MAOI, olive oil, grapefruit, baby and Lecithin!?

[kl.Euphoric lemur]

So, I have just ordered 500g Black Sand kava from nakamal@home, and 250g instant Fire Island. I have been reading around the internet and just found this forum.
I was drinking too much.
I have borderline and anxiety panic attacks. Here in Sweden we don't have the same drugs against those type of things that I have read about here in the forum, but I did get a bunch of drugs which didn't help me. I began drinking and taking the drugs. Not a good state to be in, I know. I was desperate at the time because of my personality disorder. I don't drink much but I have been drinking so often that I no longer feel any euphoria out of alcohol. Because of that I began to drink more to get myself happier.
Now I have become a father, yay!, and have quit the drinking all in all and the drugs they gave me. The drugs don't help at all and I don't trust them. I don't want to start the drinking again when anxiety comes a knocking on the door... So I searched around and found out about kava. Sounds too good to be true. I don't mind if it doesn't give euphoria like alcohol, because alcohol don't give me euphoria anymore.
I have some questions now about kava that I haven't found answers to in earlier posts.

1. Kava is an MAOI?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9832350
and is kava an mao-b that becomes an mao-a in you when you drink it more often? And therefor you get the euphoric feelings after 4-5 times drinking it?
what happens if I mix mao-b with mao-a? I take damiana sometimes as a tea (an mao-a and-b i), would that make me have some syndrome if I took it after kava?
http://psychoactives.wikia.com/wiki/Damiana

I don't take any antidepressants anymore, so I don't worry about mixing SSRI and MAOI. But if kava is an MAOI I should avoid food with tyramine when drinking it? I eat a lot of food with tyramine.
"Tyramine is an amino acid which is found in various foods and is an indirect sympathomimetic that can cause a hypertensive reaction in patients receiving MAOI therapy. Monoamine oxidase is found in the gastrointestinal tract and inactivates tyramine; when drugs prevent the catabolism of exogenous tyramine, this amino acid is absorbed and displaces norepinephrine from sympathetic nerve endings and epinephrine from the adrenal glands. If a sufficient amount of pressor amines are released, a patient may experience a severe occipital or temporal headache, diaphoresis, mydriasis, nuchal rigidity, palpitations, and the elevation of both diastolic and systolic blood pressure may ensue (Anon, 1989; Da Prada et al, 1988; Brown & Bryant, 1988). On rare occasions, cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac failure, and intracerebral hemorrhage have developed in patients receiving MAOI therapy that did not observe dietary restrictions (Brown & Bryant, 1988). Therefore, dietary restrictions are required for patients receiving MAOIs"
http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/maoi.html

2. I read that mixing a tablespoon of olive oil in the mixture makes the kava much stronger, is that true?

3. I read that drinking grapefruit makes it stronger also?

4. I have a baby, does kava make you dizzy or give you bad balance or such? I don't want to risk anything.

5. Should I use Lecithin with instant kava?

 

[Prince Philip]

4 is a defiante yes. I've stumbled and knocked into walls on kava. I then take more kava to prevent bruising, (as kava is a powerful muscle relaxant).



5 is a no in my opinion. It ruins the texture and doesn't really help much. What I prefer is cherry juice concentrate. A tablespoon of instant, a tablespoon of cherry juice concentrade, and about 16 ounces of hot-from-the-tap water is my dose.

 

[kl.Euphoric lemur]

Ok, wow. Can't drink it so often then. Good to know.

 

[kl.r3mote]

welcome to the forum. i'm glad you found kava, as there's a good chance it will help you with stress. also grats on the kid.

just try to keep the kava drinking for when the kid's asleep. white grapefruit (not from concentrate juice) does slow the absorption of kava by stopping an enzyme in your stomach from acting immediately.

the thing about olive oil, is that kava is readily absorbed by fats/oils. that's where that idea comes from. most people use lecithin instead as it's tasteless. but bottom line is, it's unnecessary.

 

[kl.Euphoric lemur]

Thank you!

Why whould slowing the absorption of kava be good?
I got my delivery today. Took 5 gram fire island in cold water 3 times with 15min inbetween. I didn't get dizzy at all. I didn't feel much at all actually, then I got a little anxious (?). (smiley: alien)
But my balance was still ok. I had not yet read the answer you gave here... So I drank a glass of grapefruit before I drank the kava and then put both lecithin and olive oil in the kava.

 

[kl.Mike]

i took around 10-15 gram instant fire island in empty stomach and i'm disapointed too. Except of nausea i felt almost nothing

 

[kl.Euphoric lemur]

This morning I took first 4teaspoons in water. I really felt it. Kind of a buzz. We drow to my fathers place, it was his birthday. When my family members drank wine and beer I drank fire island kava. All in all I went thru about 6-7 teaspoons. About 3 teaspoons at a time. each time I felt a buzz. I did get a little nuesea because I drank so much of it. I think you really need to use the product at least 4 times before you really feel something. Around 22:00 I was real tired, so I drank a little coffee before we took a taxi home. All in all very nice.