Are liver tests needed before using kava?

[WendyD]

Hello,
I am mostly a noob, I tried it back in the late fall but my stomach didn't like it. I want to try it again and in fact did but need to know if someone who has been a daily drinker for 10 years needs to get their liver tested before using Kava. I stopped drinking wine 8 nights ago and most nights I can't sleep well and even if I do sleep 7 to 8 hours I still feel extremely tired and have headaches - to get me over this hump, I thought I'd give Kava another try. My stomach handled the Kava well a couple of nights ago, also I slept better when I drank a few cup fulls and felt better the next day. I just want to make sure I am being safe after using alcohol for so long. I drank about a half to 3/4 bottle of wine a night if that matters. I have had no liver tests to tell me if how bad off it is, though I wasn't feeling that good before I quit a week ago (but I feel worse now - more fatigued and tired). I don't miss the wine much, though when it comes to holidays and other celebrations, I probably will. Thanks for any advice.

 

[HeadHodge]

Hello,
I am mostly a noob, I tried it back in the late fall but my stomach didn't like it. I want to try it again and in fact did but need to know if someone who has been a daily drinker for 10 years needs to get their liver tested before using Kava. I stopped drinking wine 8 nights ago and most nights I can't sleep well and even if I do sleep 7 to 8 hours I still feel extremely tired and have headaches - to get me over this hump, I thought I'd give Kava another try. My stomach handled the Kava well a couple of nights ago, also I slept better when I drank a few cup fulls and felt better the next day. I just want to make sure I am being safe after using alcohol for so long. I drank about a half to 3/4 bottle of wine a night if that matters. I have had no liver tests to tell me if how bad off it is, though I wasn't feeling that good before I quit a week ago (but I feel worse now - more fatigued and tired). I don't miss the wine much, though when it comes to holidays and other celebrations, I probably will. Thanks for any advice.

Funny you should ask... I just posted this http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/liver-testing.11463/
You dont need to need to have a liver test, But it would be great if you could do it to track your experience. I have proof by doing these tests that my liver was perfectly fine while drinking kava and then went to hell after my neck surgery from all the pills, alcohol, nyquil I was taking and had stopped kava for 3 months.

IMHO not using kava leads to liver problems.

 

[WendyD]

Thanks Headhodge - that is helpful!!

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Hi, my experience was roughly the same as yours only it was beer and longer than 10 years. I've been drinking kava since the beginning of the year and over that time kava completely reduced and then eliminated my desire for alcohol (probably something to do with the GABA receptors, I assume). It took time and it was a steady progression but just in the past week it was completed, I went from pouring that one drink I couldn't ever finish any more to not even bothering to pour it. My wife has experienced the same process.

But it wasn't like kava replaced the alcohol, just sort of rendered it irrelevant. At no point did I ever fight alcohol or fight cravings for alcohol, it just withered away, not with a bang but with a whimper. So you think now that you'll miss the wine at holidays and celebrations but my experience tells me there's a good chance you won't, so I wouldn't waste any time or effort in worrying about it now.

 

[PepperyPyrone]

@HeadHodge go figure, right? Crazy world we live in.

 

[PepperyPyrone]

@Krunkie McKrunkface well said. I couldn't agree more.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

@Krunkie McKrunkface well said. I couldn't agree more.

ftr I was not trying to deal with a drinking problem or use kava to help me stop drinking when I started drinking kava. It never occurred to me, as I didn't think I had one. I was just being an advance party guinea pig for my wife who would be trying it for a couple of things to see if it helped, mostly sleeping problems and mild anxiety, and she didn't want to try any of the standard meds for either. I thought I'd check it out first to help her, and maybe have a little fun with it. Nothing happened for two weeks and then the dreams kicked in and that got me into it. I'm a dream hobbyist and kava is like dream alchemy. Then I just went with it, eventually hit the sweet spot of krunk, and all sorts of other benefits started kicking in, probably more dramatic for me than most as I've had a chronic inflammatory condition for the last 50 years and kava is a powerful anti-inflammatory. Really, the alcohol bit was the last thing on my mind. But in that time I've gone from drinking almost every day, 4 - 10 light beers, down to nothing and do not miss it one bit, I mean zero, zippo, nada, no cravings, no regrets, it's just irrelevant, pointless. I have nothing against the idea of drinking a beer, no objection moral or otherwise. I just have zero interest at all.

 

[WendyD]

Thanks Krunkie for your recovery testimony! I'll try to be more optimistic about my own recovery. If I can just get over this lousy fatigue, though I think the kava will help.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

wishing you all the best. At the very least I hope you'll be able to come to enjoy kava, if only for itself, as a pleasurable experience, which it really can be for many people. I think it's really fun, albeit a calm, relaxing, peaceful fun, which is perhaps the best kind.

