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What Causes the Kava itchiness?

NZdude

NZdude

Kava Curious
Recently I have been getting itchy skin all over, not too bad, but still not nice. I have had it a little before in the past, and just stopped for a day or three and its gone away. But just lately, I have been so keen on trying all the new kavas, that I have only had about 2 days off in the last 4 or 5 weeks.

But anyway, I can deal with the itchiness, and will have a few days off now, but just wondering what it is that actually causes it? Is it dehydration, allergic reaction, liver issues? Apologies if this has been talked about on here, I tried to search but couldn't find anything.
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Probably kava dermopathy. Are the itchy areas getting a little flaky and dry? It's not really well understood how it is caused but will definitely occur when you consume lots of kava with few breaks.

If it is indeed dermopathy, no it's not related to allergies, liver issues or dehydration.
 
NZdude

NZdude

Kava Curious
kavadude said:
Probably kava dermopathy. Are the itchy areas getting a little flaky and dry? It's not really well understood how it is caused but will definitely occur when you consume lots of kava with few breaks.
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My hands have been very dry, and i need to keep creaming them up, but the only place the skin is looking different is where my neck meets the shoulders, that's been looking very dry and a little wrinkly until i put some cream on, but the itchiness is all over, especially back, sides, behind the knees and inside of the elbows.

If there anything, other than cream that can help. I mean, I have read on here about taking diphenhydramine, but I dont want or need anything so drastic, but maybe something like drinking lots of water would help?

Interesting how it's not well understood. I wonder if its anything to do with the liver processing it?
 
Roaddog

Roaddog

Kava Who?
Wouldn't leave ya hanging like that bro. Actually @HeadHodge , said it best when he said , If only we could find a kava, that didn't make ya fart, and itch, we would have it made. Or something like that. dermopathy to me is how kava regulates its use. Meaning I drink too much, and I itch to much, and vies versa.
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
NZdude said:
My hands have been very dry, and i need to keep creaming them up, but the only place the skin is looking different is where my neck meets the shoulders, that's been looking very dry and a little wrinkly until i put some cream on, but the itchiness is all over, especially back, sides, behind the knees and inside of the elbows.

If there anything, other than cream that can help. I mean, I have read on here about taking diphenhydramine, but I dont want or need anything so drastic, but maybe something like drinking lots of water would help?

Interesting how it's not well understood. I wonder if its anything to do with the liver processing it?
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Dermopathy occurs in like really weird patterns unique to the individual generally, so yeah that sounds about right.

Amlactin lotion is a favorite around here.

I think there are a couple theories floating around but really, nobody has done a whole lot of research on it. Here's infraredz's excellent summary of research and treatment options: http://www.kavaforums.com/forum/wiki/kava-dermopathy/
 
infraredz

infraredz

BULA!
Lotion (especially an AHA like the treid-and-true AmLactin) will help, but if it's itchiness due to histamine release, try some diphenhydramine (at bedtime since it makes most drowsy) and see if that helps. If it does, and you can tolerate the drowsiness (I can stay completely awake on 50mg of it whereas some people would be knocked out for a nighttime) then use that too.

If the lotion doesn't help, try a topical diphenhydramine cream.
 
Roaddog

Roaddog

Kava Who?
Thank you Im glad I remind you of this video.(y)Ya, I too am doing everything I can to alleviate it. But I've got it all the time. I use all the fancy lotions, they somewhat help. I can consume kava every night, and hit it hard one day, into night, every week, and my dermopathy will stay at manageable levels. If I exceed this, which often happens, I get some bad spots that can be very irritating. But I keep a patch on me at all times. I wish you the best. Much love. Roaddog....
 
NZdude

NZdude

Kava Curious
Do you think any kind of antihistamine would work? We cant get that benadroy here. I use loratadine for hayfever in summer - would that work?
 
infraredz

infraredz

BULA!
It might. It's a 2nd gen. H-1 antagonist and I've always found that the "classic" antihistamines work the best, especially for true allergic reactions, though that's just me.

Of course, remember that a topical antihistamine would work quite possibly too, but I would try that after an oral antihistamine.

I'll include some of the more common of ones you might have acces to (I'll include drug names since you're not in the US): Dimenhydrinate, Doxylamine [Succinate] and Hydroxyzine
 
NZdude

NZdude

Kava Curious
infraredz said:
It might. It's a 2nd gen. H-1 antagonist and I've always found that the "classic" antihistamines work the best, especially for true allergic reactions, though that's just me.

