kava

[Brenndy]

Has anyone used kava-kava (Piper methysticum) as a sleep aid and/or to help qwell anxiety symptoms?

Thanks in advance.

[karlozz]

ya kava is really very good stuff for anxiety and sleep disorders. I am also using it for some months.

[Brenndy]

Many thanks.  You are the Best.

[Paxiled]

Kava is probably the best natural anti-anxiety remedy.  It's both a muscle relaxant and acts on GABA receptors, but nobody really understand the complexity of how any plant works.  Beyond us mere humans to figure out.  It comes standardized and non-standardized.  Most recommend the standardized, but you do have to consider that the standardized form was sort of implicated in four cases of liver disease.  It's a controversial finding, because the people were also on prescription meds and took drugs, but of course they blamed the kava.  That being said, the traditional use of kava, meaning not standardized, has not been implicated in liver problems, so to play it safe you can try that.  I would say it's probably fine in any form as long as you don't have any other factors that would call for caution with the liver.  But for anxiety, herbs are usually used along with other remedies and in combination, not singly.  I think it's worth a try.  But for sleep, I'd probably recommend a valerian based combination -- it's better known for sleep.  Personally, I'd try melatonin first for sleep -- about the safest substance used in medicine of any kind.  .5 or 1mg is a good dose to start with.  There are a lot of options.  Try picking up a book called Natural Highs by Hyla Cass, a psychiatrist at UCLA, for a fairly good, though somewhat old, overview of what's available naturally for treating anxiety, and pay very close attention to Greenie's caution that none of this advice applies if you're also taking medication -- that makes it much more complicated.  And as with meds, the long-term cure, if there is one, is in therapy and relaxation control, such as meditation.  Also research passionflower -- it's a better all around regulator of the nervous system -- and taurine, the amino acid that manufactures GABA.  Good luck.

[RubyWitch]

Hi again, Brenndy! We have to stop meeting like this! LOL
While there will be some folks who could answer your question on this forum, I would suggest you move it over to the Complementary Medicine Forum where they deal more with natural/herbal remedies. Paxiled or Joan are both extremely knowledgable about these and can give you an expert response.
I'm sure you'll get some advice here as well.
Please be careful about mixing herbal and pharmaceuticals until you know there is no interaction.
Peace g/f
Greenlydia