Kava & the six main Kavalactones

[thetalkingasshole (OP)]

I got a bottle of #100 kava extract pills
333mg of 30% root extract, 100mg of pure kavalactones
ive been going to a kava bar lately and paying out the ass for the right to feel chill
this bottle only cost $30, about what id spend on a long night at kava bar

Anyways I've been doing my thing, lookin at the papers, getting the straight poop on it
and there seems to be a lot of very cool positive effects
as well as some pretty terrible ones

The six "major" Kavalactones are

Methysticin
Dihydromethysticin
Kavain
Dihydrokavain
Yangonin
Demethoxyyangonin

Some are GABA modulators (Kavain, dh-Kavain)
Others are cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonists (yangonins)
And others are calcium channel blockers (Methysticins)

Each also seems to have specific negative effects
some cause apoptosis, others induce enzymes that create potent carcinogens
and there is a lot of talk about liver and enzyme damage

Anyways, I take about 5-8 caps and it is as noticeable as 2mg xanax
good shit, but maybe toxic?

I know there is some talk about the difference between whole root vs root bark
in terms of toxicity
but a chemical is a chemical and will cause these effects regardless of whats wrapped around it
unless of course there are other chemicals present to mitigate these effects

[Opus]

I liked Kava when I first discovered it, but the novelty wore off pretty fast. Taking the shit orally really turns my stomach now, I can't anymore. I'm not sure what changed. It was after that I heard a bunch of stuff about it being hard on the liver, and haven't touched it since.

I read a report recently by someone who ran an extraction on Kava and smoked the result. Dude said it worked surprisingly well.

[Chip]

please tell me what does it feel like (a benzo/alcohol/sedative, opiate etc.) ?

[Opus]

Relaxant, mild euphoric. Definitely benzo-ish in that it's fairly subtle in the doses I was using, but there's no question there's something to it.

I was taking it in tinctures and the shit has strong numbing properties (the guy smoking extracts reported a strong numbing effect), so it can make your esophagus &/or gut numb and that feeling didn't fly very well with me -- that's the main reason why I quit fucking with it. It'd be like swallowing a bunch of lidocaine, ick..

[Chip]

thanks Opus - so it's a local anesthetic too ... interesting.

[SPARKSFLY666]

I've been taking kava for a few years now daily, mostly at night. HAVNT seen much in the way of tolerance like nearly everything else I've tried. Tincture from herbpharm is what I use. (Root/rhizome) it's been a big help with both inducing sleep as well as keeping my Mind from its typical obsessive thought process when waking up in the middle Of the night.

[shoybs]

@thetalkingasshole 5-8 caps feels like 2mg Xanax for you!? Shit man what brand is that?? I'll blackout on 2mg of Xanax, and it takes me at least 60 capsules to get to that point.

I liked Kava when I first discovered it, but the novelty wore off pretty fast. Taking the shit orally really turns my stomach now, I can't anymore. I'm not sure what changed. It was after that I heard a bunch of stuff about it being hard on the liver, and haven't touched it since.

I read a report recently by someone who ran an extraction on Kava and smoked the result. Dude said it worked surprisingly well.

Same here. First few times I tried it I bought capsules at a health food store and went small (10-20 capsules). A year or so later I came across another store at college that sold the same capsules, so I bought a bottle and took all 60. After about a half hour I blacked the fuck out for the rest of the night. Then just about a year ago I bought 2 bottles of 30 capsules and 3 bottles of liquid with droppers (40 doses each). Over the course of the day I took all 60 of the capsules, and then I drank the liquid like shots. Just tossed the whole bottle back and chased it with a root beer. I didn't black out that time, but there were definitely some effects - people kept telling me I was slurring my speech, but I couldn't tell. I did notice I had a small amount of trouble walking and staying upright. And it definitely had an anxiolytic effect because that night I mustered up the courage to make a move on a friend of mine that I have a huge crush on, and we ended up hooking up, which was awesome. I'm not really sure whether that had more to do with the kava or the 6oz of 170 proof alcohol that the liquid kava was dissolved in. But oh my god, the next day, the very thought of kava and that stomach-numbing horror-show made me want to vomit in my mouth. To this day I can't even think about kava without wanting to puke.