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Just took my first Kava dose..

MichaelMcKava

Kava Curious
Hey there, I posted a while ago in this section of the forum looking for retailers to Canada... After finding one, Kalm with Kava, I ordered the micronized instant kava, the pouni ono kind.

I just took a tablespoon of it and mixed it with two cups of water. It didn't taste very good, but I got notable numbing effect on my tongue and the sides of my mouth.

So anyway, I'm just looking for advice. Was this enough to take? Also how long does Kava last? And when and how much should I redose? Thank you.

Also any advice on how to enjoy the kava better once it hits me is welcome too.
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Hey there, I posted a while ago in this section of the forum looking for retailers to Canada... After finding one, Kalm with Kava, I ordered the micronized instant kava, the pouni ono kind.

I just took a tablespoon of it and mixed it with two cups of water. It didn't taste very good, but I got notable numbing effect on my tongue and the sides of my mouth.

So anyway, I'm just looking for advice. Was this enough to take? Also how long does Kava last? And when and how much should I redose? Thank you.

Also any advice on how to enjoy the kava better once it hits me is welcome too.
Relax and enjoy. Sounds like the perfect starting amount. Effects, if they are going to happen should kick in within 20 minutes, 30 at the most. Should feel like a wave of calm and relaxation, perhaps slight motion blur and maybe a feeling of enhanced colours. Best thing to do is just relax and enjoy it, find a comfy spot with something nice to look at, if possible, like bay or some other bay. See if you can "listen to the kava." If not, tha's ok. Some people don't feel anyhing much the first few times or even many times, though most feel t right away.

It's ok to drink more if you want but not obligatory, especially if you are happy with what you feel and don't think you want any more. But if you love it and want to keep going, that's cool, too. Say, the same dose once every 45 minutes? Maybe a little weaker if you prefer, or not, either is good. Drink plenty of extra water to avoid getting dehydraed.

Video games are fun or just talking or listening to music. This is your time for two things: relaxation and enjoyment. Bula. Oh, and plan to stop drinking kava by at least one hour before bedtime, more is better. 2 hrs is ideal, IMO, for a good night's sleep. Your first kava dreams might be more vivid than you are used to, but it's a good thing, no, a great thing.
 

MichaelMcKava

Kava Curious
So my first dose hit me a little after I posted this thread. and WOW. I thought it might be placebo at first, but definite similar to benzos and alcohol effects; with euphoria and without the loss of judgement. So happy I ordered this stuff.

Thank you Krunkie, I took some more after I ate (I HAD to eat dinner, I hadn't aten all day) and it hit me similarly as fast but just less so. Still felt really pleasant and uplifting and warm. Now I've taken my third dose just before writing this. I will try to take another one in 45 minutes like you recommend.

Another question is, say I wanted to get "Krunk". Is that how I've felt already? or is that by dosing more? If it's more, how should I go about it? DO I double my dose and throw in two tablespoons? Or maybe take another dose in 15 minutes after my last? How will I know I'm officially krunk?
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
So my first dose hit me a little after I posted this thread. and WOW. I thought it might be placebo at first, but definite similar to benzos and alcohol effects; with euphoria and without the loss of judgement. So happy I ordered this stuff.

Thank you Krunkie, I took some more after I ate (I HAD to eat dinner, I hadn't aten all day) and it hit me similarly as fast but just less so. Still felt really pleasant and uplifting and warm. Now I've taken my third dose just before writing this. I will try to take another one in 45 minutes like you recommend.

