DOSE:

oral

Kava

(liquid)

BODY WEIGHT:

250 lb

I am an alcoholic. I love(d) alcohol, whether beer, whisky, wine, or what have you. It gave me vivid dreams, I didn't get hangovers, and I felt generally more confident. However, my blood pressure went up quite a bit, and I ended up hospitalized with gastric spasms which I thought were a heart attack. Did some damage to my stomach and esophagus. Also did some damage to my family relationships.

So now I'm not drinking. But I still wanted to find something to 'take the edge off,' particularly in the evenings. Tried a a few different herbal and plant substances, none of which helped. Then I read about Kava root, and did some other internet research and decided to give it a try.

There are some similarities between Kava and alcohol, but also significant differences. The initial feeling is similar, and my motor functions can become somewhat impaired. However, my wife hasn't objected to this the way she did to alcohol. She said alcohol made me 'different', but so far she hasn't said anything about me being different with Kava.

So can I get high with Kava? Kind of. Like I say, it's a little bit similar to alcohol, but not the same. I like it, but I haven't developed the craving for it I had with alcohol.

The problem is that it tastes like crap. It's like drinking foul-tasting sand. I've had it come back up a couple of times, which isn't very pleasant.

So I try to brew it the more traditional way, which is to soak several tablespoons in water for a period of time, and then drink the water. The trouble is that the effect is just not as strong when I do whip up some of the powdered root in a blender and drink it. I recently got some Kava from Vanuatu, which is where the good stuff is supposed to come from, and I really can't drink this stuff down. Way too gritty. So I'm still working on figuring how to get the effect from the other methods. I also add a little half-and-half since some of the kavalactones are fat-soluble.

So I'm really liking its effects, but I'm struggling to figure out just how to use it.

Exp Year: 2012	ExpID: 96118
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 55
Published: Jan 5, 2017	Views: 1,639
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Kava (30) : Alone (16), Retrospective / Summary (11)