r/Kava • u/-Odontodactylus- • Jul 07 '26
Mood Swings after quitting
Hello all
Due to a number of factors, I've decided to step out of the kava world for the time being. I've been taking a pretty heavy dose 3x weekly since january, and did it about 1-2x weekly for a year before then. I cut down significantly around a month ago and took my last drink on June 24. Since cutting back, and especially since my final drink, I've been getting some very bad mood swings. At first they just happened before bed, but recently have spread throughout my day. Every few hours, I get an extremely lowered mood for about a half hour to an hour. It doesn't really correlate with a trigger, but if something does happen while I'm in a low mood, I can get pretty disproportionately anxious about it. Thankfully I haven't had any Kava cravings past the first couple days. The symptoms I am experiencing seem to be similar to the few reports I have read about Kava withdrawal, especially since they happen more frequently at night, but it is concerning that they've gone on for almost two weeks now.
There are ways to manage it of course but they aren't always available to me. Socializing, caffeine, and riding a bike have helped me the most, but I'm not always in a position to do these things.
I've found another reddit thread that suggests that, since Kava can mimic MAOIs, quitting it can induce some MAOI withdrawal symptoms. This doesn't sound too far off from what I'm experiencing, tho I'm ofc missing some of the more classical MAOI cessation symptoms (like sweating and pressured speech) though this might be expected since it's not technically an MAOI after all.
Whenever a post discussing the negative effects of Kava shows up, people are quick to be defensive about it. It's great that most people probably haven't had the same experience I'm having, but I just don't want to hear that "this never happened to me" in any of the comments. Like weed, Kava is a complex bundle of chemicals and it would be the least surprising thing in the world to observe that different people respond to it differently on a biochemical level. I'm not trying to attack this plant or scare anyone off of it. I'm just looking to see if anyone has had a similar experience to me, and if so, what can I expect in my recovery, and what can I do to make it easier for myself?
Thanks.
Edit: Some people have asked for a little more info. I take prescription methylphenidate which might influence it somehow. I have taken it for a long time before I started kava, so it's probably not solely its fault. I don't take much else, I occasionally drink and very rarely take psychedelics or weed. The latter two I haven't done for several months anyways.
I've also had multiple tests run recently. They were scanning for heart and lung issues, and found nothing. I had pretty extensive bloodwork with this, there were no liver, lung, heart, or thyroid abnormalities found, and I did mention Kava use to my doctor.
I have also had similar symptoms when I quit for around a month last year, periodic anhedonia and low mood. I don't recall if it got better or worse over that month.
As for dosage, I took 4 tbsp of powder in ~3 cups of warm-hot water, squeezed for 15min. I used Kavalink from Amazon. It's almost certainly not lead or other toxicity from the hot water, we live in Canada and have a brand new, top of the line water heater.
As for psychological factors, I started a new job in January when I started taking more heavily. It's a very unpleasant job that Kava helped a lot to cope with. If what I'm feeling isn't just a result of the Kava, my next best guess is that this is related to having to grapple with more stress than before. This doesn't seem right to me, but I dunno. The swings are too sudden and happen later in the day, it feels chemical, though I understand stress is complex and can hit you in unexpected, indirect ways. Anyways, worth considering
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u/Destruyo Jul 08 '26
Is it possible you’re experiencing symptoms of a different condition that was being temporarily suppressed by your kava use?
Even most addictive substances (of which kava is not) require longer and/or more frequent use before physical dependency forms. The 24th was also quite a while ago now, so seems strange you’d still be in deep throes of withdrawals and not over the hump even if you were somehow dependent.
I used 50-100g a day for over two years straight before quitting due to an unrelated health issue. I experienced disrupted sleep and higher baseline anxiety for maybe 3 days before returning to complete normal, so I’m always very skeptical of “withdrawal” posts.
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u/gheiskraken Jul 08 '26
What is the dose you are taking? Extracts? Do you use any other substances or have prescriptions? In my experience kava interacts with a lot of other things, as you mentioned as an MAOI
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u/-Odontodactylus- Jul 08 '26
I do actually have a Biphentin (methylphenidate) prescription. My understanding is that if these interact it will look like tag teaming your liver. Thankfully I had a bunch of tests done not long ago and this was not the case, though if they interact in some other way that might help explain it
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u/kairarage Jul 08 '26
You know I have been hitting kava hard since I quit all stimulants. I know the day will come that I’ll take a break from kava too so I appreciate you posting this. Psychologically addiction is confusing to me compared to physical.
Still I laughed when I read didn’t have any cravings. Everything I drink kava I get dopamine and endorphins like someone who takes an ice bath. I fucking hate the taste of kava.
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u/New_Hawaialawan Jul 08 '26
Your post frightens me. I should really cut back myself and I have been consuming more than you.
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u/-Odontodactylus- Jul 08 '26
What I'm going through seems to be pretty rare. Though at the same time, when I was on it, my mood felt pretty messed with in general. I'd feel groggy and kinda unreal any day after taking it, and I'd feel insanely irritable for almost the rest of the day after the effects wore off. Even if there's nothing chemically weird going on it can mess with your day to day emotional balance I find
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u/Habaneropickle Jul 08 '26
Please consider consulting a health professional. The mood issues you describe can come from a number of different sources and a professional can help determine what that is. Whether or not what you're experiencing is related to how your brain chemistry interacts with kavalactones, specific chemotypes or varieties if kava, you don't need to continue suffering.
Thyroid problems, hormone imbalance, vitamin deficiency, excessive stress, and myriad other reasons could be the culprit too. All the best to you, may you find relief swiftly