Another question is, say I wanted to get "Krunk". Is that how I've felt already? or is that by dosing more? If it's more, how should I go about it? DO I double my dose and throw in two tablespoons? Or maybe take another dose in 15 minutes after my last? How will I know I'm officially krunk?
What i would recommend is this: ratchet up slowly. Next session but not today, increase only the first dose, by a tsp, but keep the rest of the session at what you are doing today. Keep doing that, increasing the initial dose of subsequent sessions until you hit a point that absolutely has to be what you think people mean when they say krunk .AND. It feels really good almost like falling in love, when you get hugged and it really feels like it means something, and it just feels right, like you finally came home after a very long time, you’re where you belong, a fine feeling, to be sure, supremely in the moment, though there might not be terribly much in the moment as you just happily sit there, ideally with cool people. You’ll know, and you’ll know if you accidentally go too far, too, because it won’t feel good but at the first sign of overshooting don’t worry, just stop drinking any for a bit and instead just water, a lot if you can, relax, lie down and take s nap if possible and drink more water when you wake up. Oh, and don’t drink alcohol, even one( unless you are a seasoned vet) on the same day as you drink kava. Ideally 2 or 3 days would separate the two.

Anyway, Bula again. I’m semi krunking out tonight drinking plain tikaram’s Kava Tonga, which I haven’t done in ages, usually blending it with Fiji waka, but this is really pleasant, though light. So we’re both chilling with Decent Tongan root. I find that copacetic. Bula!
 

MichaelMcKava

Kava Curious
Alright I will try tomorrow then. If you say I shouldn't now I don't wanna waste any of this dandy kava mix. I am very impressed with this plant, very satisfied. I will definitely be putting my other drugs aside (besides weed) and dedicating my money to trying out more kava as time goes along.

Is medium grind/straining kava that much stronger than this instant stuff? I'm not a fan of the idea of kneading and straining a bunch of powder everytime I wanna dose.. but if it's really that different I will give it a shot!

Bula my friend! And thanks for all your help
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
Alright I will try tomorrow then. If you say I shouldn't now I don't wanna waste any of this dandy kava mix. I am very impressed with this plant, very satisfied. I will definitely be putting my other drugs aside (besides weed) and dedicating my money to trying out more kava as time goes along.

Is medium grind/straining kava that much stronger than this instant stuff? I'm not a fan of the idea of kneading and straining a bunch of powder everytime I wanna dose.. but if it's really that different I will give it a shot!

Bula my friend! And thanks for all your help

Feel free to keep drinking kava right now if it feels right. This pace and rythm seems to do you no harm right now, right?

With an Aluball or even just the kava sac methods you can make grog in a minute or less. Medium grind vs micronised is cheaper and there is a wider variety of content, it's like the PlayStation 2 of ways of drinking kava. Micronised is stronger and in some ways more exciting so it's like the Sega Dreamcast of ways of drinking kava (I'm like that girl in Betterman, she dreams in colours she dreams in red, wheras I dream in legacy gaming platforms) Many people come to enjoy the calmness of kneading some grog for 10 minutes, especially when chatting with warm krunkmates, which kind of goes along with the whole in the moment gestalt of kava. Also you can make a huge amount at once so you then have to drink it al, er I mean, then don't have to make so often. As long as it is food grade plastic and scrupulously clean, a bucket is not a bad idea. Oh, and one more thing, Bula!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plus the obligatory instructional video. Most of the people who hang around here for a year or more learn enough Bislama to understand all the lyrics. As you recoil in horror on first exposure understand it will grow on you and you will come to like it. Fight it or not fight it, whatever feels good to you, as in the end it don't make no difference anyway. Whatever else this may be, it's the real thing.

 
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Intrepidus_dux

Kava O.G.
Enjoy the kava! Also, I love that song. There's another funny one called "I Wanna Mix With You."

Also, you can call the doses shells. Kava is traditionally drank out of a half coconut shell, so each cup full is a shell. Everyone's shell size differs. :) ::chugger::
 

MichaelMcKava

Kava Curious
Well I am a little embarrassed to say this. But I couldn't sleep that night and kept trying to take kava as a sleep aid (I read it helps somewhere). It didn't help me go to sleep, so I wound up binging Kava for about 24 hours and winding up in the hospital with extreme nausea and throat pain (Dry throat)

They told me it wasn't an overdose, that this was very typical of someone who had taken way too much Kava. My question is, why isn't this information on this forum? I thought you couldn't get addicted to it and couldn't overdose on it, so you could take it as much as Cannabis... that was my assumption. That was wrong by far, I felt absolutely horrible. The doctor shot me with gravol and sent me home with some anti-nausea medicine.