Of course, remember that a topical antihistamine would work quite possibly too, but I would try that after an oral antihistamine.

I'll include some of the more common of ones you might have acces to (I'll include drug names since you're not in the US): Dimenhydrinate, Doxylamine [Succinate] and Hydroxyzine
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Thanks so much for taking the time to send me that info. I quickly google seached those, and no signs of being able to find any of those in NZ. So are you saying a "classic" antihistamines is the first gen types? Its mostly only second gen here, but i can ask in the pharmacy. Did you not get much relief from the 2nd gen antihistamines?

My itchiness got so bad last night, i could hardly sleep. I abstained from drinking kava last night, and its a little bit better today, but because it was hard to sleep due to the itchyiness i nearly got up and drank some, but glad i didnt.
 
infraredz

infraredz

BULA!
Well any antihistamine (even the 2nd gen ones) will be better than nothing, that's for sure! They bind to the same receptors (mostly) though the affinities for some important ones are usually lower, and almost absent in CNS binding (which is what makes me "feel", that in my experience, 1st gens are superior though that's subjective.

Go look in your pharmacy in the sleep aid aisle and tell me what sort of products (importantly, the ingredients) they have since most 1st gen antihistamines are commonly used in OTC sleep meds in the US (eg. Tylenol PM, Advil PM, NyQuil Night, Unisom, etc)
 
NZdude

NZdude

Kava Curious
infraredz said:
Well any antihistamine (even the 2nd gen ones) will be better than nothing, that's for sure! They bind to the same receptors (mostly) though the affinities for some important ones are usually lower, and almost absent in CNS binding (which is what makes me "feel", that in my experience, 1st gens are superior though that's subjective.

Go look in your pharmacy in the sleep aid aisle and tell me what sort of products (importantly, the ingredients) they have since most 1st gen antihistamines are commonly used in OTC sleep meds in the US (eg. Tylenol PM, Advil PM, NyQuil Night, Unisom, etc)
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thanks for the info - i'll have a look.
 
Roaddog

Roaddog

Kava Who?
@infraredz is trying to get you to diphenhydramine. I use them to get to sleep. But never noticed any relief from the itch. But then again, I take them every night. So maybe my itch would be worse, had I not take them. It may help for sure. See I have trouble believing the itch is an allergic reaction. But rather a reaction of kava. I know that this isn't the answer I wanted to hear, but, I hear it goes away, pretty quick if you take some time off. But it will come back, when you start drinking it again. I wish there was some serious science done on this subject. But there's no money to be made, from finding a cure, so no money to use for research. I guess we are the closest thing to that research. I know some folks don't even get it. It doesn't bother my wife at all, but she uses it less. She drinks it in the morning like a cup of coffee, because it makes her go to the bathroom. I would be curious to see a pole on who gets it, and who dose not. I always see the same faces, on all the Kava Dermopathy threads. Much love. Roaddog....
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Roaddog

Roaddog

Kava Who?
kavadude said:
@Roaddog check the census results. 21% of respondents reported experiencing dermopathy at some point. I was actually gonna go back and see if there was any correlation between frequency/dose and whether people reported dermo or not, but I am too lazy.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_bSMp821t_Jb2i0o0Rcx-PZqii52jBOMSq4Fwppm2xs/viewanalytics

I would bet money that most if not all of us who get dermopathy are daily drinkers and probably on the heavier side dose-wise too.
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I agree. I would be considered a heavy drinker. Meaning daily 5 or 6 tablespoons, and 1 day a week 12 tablespoons. I guess that's moderate, to heavy. But I have heard of 12 tablespoons daily. That seems a bit much there. I would be broke out every where.

It appears after closer observation, of the pole, that the pole is a bit skewed, with information irrelevant to dermopathy . meaning yes 21% of the total problems with kava, was dermopathy. But 31 out of 66 people claimed to have problems with it, so in that event, wouldn't we really be saying 31 out of 66 people have dermopathy more like roughly 45% of people get it. Basicly close to half the people. Am I understanding the numbers correctly? Much love. Roaddog....
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Ahahahaha oh my goodness roaddog, I never noticed that. And you guys just let me post about those numbers like I knew what the hell I was doing, probably laughing your asses off...

Yes roaddog, you are correct, half of the respondents reported issues with dermopathy.
 
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