extract might be more inconsistent than the medium grind and micronized but it's hard to say.
Update: do feel pretty good after that 20g, now I'm sipping on 15g, expect to feel pretty floaty. Vanatu is supposedly more heady but I haven't really felt that. The extract is the most heady thing I've tried. I wonder what kavalactones there are in this one? All of it tastes the same to me regardless of the vendor or strain, I generally use 400ml for the main grog where I jerk off the AluBall for a few minutes, the 2nd strain I do for less time, like 1 minute, since I know there aren't many kavalactones left at that point. I'm assuming you can use any amount of water that's at least 200-300ml and the only benefit of using more is that it'd not taste as bitter? I tend to use that amount for the 2nd wash.
When I last had the extract it did seem to work pretty consistently overall, but I'm taking way over the recommended dose with it and would expect it to work more often. It's supposed to dissolve in water but at this amount it doesn't. It's just pure kavalactone. I'm aware there's like, 6 types? I don't know how the Vanatu compares to the Borogu I had before, I'd say it's a bit more sedating. It's certainly easier on the stomach and to drink in general, I actually quite enjoy the taste of kava. Yeah, it kind of tastes like old shoelaces but, for some reason I like that.
TL;DR: why does kava/kavalactones have such inconsistent effects in general? It works great for my tinnitus regardless and if the effects are subtle, a bit of THC brings on some much stronger euphoria than usual (my drug of choice which unfortunately makes my tinnitus worse). I have ADHD, OCD and C-PTSD, THC is the only thing that's ever really been able to help. I save it for bedtime though, and I can't really be sure it's what worsens my tinnitus in general, as sometimes I'll have more than usual and be fine, even this is pretty random. I've been dialing it back though, I prefer vape pens (legal dispensary) because I came to dislike smoking the stuff.
Oh, I also heard and was told multiple times on reddit kava doesn't build up tolerance. Is this really true? It's hard to tell because of the inconsistent nature. One night I'd taken 22g of micronized and felt not much, next day I took 10g and felt great. 10-15g was generally my sweet spot, I just wanted to feel properly "krunk." At least to see what it's like. I've had a wide variety of effects but nothing like drunken stumbling, though I'm not sure I'd even want that. I quit booze 3 years ago next month, had problems with it on and off.
I started off with micronized Loa Waka kava, unstrained (never making that mistake again... the constipation was crazy). I guess a lot of people strain micronized. TMI, sorry haha. When I passed a bowel movement it looked like some alien creature. It was just a bunch of tiny balls into one stool, meaning the unstrained micronized KWK kava slowed my gastric emptying rate/digestion quite significantly. According to their website I've had this problem mildly with the 30% extract from fijivanuakava but not as much. Some magnesium oxide will do the trick. On the micro, I'd take miralax night after night and get nowhere. This didn't happen at first, more like 2 weeks after taking it. I had upset stomach from it initially but that went away pretty quickly, and I always had ginger root on hand when my stomach did hurt and it would make it feel fine.
I generally took between 10 and 15g. The first time I took 7g and felt great, but I'd also had a 2:1 ratio caffeine/L-theanine tablet and kava inhibits the enzyme for breaking down caffeine, so there was this added euphoria to it. They synergize generally well together at a lower dose of kava, and I must say, if you are having a brutal headache, kava, some ibuprofen and a little caffeine will DESTROY it. I was 10/10 on the pain scale, need my wisdom teeth out which is scheduled in a month and I believe that's where the headaches stem from. I had chronic sinus problems last year and got surgery in May. I'd been having headaches for months up to that point but that was mostly my sinuses.
But yeah, it's a bit annoying honestly. I have both Vanatu medium grind from fijivanuakava, sipping 20g of it right now after taking 4g of the kava extract. The recommended dose is like, 1 gram. I'm not really sure why it tends to take me around 3.5g to feel it pretty strong. One night I completely forgot what my scale was at and took like 6g, the euphoria was MDMA like, I couldn't believe how great I felt. But then there was another night I started at 3.5 and upped it to 5.7 and still felt very little.
At the moment I feel a pretty strong relaxation mentally and physically, it really helps sooth the joints and chill me out and I'm pretty sleepy. But then sometimes it does very little or is stimulating even without caffeine. When I'd taken 7g the first time I knew kava was a lot of what I'd felt, because I had an afterglow in the morning very strongly. Even this morning having dosed like I did tonight I had a nice afterglow.