I'm no quitter tho, I realize this was user-error, and I'm not blaming it on the drug. In fact it's been 30 hours since I last took Kava and I am just having a "shell" of it now. Determined not to use it all night again.

We should definitely put that information up on this forum tho, like maybe a maximum of 8 hours high on Kava at a time. I can't be the only person stupid enough to try binging it, we should warn people.
 
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Intrepidus_dux

Kava O.G.
Well I am a little embarrassed to say this. But I couldn't sleep that night and kept trying to take kava as a sleep aid (I read it helps somewhere). It didn't help me go to sleep, so I wound up binging Kava for about 24 hours and winding up in the hospital with extreme nausea and throat pain (Dry throat)

They told me it wasn't an overdose, that this was very typical of someone who had taken way too much Kava. My question is, why isn't this information on this forum? I thought you couldn't get addicted to it and couldn't overdose on it, so you could take it as much as Cannabis... that was my assumption. That was wrong by far, I felt absolutely horrible. The doctor shot me with gravol and sent me home with some anti-nausea medicine.

I'm no quitter tho, I realize this was user-error, and I'm not blaming it on the drug. In fact it's been 30 hours since I last took Kava and I am just having a "shell" of it now. Determined not to use it all night again.

We should definitely put that information up on this forum tho, like maybe a maximum of 8 hours high on Kava at a time. I can't be the only person stupid enough to try binging it, we should warn people.
Everyone does it, but not usually to the point of going to the hospital. Sheesh. It is on the forums. Here is one example.
There's an entire thread on kava side effects, though I can't find it at the moment. Any substance has side effects when used in excess; cannabis included. Cannibis has been proven to slow emotional growth in young adults and teens. Drink water; kava is a diuretic. Eat normally. Take good care of yourself.
 

Krunkie McKrunkface

Kava Connoisseur
They told me it wasn't an overdose, that this was very typical of someone who had taken way too much Kava. My question is, why isn't this information on this forum?
I checked the time stamp for when I said this, it was Tue at 8:09 as you can see above "Oh, and plan to stop drinking kava by at least one hour before bedtime, more is better. 2 hrs is ideal, IMO, for a good night's sleep."

We are a polite society. I don't even know how to say the following any other way:

"It's ok to drink more if you want but not obligatory, especially if you are happy with what you feel and don't think you want any more. But if you love it and want to keep going, that's cool, too. Say, the same dose once every 45 minutes? Maybe a little weaker if you prefer, or not, either is good. Drink plenty of extra water to avoid getting dehydraed."

What would you have had anyone say to prevent what happened? I'm really sorry it happened. But I thought I was pretty clear about not increasing the amount each time you had a shell, quite the opposite, I believed myself to be politely discouraging it, and I think I was very specific about waiting till the next session that would not be on that same day before attempting to increase the amount in each shell. Must have particularly sucked as you weren't sure what was happening to you. I remember feeling like that once, but I'm glad to say it was only the once, and I hope for your sake it is, too. I'm not sure but I think most if not all of us aroud here have had a similar type experience at least once.
 

Plantacious

Kava Enthusiast
So my first dose hit me a little after I posted this thread. and WOW. I thought it might be placebo at first, but definite similar to benzos and alcohol effects; with euphoria and without the loss of judgement. So happy I ordered this stuff.

Thank you Krunkie, I took some more after I ate (I HAD to eat dinner, I hadn't aten all day) and it hit me similarly as fast but just less so. Still felt really pleasant and uplifting and warm. Now I've taken my third dose just before writing this. I will try to take another one in 45 minutes like you recommend.
So, if I understand correctly, you're brand new to kava, and your very first dose was only 1 Tablespoon, and after a little while, you felt huge effects from it.
Is that accurate ?
If so, you are very fortunate, because reverse tolerance does not affect you like it does a majority of people.
I havn't read the entire thread, so I could be wrong.
 
