"Safe" dose to start

[kl.draikin]

Hi everyone,

Today's my last day of Gaia Kava 225mg capsules (3 capsules a day = 225mg) with no significant effect as far as I can tell. Fortunately, I received this morning my Premium Fijian Kava 454g from Paradise Kava. However, the other day I read somewhere here that somebody's wife had passed out the first time she had Kava powder.

I want to make 100% sure that I won't experience anything remotely comparable to this. On the paper coming with the powder, I read "Put 2 heaping tbs. of kava powder". Should I reduce this to, say, 1 tbs. in order to be absolutely safe from anything like passing out ? I'm an anxious guy (I expect Kava to reduce my anxiety) so that's why it's so important to me.

 

[Slow Native]

I've never truly "passed out" but have come to the point where I was felt like going to sleep was the perfect thing to do lol... I am still fairly new to kava, and use 2 heaped tbs per 2 cups of water and split that into two shells drank within 10 minutes of each other. I do massage for around 10 minutes and use lecithin most of the time (although I don't notice much difference from when I don't use the lecithin).I also eat about 30 minutes to an hour after finishing my shells, it used to kill my buzz but now seems to amplify them no complaints

 

[kl.grudge]

I hear the Fijian is pretty strong (I haven't received mine yet) so you might want to be cautious. The basic guide is 1 rounded tablespoon per cup of water blended for 1 minute (or put into a bag an massage for 5 to 30 minutes), and I think that is a good place to start. The trick is you don't have to drink it all. Take a little, maybe an oz or two, wait 15 minutes and see how you feel. You soon will be able to gauge your kava tolerance. Plus note that your tolerance might change over time. Most people become more sensitive to kava and often times the first time is a bit disappointing. However some people are hyper sensitive to things, so caution is always a good policy.

However all of that caution being said, like Slow Native, I have never 'passed out', I have just gotten very sleepy and that was after consuming a LOT of kava.

 

[Buddhacide]

Take a heaping tablespoon full, put it in water with a small amount of lecithin, blend for about 3 minutes and drink it on an empty stomach. Wait a half hour to see how it hits you. PK is very finely ground and can be taken this way. Even strong kavas are not powerfull narcotics. You can get a good krunk going for sure, but you are in little danager of passing out from a few tablespoons of kava. Usually 2 tablespoons of PK kava, either prepared traditionally or tossed, gets me where I want to be. One tablespoon will not mess with you too much.

 

[kl.Gray Owl]

For perspective, when I make a batch of kava (not capsules) I typically use 40-60 grams of kava root depending on the strain, of course I am straining out the part that doesn't dissolve, but that's like equivalent to 533 to 800 of those 0.075 gram capsules. If I made a batch of kava with 0.225 grams of kava I would expect not to get anything from it unless it was high percentage kavalactone extract or instant kava. The pills have always seemed like a joke to me.



As for drinking kava, the key is to drink one shell (about 4 oz) then wait 20-30 minutes to see how that affects you before you drink another shell, you can always drink more if you need it, but if you drank too much nothing to do but to sleep it off. Personally, I can typically drink like 2 shells right away then wait and add more if I want it, but that comes from lots of practice. I think passing out is less likely with a high kavain kava vs. a high DHM kava, I'm not sure where Fiji falls in the spectrum.

 

[ObiWan]

When I tried my first Kava powder (it was Mahakea from Kona,probably not the strongest...), I had been taking Kava capsules for a few months. I only took 10 gramms and pressed and strained it for a few minutes. After drinking, I didn't passed out, but  after a few minutes I felt very dizzy for about 15-30 minutes.

Although there is a great chance that you don't feel anything, I would start with 10g and 250ml water. I believe that the Fiji Kava has more DHM and therefore too much could make you dizzy or even cause nausea.

 

[kl.Dubkava]

1 litre of water/milk to 2 tablespoons of powder has been working well for me. It took about 5 sessions for me to really feel the effects properly so have patience.

 

[kl.Dubkava]

Oops. That should be 1 pint not litre!!

 

[Prince Philip]

One piece of advise some kava dealers will give you is to overdose, a lot, the first time you do kava.

 

[kl.grudge]

One piece of advise some kava dealers will give you is to overdose, a lot, the first time you do kava.

That is pretty much what I did, not from some sage advice, but because I am a headstrong mule (smiley: wink).  Since I didn't feel much effect, I just kept pushing the limit adding more and more kava and downing probably about 8 or 10 shells.  The effect for me was I did finally get krunked and then I was pretty sick and finally went to sleep.  I followed that up by drinking kava for several days after (although at a more sane level), even when I got a rash from consuming too much powder (see mule statement again) - although I never felt sick after that.  However after my kava trial by fire, I had my 'kava wings' and can feel kava even in small doses.

Would I recommend that course of idiocy to anyone else?  No, but I thought I would share.