I do use an AluBall for medium prep, generally shaking it for 3-5 minutes with warm to almost hot water. Some people have told me the AluBall makes very weak kava to the point where you basically won't feel anything. This hasn't really been the case for me. I've seen many mixed opinions. Some kneaded for decades and switched to the ball and thought it was more worth it. That any reduction in effect was minimal. I wouldn't know as I haven't kneaded it yet, I have ADHD and am quite impatient haha. I often don't really have time to do this kneading process and feel like I'd probably mess something up. Others have noticed no change, some have even said it was stronger (probably straining it wrong or something).
Anyway, back to the beginning. Is it normal for kava to be so inconsistent? It's frustrating because when it works it works damn well, it's one of my favorite herbal substances I've ever tried, ESPECIALLY because I suffer from chronic tinnitus even if I don't necessarily feel it strong the previous night. The worst you could imagine. Hissing, piercing electrical static, metal clanging together, it's just awful. But while I'm taking kava, it's like 90% gone. Like in general, as long as I'm taking it daily my tinnitus is way down. I have no clue why this is, there's no studies behind it, and I haven't figured out the cause of my tinnitus. It started in May 2021 when my sinus issues went away.
Shortly after my surgery it went away completely until August when it gradually got worse and worse. After I ran out of micro, my tinnitus was so awful. My GP and I think I'm building up fluid in my ears on and off and based on my eardrums not always moving, it's quite likely. Perhaps kava just dries it out, or something. It does tend to dry out skin for a lot of people so I wouldn't see why this is impossible. I've seen a few threads on here of people using it for tinnitus. I have no idea why it works. When I ran out of the extract it got very bad. I had traditional grind that I'd usually take like, 40g of, but it didn't seem to be enough to lower the tinnitus as much. As soon as I get the extract, it's instant. All of today has been phenomenal for my ears and right now it's like, completely silent.
Even with the medium grind it was inconsistent. I mean I'd generally say it was consistent in the sense that I'd feel calmer and such, but one night I did 60g, a high dose, and didn't feel very much. The following night I did 40g and felt it stronger. I personally don't believe in reverse tolerance though I could see how it might be like THC which doesn't work for some people for awhile. So many people seem to have this experience where they need to take it more and more to get effects and then they can get good effects off less. I personally just didn't experience it, it's simply inconsistent and I wish I knew why. I'd say the extract might be more inconsistent than the medium grind and micronized but it's hard to say.
Update: do feel pretty good after that 20g, now I'm sipping on 15g, expect to feel pretty floaty. Vanatu is supposedly more heady but I haven't really felt that. The extract is the most heady thing I've tried. I wonder what kavalactones there are in this one? All of it tastes the same to me regardless of the vendor or strain, I generally use 400ml for the main grog where I jerk off the AluBall for a few minutes, the 2nd strain I do for less time, like 1 minute, since I know there aren't many kavalactones left at that point. I'm assuming you can use any amount of water that's at least 200-300ml and the only benefit of using more is that it'd not taste as bitter? I tend to use that amount for the 2nd wash.
When I last had the extract it did seem to work pretty consistently overall, but I'm taking way over the recommended dose with it and would expect it to work more often. It's supposed to dissolve in water but at this amount it doesn't. It's just pure kavalactone. I'm aware there's like, 6 types? I don't know how the Vanatu compares to the Borogu I had before, I'd say it's a bit more sedating. It's certainly easier on the stomach and to drink in general, I actually quite enjoy the taste of kava. Yeah, it kind of tastes like old shoelaces but, for some reason I like that.
TL;DR: why does kava/kavalactones have such inconsistent effects in general? It works great for my tinnitus regardless and if the effects are subtle, a bit of THC brings on some much stronger euphoria than usual (my drug of choice which unfortunately makes my tinnitus worse). I have ADHD, OCD and C-PTSD, THC is the only thing that's ever really been able to help. I save it for bedtime though, and I can't really be sure it's what worsens my tinnitus in general, as sometimes I'll have more than usual and be fine, even this is pretty random. I've been dialing it back though, I prefer vape pens (legal dispensary) because I came to dislike smoking the stuff.
Oh, I also heard and was told multiple times on reddit kava doesn't build up tolerance. Is this really true? It's hard to tell because of the inconsistent nature. One night I'd taken 22g of micronized and felt not much, next day I took 10g and felt great. 10-15g was generally my sweet spot, I just wanted to feel properly "krunk." At least to see what it's like. I've had a wide variety of effects but nothing like drunken stumbling, though I'm not sure I'd even want that. I quit booze 3 years ago next month, had problems with it on and off.
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