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MichaelMcKava

Kava Curious
I definitely don't blame my poor experience on your advice, Krunkie. You told me to stop before bedtime about 1-2 hours. I did too, about 1 hour and 20 minutes before I went to sleep I stopped. But I still couldn't sleep. That's when I googled "Problems sleeping while on Kava" and found out it is actually a sleep aid, and I decided to ignore your advice and try to take more. I did listen to you though, and I didn't increase each shell. My problems probably would have started earlier if I had..

I think though that it should be stated somewhere obvious, like in the thread at the top of this part of the forum, that if you start vomiting up your kava, it is time to stop. Not to wait a little longer and try to dose more, because your nausea can get out of control to where you can't even hold down water anymore. Or not to do Kava for more than ten hours or so, because you could wind up with extreme side effects. Something like that...

And last night I only took a few doses and I got nauseous again, and I stopped. It wasn't too bad because I did stop. And I had Kava dreams like crazy, which were AMAZING. Lucid dreams that I knew were a dream, but I continued to interact with them all night long. Even when I woke up for a little bit, and fell back asleep, I was right in the same dream again, aware it was a dream. I did some magic mushrooms in the dream too, which caused some of the coolest dream/drug effects I've ever had in a dream. Colors flying everywhere, people walking through eachother, patterns waving inbetween the crowd of people I was dancing with. It was fantastic dreams for the whole night a little bit this morning.

Plantacious. yeah maybe today if I do some more I will start with a little bit less than a table spoon. Your post does make me think, what if it was the reverse tolerance and my doses wound up being far too much to me.

Has anyone binged Kava for 24 hours and NOT gone to the hospital? If so it might have just been the reverse tolerance effecting me quite early on.

But even so, I still think there should be a warning for people that you can get hospitalized doing too much of this stuff, and to pay attention to your nausea levels during so. I would have benefited from a warning like that I think.
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
How are you filtering your kava? Some of the solid root parts can cause nausea. You may be drinking a high volume of grog with solid particles that are causing stomach irritation. Consider getting a smaller micron filter and/or filtering your grog multiple times. Check for defects in your filter also, as you may be letting in undesirable solids into your grog.

If even with studious filtering you're still feeling nausea from kava grog at moderate quantities, there's something else going on and you can rule out overconsumption of kava solids.

Also, while you get great kava effects from drinking it on an empty stomach, consider eating some food after a few cups. I generally hear nausea problems going away after you eat some food. And of course, always drink lots of water as kava is a diuretic.
 

MichaelMcKava

Kava Curious
How are you filtering your kava? Some of the solid root parts can cause nausea. You may be drinking a high volume of grog with solid particles that are causing stomach irritation. Consider getting a smaller micron filter and/or filtering your grog multiple times. Check for defects in your filter also, as you may be letting in undesirable solids into your grog.

If even with studious filtering you're still feeling nausea from kava grog at moderate quantities, there's something else going on and you can rule out overconsumption of kava solids.

Also, while you get great kava effects from drinking it on an empty stomach, consider eating some food after a few cups. I generally hear nausea problems going away after you eat some food. And of course, always drink lots of water as kava is a diuretic.
I was taking micronized instant kava, so it says everywhere you don't need to strain/filter it. I think I just took too much for too long.

Update: I just got a kava kava tincture in the mail as well, that I took a dose of and seems to work at lower level than I was getting the other day from the instant Kava. I can cautiously move forward at lower doses for less time, and I have learned my lesson. I will warn others who post on this page anyways, as I went through a kind of personal hell after I binged kava for 24 hours. You guys don't have to I guess, I just thought it would be a good idea.

