Ben Thomas
Kava Enthusiast
Been on lexapro for a few months now and was wondering if any others here also use AD in conjunction with kava? I’ve heard the two can interact but seems the jury is still out.
That’s what I feel from lexapro. Can’t feel the highs or the lows at allI was on an antidepressant before I got into Kava. I can’t exactly estimate your reaction but I didn’t personally notice any negatives. I didn’t like the anti-depressant personally. It removed many of the lows I felt, I also never had any highs if that makes sense. Everything just felt dulled.
Kava has replaced it for me and is much more beneficial for me personally. Kava has allowed me to slow down and think things through more rationally which has permanently changed my mindset as apposed to just simply medicating it. I didn’t begin drinking Kava for this purpose but it just seemed to help as a byproduct. Can’t speak for what you will experience though. Pay attention to the signals your mind and body send you.
Meaning the drug made you feel numb?Ditto when I took Lexapro. Just caused flat affect. Wasn't really what I was looking for.
Right. No highs, no lows. Just a floaty NyQuil head feeling and brain zaps if I skipped a day. I tapered off SSRI's and have been doing alright with just kava.Meaning the drug made you feel numb?
You still using both? Have you noticed anything major?Meaning the drug made you feel numb?
It's unlikely.I would like to bump this thread because I'm on small dose of Prozac and have never (really) tried good quality kava while on it .I'm also taking an atypical antipsychotic , Invega, wondering if there's an interaction there .
PERFECT! I could not have said it better myself.It's unlikely.
Here's what I found re Invega:
"Although in vitro studies suggested a role for CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 in the metabolism of paliperidone, in vivo results indicate that these isozymes play a limited role in the overall elimination of paliperidone. Four primary metabolic pathways have been identified in vivo, none of which could be shown to account for more than 10% of the dose: dealkylation, hydroxylation, dehydrogenation, and benzisoxazole scission. Paliperidone does not undergo extensive metabolism and a significant portion of its metabolism occurs in the kidneys."
https://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB01267
Kava supreses metabolic pathways which causes some drugs to stick around for longer, or cause an increase in side effects due to the increased half-life in your system. What drugbank is saying is that Invega doesn't use this normal way of breaking down, and is, instead, metabolized more by the kidneys. For Prozac, it's actually has the same effect as kava on liver enzymes. What this tells me is that your doctor has probably already taken this into account when co-prescribing.
In short, from the information we have now, it seems that this mixture is very unlikely to cause issues.
Calling @BulamamatoNCIRVCKKPC to check me![]()