Kava-kava cumulative dosage ?

[someguy200]

Does anybody else feel much more affected by drinking kava if they had it the day before and are still slightly spacey from the first time ? When swim drinks it two days in a row, the first time he's not that affected by it, I mean he definitely feel it and all, but the second day when he takes the same amount it just floors him and he's really disconnected from reality. I'm wondering if anybody else has experiences like this, and knows a good way to dose it ? b/c he's looking for something in between the first and second time effects, where he's strongly affected, but still kind of in control and not violently puking everywhere.

[enquirewithin]

Trial and error is the way to find out! SWIM can get a real hangover from kava is he overdoes it. How much and of what type of kava did SWIY take on each day?

[someguy200]

SWIM usually takes 1 cup of dried kava root, which is a Papua New Guinea variety from a major online supplier. For prep he mixes it with about a half gallon of water, bringing the mixture to a boil, letting it boil for about a minute, then puts it in the fridge overnight, then the next day he mixes in a can of juice concentrate and starts chugging glasses of it. The juice really helps with the taste, but also blocks the tongue/mouth numbing effects, but he still prefer this way b/c he thinks the taste is pretty horrid and kinda makes him gag if he tries to drink it straight anymore. He thinks he's had decent luck by starting with about a 1/2 cup one day, then a full cup the next day, so he'll have to try that again. He's definitely experimented a lot already, he's gone through at least 5 pounds of the stuff, but would only say he's had about 3 strong experiences that were actually pleasant, the other times were either just not that strong or either 1. Ended up puking uncontrollably until most of it was out of him, 2. Blacking out hard not being able to connect what was happening from one minute to the next 3 Going into a weird "blankout" state where he's semi-aware of where he is and when it is, but movement is almost impossible and almost all sense of balance is gone.

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by someguy200

SWIM usually takes 1 cup of dried kava root, which is a Papua New Guinea variety from a major online supplier. For prep he mixes it with about a half gallon of water, bringing the mixture to a boil, letting it boil for about a minute, then puts it in the fridge overnight, then the next day he mixes in a can of juice concentrate and starts chugging glasses of it. The juice really helps with the taste, but also blocks the tongue/mouth numbing effects, but he still prefer this way b/c he thinks the taste is pretty horrid and kinda makes him gag if he tries to drink it straight anymore. He thinks he's had decent luck by starting with about a 1/2 cup one day, then a full cup the next day, so he'll have to try that again. He's definitely experimented a lot already, he's gone through at least 5 pounds of the stuff, but would only say he's had about 3 strong experiences that were actually pleasant, the other times were either just not that strong or either 1. Ended up puking uncontrollably until most of it was out of him, 2. Blacking out hard not being able to connect what was happening from one minute to the next 3 Going into a weird "blankout" state where he's semi-aware of where he is and when it is, but movement is almost impossible and almost all sense of balance is gone.

SWIY seems to have experimented quite a lot. SWIM loathes the taste as well-- it is nauseating. Orange juice sounds worth trying, as is filtering-- the texture of ground root is not that pleasant either!

Maybe it's a fairly mild drug-- strong experiences don't really work. (Drinking too much coffee is very unpleasant, but a little gives a mild stimulation.)

[PoolShark1184]

SWIM definitely knows what SWIY is talking about here. Cumulative dosing works quite well but one has to also be careful of not abusing kava. SWIM's advice for prep, go with a kava strainer bag, the traditional method, without the boiling and such, it works much nicer and is easier to dose.

[someguy200]

PoolShark1184 - SWIM is not too worried about abusing it, it takes a decent amount of patience to make, and when he has a good experience he doesn't feel any desire to take anymore for several days. He's tried the traditional strainer bag method and found it next to worthless, and also tried several other prep methods like just mixing with water and has tried it strained and unstrained. The method he uses now is easy to follow and consistently produces strong results, and when the juice concentrate is mixed in the flavor is very tolerable and there's not much need to strain.

enquirewithin - Orange juice does work good, as do many other juices, SWIY can just pick whatever flavor they like. If they use the right amount of juice it's a little syrupy and kinda coats the unstrained root particles (if they aren't too big, some varieties expand weird when soaked), when mixed this way it's just as easy to get down as a mixed drink with alcohol, but the color is still a nasty thick light brown. SWIM usually chases a glass with a drink of water and something with some peanut butter, which removes any particles from the mouth and completely neutralizes any leftover taste.