Anyways, Bula! Thanks for treating me with respect and trying to figure this out for me.
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
I was taking micronized instant kava, so it says everywhere you don't need to strain/filter it. I think I just took too much for too long.
Ahh, I wasn't paying close enough attention. Micronized is easier to overdo compared to medium grind. If you plan to have longer sessions of kava drinking, making grog from medium grind is going to be most cost-effective. If the idea of kneading a strainer bag in a bowl sound intimidating or otherwise beneath you, there's the Aluball shaker that gives reasonably good strength grog. If you already have a beverage shaker bottle, just buy the aluballs to hold your grind and use that!

We're here to help if you want to seriously look into using medium grind. :) In the meantime, drinking micronized and trying out kava extracts is not the worst way to get into kava. Extracts in particular are shady territory and not representative of the kava culture reminiscent of the Pacific Islanders, but if you buy a decent extract, it's a good entry point. A rule of thumb for tinctures/extracts though: If the vendor wasn't on speaking terms with the kava itself, it's probably hazardous for long-term use.
 

MichaelMcKava

Kava Curious
I actually did order some medium grind, it should be here by next week.

I've got a regular powder strainer but I suspect I'll have to wash a t-shirt and use that as a filter this time. I was thinking next time I could order the "Three Kavas, plus filter" from KWK. So I don't have to use a t-shirt anymore.

How much do I start dosing with a medium grind? Is it a tablespoon like micronized or a little bit more? Like two or three tablespoons? Thanks.
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
How much do I start dosing with a medium grind? Is it a tablespoon like micronized or a little bit more? Like two or three tablespoons? Thanks.
Since you've had some kava already, you're probably good to start at 3 tbsp per 1 liter of water. If 3 tbsp is too weak, add 1 tbsp to your next batch, and go incrementally. What you can also do is knead your root in another batch of fresh water and blend that with your first batch, to give yourself more volume of grog per quantity of grind. Basically make your first wash of kava, drink a cup of it, then pour the rest in the pitcher. Then do your 2nd wash with the same root powder; use a little less water for this batch, about half to 3/4 the amount of water you used for the first batch. Then mix that with the 1st batch and that's the grog you drink from for the next day or however long you make it last.
I've got a regular powder strainer but I suspect I'll have to wash a t-shirt and use that as a filter this time. I was thinking next time I could order the "Three Kavas, plus filter" from KWK. So I don't have to use a t-shirt anymore.
Just get some nut milk bags to get you going. A couple users on these here forums have recommended these: Amazon product
 

MichaelMcKava

Kava Curious
Oh okay so I use say to start three tablespoons per liter of water, then drink that water a cup at a time? And each cup is a shell? That does sound cost effective if so.

And if I read that right, I use 3/4s to half of the water for a second wash, with the same root powder, and pour that water in with the already made liter of grog as is? Then keep drinking a cup each dose?

I just want to make sure I understand.
I will for sure check out those nutmilk bags
 

fait

Position 5 Hard Support
Oh okay so I use say to start three tablespoons per liter of water, then drink that water a cup at a time? And each cup is a shell? That does sound cost effective if so.

And if I read that right, I use 3/4s to half of the water for a second wash, with the same root powder, and pour that water in with the already made liter of grog as is? Then keep drinking a cup each dose?

I just want to make sure I understand.
I will for sure check out those nutmilk bags
So for your first wash, 1 liter of water and 3 tbsp of medium grind (you're welcome to use more or less, 3 is just my recommendation). Knead for 5-10 minutes, then squeeze out the rest of the liquid from the root before pouring that into your pitcher. Then take fresh water from the tap (less than the amount of water used for the first batch), put that in your bowl, put the bag of root powder back in and knead for another 5-10 minutes. After you once again wring out the root powder of the remaining liquid, pour that into your pitcher, mix up, and drink. To help you lose track of time while kneading the 2nd wash, drink a cup from your first wash.

Some people here say "shells" as that's the traditional vessel you drink kava grog from, but I use cups since I lack a literal hollowed-out coconut shell. Your quantity you chug for each cup can vary.
 
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