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Kava: Addiction, withdrawal and tolerance.

The Kap'n

The Groggy Kaptain (40g)
KavaForums Founder
Kava: Addiction, withdrawal and tolerance.

We see the question often, and with good reason. “Is kava addictive?” With the multitude of drugs and chemicals available today, one of the questions we tend to gravitate towards is “What will happen when I stop taking this?”. Withdrawal, tolerance and addiction are extremely important pieces of information to understand when considering daily consumption of a substance. Addiction to a substance can be broken down into two non-exclusive types for the sake of this discussion. Physical dependence, or a physical condition caused by chronic use of a tolerance-forming drug, in which abrupt or gradual drug withdrawal causes unpleasant physical symptoms [1], or psychological dependence: a state that involves emotional–motivational withdrawal symptoms, e.g. anxiety and anhedonia, upon cessation of drug use [2].

Kava’s physical and psychological addiction have been studied in a controlled, double-blind trial over several weeks on 48 individuals with doses ranging from 60mg to 280mg kavalactones per day. Tablets that were used were pressed dried aqueous extract (non-solvent) standardized to 60mg of kavalactones per tablet. In the withdrawal observation period (week 8), during which all participants were given single-blinded placebo, no significant increase in symptoms or AEs (adverse effects) occurred in either the kava or placebo arms (assessed on the purpose-designed adverse reactions checklist). Assessment of potential addictive effects in completers found no significant difference in the number of participants in the kava group [6/25 (24%)] compared to the placebo group [6/25 (24%)] who said they wanted to increase the dose of medication (assessed on the purpose-designed addiction scale). Of the participants who noted a desire to increase their dosage, the kava group had an average of 5/10 for intensity of cravings versus 5.3/10 for the placebo group. A total of 1/25 (4%) in the kava group took more tablets than instructed, compared to 2/25 (8%) for placebo [3].

Another aspect of addiction commonly but not exclusively found is tolerance, or the need for an increasing dose corresponding to the duration of consumption. Development of tolerance was studied in mice, and none could be observed during this 3-week study that used aqueous and lipophilic kava extracts. Sorrentino examined the potential for dependence. Rats showed no change in body weight or spontaneous behavior after discontinuing 3 months of treatment with a kavapyrone complex at dosages of 7.3 and 73 mg/kg body weight. Neither tolerance nor dependence was observed [4].

The typical kava drinkers will consume anywhere from 400mg-8000mg over the course of a session which is vastly larger than the amounts given in the study. Even with this large discrepancy in dose, kava drinkers have yet to report addiction issues even when consumed for years daily in this manner.



[1] “Physical dependence.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 October 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_dependence

[2] “Psychological dependence.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 September 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_dependence

[3] Sarris, J., Stough, C., Teschke, R., Wahid, Z. T., Bousman, C. A., Murray, G., . . . Schweitzer, I. (2013). Kava for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder RCT: Analysis of Adverse Reactions, Liver Function, Addiction, and Sexual Effects. Phytotherapy Research, 27(11), 1723-1728. doi:10.1002/ptr.4916

[4] Josef Scherer. “Kava-kava extract in anxiety disorders: An outpatient observational study” researchgate.net, https://www.researchgate.net/public...y_disorders_An_outpatient_observational_study
 

hightides42

our Roots run deep
yes, very good topic and one of concern locally due to past dependencies coupled now with a fairly high kava use has had me wondering of the psychological dependence as i seek calm states of mind in my combat wrecked brain and have been relying on kava to help maintain such. ::KavaChug::
 

verticity

I'm interested in things
...In the withdrawal observation period (week 8), during which all participants were given single-blinded placebo, no significant increase in symptoms or AEs (adverse effects) occurred in either the kava or placebo arms (assessed on the purpose-designed adverse reactions checklist). Assessment of potential addictive effects in completers found no significant difference in the number of participants in the kava group [6/25 (24%)] compared to the placebo group [6/25 (24%)] who said they wanted to increase the dose of medication (assessed on the purpose-designed addiction scale). Of the participants who noted a desire to increase their dosage, the kava group had an average of 5/10 for intensity of cravings versus 5.3/10 for the placebo group.
...
Interesting that 24% of the subjects had moderate cravings for more sugar pills... The placebo effect is a hell of a drug. It goes to show that human beings are capable of developing "psychological dependence" on literally anything, and that definitely includes kava. But that is a completely different animal than physical dependence as I think anyone who has experienced it could tell you, and thankfully all evidence says it doesn't happen with kava. It's actually a little surprising to me that kava's tendency to cause psychological dependence is not greater than placebo. A caveat is that the "kava" in this study was a standardized extract. I wonder if the traditional beverage would have proved more psychologically habit forming, but that would be difficult to study in the same way--you would need to somehow make a placebo with the same taste and mouth feeling...
 
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Pzk

Kava Enthusiast
Well I did break my rule again and used kava for 4 days in a row. Normally I know 2 days max. What happened now in my case is:

- the day/night without I couldn't sleep well, 2 hours I slept.
- The second day without I was tired all day, slept 2 hours during day, I had headache (while drinking enough) and felt like being hit by a car. I wasn't myself somehow, no energy, lots of depression. This second night, I also didn't sleep as well as normally
- The third day without (today) I feel like in a fog somehow, feel unpleasent, but a bit better than the second day. Like exhausted physically and mentally

All this stuff wasn't there before the 4 days of kava kava. I guess i am a bit special when it comes to kava, perhaps I am not physically fit enough, or I have some gut issues, I don't know. And yes I am not as fit, not trained physically (I was in a wheelchair and I am walking again more and more since a couple of month, after 3 years non walking)... perhaps this plays a role. Or my brainchemistry is different. I realized with alcohol as well when I was younger. I was a "pro" in overdoing until the "stop sign" came very fast and my brain said "no". Seems to be the same with kava.
 
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