Actually some strong experiences with it were really nice, or at least very interesting, there's just a small dosage window for the best effects between getting the light effects and getting knocked on your ass. The first time SWIM got good strong effects he had taken it right before an easy class. He was pretty much high as a kite the whole time and was freaking out a little b/c it was different than he expected and it was nearly impossible to "maintain", it was like he just completely forgot how to act normally, and he had a strong desire to act like a crazy person, and to talk to, touch, kiss, and cuddle with any willing girls (there probably was a few), but was afraid they'd realize how high he was, so he just sat there and stared around the room the whole time then passed out into a coma of a nap when he got home.

Does SWIY notice strange memory effects when using kava, like having sudden flashes of old memories and being able to remember what SWIY was thinking when they were happening ? SWIM gets that, and also if he sleeps and dreams it's usually like a replay of something he recently did but is very intense emotionally.

[PoolShark1184]

Originally Posted by someguy200

Does SWIY notice strange memory effects when using kava, like having sudden flashes of old memories and being able to remember what SWIY was thinking when they were happening ?

In two words: HELL YES. This is one of the strangest side effects that swim has noticed from kava, glad its not just swim. This is a good description of what its like, too as swim has had a hard time describing it before.

swim thinks kava is a very complex drug and needs more research. Swim would love to know more about what is really going on inside his head when he is sitting there numbed mouth, huge smile

[someguy200]

SWIM just got another 1lb shipment of kava and haS been doing some experiments to find the most consistent way to get strong pleasant experiences. Last night he took a little less than 1 cup of it, and 2 days before that I took about 1/2 cup of it, as sort of a primer dose. This every other day dosing schedule seems to work pretty good, he ended up passing out into a very blissful nap where he felt like he had kind of fallen into the sofa. Theres been some common effects to a lot of his kava experiences and he's wondering if anybody else has had these ?

1. Time feels like its happening at a different rate than usual. This is usually time dilation where time feels like its 3 or 4 times longer than it actually is, but SWIM thinks he's had it the other way too. He's thinking this effect might be part of what causes either the extreme refreshment or extreme exhaustion after a strong kava experience. For example most of the times that he's fallen asleep while on kava he's only slept for a few hours, but its felt like 8 or more and he's really surprised when he looks at the clock. On the other hand, the times where he's had bad experiences and been uncomfortable he's very exhausted the next day, probably like he had been up an extra 6-8 hours.

2. He seems to have a better ability to visualize how something he's thinking about would happen / look like, and a better idea what something he's looking at would feel and taste like.

3. He kind of gets the shakes right when the kava is coming on, kind of like he's tensing up until all his anxiety is gone.

4. He kind of loses track of his body position, like it's disconnected from his actual body. Like if he thinks about moving his arms around it kind of feels like he is moving them, even though he's not, or if he's sitting or laying down it kind of feels like he falls "into" whatever he's on.

5. Sometimes he gets a kind of "thought echo / loop" where its like his thoughts are repeated a few times, or something somebody says is repeated a few times in his mind. This also seems to give him a very strange feeling and thoughts if he looks people in the eyes or looks at his eyes in a mirror.

6. The nausea seems to be mostly from the taste of kava, but also from the loss of body position, and getting the taste out of his mouth and laying down seems to clear it up pretty good. Taking a gulp of water then eating a small piece of celery with peanut butter works pretty well. Also wearing warm comfortable clothes really seems to help the experience, like you're wrapped up in a warm blanket or something.

7. He seems to focus visually in a weird way, like his eyes focus more independently than usual, and he gets a little bit of zoom in / tunnel vision, and he sees things at a little bit different rate than they actually happen, or sometimes it seems like he misses or gains some visual frames.

8. Food is very unpredictable, some things taste amazing, while others will almost cause instant vomiting.

Last night when he took the kava he was already feeling kind of messed up because he hadn't slept the night before, and took a dose of caffeine/ephedra pills in the morning and another a couple hours before the kava, and had also taken about a gram of Rhodiola Rosea 3% in the morning. He's thinking he just fell asleep from the kava because the ephedra wore off, but after the kava wore off in about 2 hours and he woke up it felt like he had slept all night and he was completely refreshed. He's mixed kava with stimulants other times and they seem to have a good synergy, the kava kind of breaks you loose from reality and the stimulants give you more energy and keep you active, and keep you from wanting to lay down and pass out. It can be very euphoric or kind of frustrating, like you're mind is being pulled in a 100 different directions at once, but I'm thinking that is dependent on what stimulant you use - If it makes you speedy or hyper it will probably be crazy, if it just gives you more energy and focus it will probably be good.

Tomorrow SWIM is going to take another dose of kava with ephedra, but this time he'll be well rested and it'll be earlier in the day. He's not going to drink the solid root particles this time, because he thinks that might be causing some of the nausea and the spacey feelings the next day. Also adding some food coloring to the drink seems to help on a psychological level, by changing it from a nasty thick brown color.