 

[Ricardo Piquant]

Has anybody anywhere on this forum posted about bad liver results?

I can only speak for myself. .. but I have liver tests completed every 6 weeks. I drink 4 to 5 big shells nearly every day. I've not once had a bad liver test. But I also use turmeric and milk thistle... I'm not sure if that does anything but so far I've had zero problems. I think if kava was really bad for ones liver my ass would have been long gone by now lol

 

[HeadHodge]

Has anybody anywhere on this forum posted about bad liver results?

I can only speak for myself. .. but I have liver tests completed every 6 weeks. I drink 4 to 5 big shells nearly every day. I've not once had a bad liver test. But I also use turmeric and milk thistle... I'm not sure if that does anything but so far I've had zero problems. I think if kava was really bad for ones liver my ass would have been long gone by now lol

Yeah, thats why I think that fighting over Tudei and FKBs is so bogus, counterproductive and a real waste of time when there are so many other more eloquent and effective ways to destroy ones liver.

 

[Groggy]

Yeah, thats why I think that fighting over Tudei and FKBs is so bogus, counterproductive and a real waste of time when there are so many other more eloquent and effective ways to destroy ones liver.

I agree with the exception of the more immediate effects from tudei, I mean why bother when there is a plethora of noble to be had?

 

[HeadHodge]

I agree with the exception of the more immediate effects from tudei, I mean why bother when there is a plethora of noble to be had?

Sure... Like eating dairy products when youre lactose intolerant. You know the ice cream tastes good and isnt going to kill you, but it will give you a stomach ache afterwards. So why bother when you can easily eat sorbet instead?

 

[Groggy]

Sure... Like eating dairy products when youre lactose intolerant. You know the ice cream tastes good and isnt going to kill you, but it will give you a stomach ache afterwards. So why bother when you can easily eat sorbet instead?

Well ice cream won't give you a 2 day hangover, but yeah, like that.

 

[PepperyPyrone]

Anything that gives you a hangover cannot be good for you. Especially for two days. I'll have the noble, please.

 

[HeadHodge]

Anything that gives you a hangover cannot be good for you. Especially for two days. I'll have the noble, please.

With a big scoop of french vanilla ice cream!

 

[Zaphod]

I agree with the exception of the more immediate effects from tudei, I mean why bother when there is a plethora of noble to be had?

My thoughts exactly. I still can't figure out, based on descriptions, why people seek out and want to drink tudei. I have asked a couple of times on the forum to drinkers of tudei and have never gotten a real good answer. I am not even really convinced that tudei is bad for your liver - but the effects alone don't sound like something anyone would want to drink.

 

[The Kap'n]

My thoughts exactly. I still can't figure out, based on descriptions, why people seek out and want to drink tudei. I have asked a couple of times on the forum to drinkers of tudei and have never gotten a real good answer. I am not even really convinced that tudei is bad for your liver - but the effects alone don't sound like something anyone would want to drink.

I drank it exclusively. I was convinced that cost and strength were the ratios to look for. To me it was this mindset "Why would I buy any of the other kavas if this kava gets me krunk at 1/2 the dose". This was the dark ages of kava info though, and I couldn't figure out why my skin was cracking, bleeding, and I had turned into a 90 year old zombie. I know now!

 

[Zaphod]

I drank it exclusively. I was convinced that cost and strength were the ratios to look for. To me it was this mindset "Why would I buy any of the other kavas if this kava gets me krunk at 1/2 the dose". This was the dark ages of kava info though, and I couldn't figure out why my skin was cracking, bleeding, and I had turned into a 90 year old zombie. I know now!

Fair enough. I know when I started my initial thought was roughly the same. I wanted "strong" kava because I assumed that it was much like St. John's wort or other herbals where the effects were good, but just above placebo levels. This forum was what led me to trying a good vendor of noble only kava. That being said there are folks on the site who still seek it out and drink it. What drives them to do it when they know about noble and still want tudei?

 

[HeadHodge]

Fair enough. I know when I started my initial thought was roughly the same. I wanted "strong" kava because I assumed that it was much like St. John's wort or other herbals where the effects were good, but just above placebo levels. This forum was what led me to trying a good vendor of noble only kava. That being said there are folks on the site who still seek it out and drink it. What drives them to do it when they know about noble and still want tudei?

tudei is like noble in that every strain exhibits different properties and its wrong to simply lump them or noble into a single group. Ive had some tudei that has made me physically ill and others that I really enjoyed. Same goes for Noble. I believe that you should try it for yourself and see how it personally affects you. In fact GHK has claimed they can provide Nobles as strong as tudei and I suppose the same is true that you can find tudeis as weak as noble.

I do strongly believe that vendors should be honest about what product they sell i.e. the lastest N@H debacle, in order to make an informed buying decision.