Aloha, friends!
It seems as though we get this question often and although we mention it in the Kona Kava Farm FAQ, we thought it would be a good idea to talk about here as well. Here are a few different versions of the same question, all basically asking the same thing:
“I am on a prescription medication to treat my anxiety. I’ve read that kava is a natural way to treat anxiety and I was wondering if it would be safe for me to continue taking my prescription as well as drink kava.”
“I’ve recently stopped taking my prescription and am interested to know when it is safe for me to start taking kava. Could you give me some advice?”
“Makaira, help! I take an over-the-counter allergy medicine every day and I need to know if taking kava along with the medicine will give me any bad side effects.”
If you’ve ever sent us an email or given us a call, you know how much we love helping customers and how much we love talking about kava. And can you blame us? Kava is our lives! But we have to draw the line when it comes to medical advice. You see, although kava is perfectly safe for consumption, we here at Kona Kava Farm are farmers; not doctors! We don’t know anything about prescription drugs, the mixing of drugs with kava, or any side effects you might encounter if you do mix drugs with kava.
If you feel you need to include “I know this is a loaded question”, or “I know you probably can’t answer”, or “I know you’re not supposed to talk about Kava and prescription medication” or “Please don’t tell me to go to my doctor to get advice”, or anything along those lines in your email, it’s likely an inappropriate email to send us. Believe me; we want to help. We wish we could say anything we wanted in relation to what an amazing supplement, medicine, and cure for all that ails you that we know kava kava to be, but we, by law, are very restricted on what we can offer you.
I know it’s far less enticing to try to get an answer on Yahoo Answers or some random forum, but that’s the best we can offer you when it comes to anything that comes anywhere near the realm of offering medical advice regarding our Kava.
WHAT WE CANNOT HELP YOU WITH:
- We cannot discuss drug interactions, period.
- We cannot speak about Kava helping with any diseases
- We cannot discuss replacing a prescription medication with Kava
- We cannot discuss if Kava can be taken during pregnancy
- We do not discuss the best way to get “high” from Kava
- We cannot discuss whether Kava
This is a very, very abbreviated list. All we ask from our customers is to think about our legal obligations, and then to not put us in uncomfortable positions regarding how we need to legally respond to you. Anyone dispensing medical advice in relation to Kava, unless they have a medical license, is doing it illegally.
We can say that historically, kava has been used for thousands of years in the Pacific Islands to help relieve stress, curb anxiety, and ease tension. And of course, it is in our culture that kava be used ceremoniously. We have been using it safely for all those years, before the advent of medical pharmaceuticals. Over the past few decades, with the rise of pharmaceuticals, new medicines have popped up to help cure people’s ailments. We can’t recommend anything about these medicines because, plain and simple, we just don’t know anything about them.
We know kava, we know how it affects us personally (all people experience things differently, just like with coffee and alcohol), and we know it is safe by itself. If you have any questions about how kava might react with your prescription medication, or any medication, the very best person to talk to is the one who prescribed that medicine to you; your doctor!
In other words; our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease and none of us here at the farm (or at our distribution center) are qualified to give any answers related to the effects kava might have with any medication, prescribed or otherwise, even if asked for “hypothetical” situations or any variation of that. We do not and cannot endorse or recommend anything pertaining to kava or our other products being mixed or supplemented with any other ingestible product, such as a prescription medicine, other herbs, or any food products whatsoever. The only person qualified to answer questions having to do with prescribed medication or health-related issues is your doctor.
I hope this clears some things up. We love hearing people’s passions about kava, and we love the trust our loyal customers have in our products, but all medical and health-related issues should be left up to the professionals!
Aloha no!
Makaira
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Thanks for your story Bill, I’m hoping Kava helps me like it did you and it would be life changing if it does! Pharmaceuticals do work, but as we all know they are not worth it sometimes 🙁
Dear Leeanna,
Not many doctors are familiar with kava, unfortunately. If you are looking for good advice, I would recommend seeking out an herbalist in your area. If there isn’t one, you may be able to find an herbalist on line who will be able to answer your questions. Best of luck! 🙂
Aloha no,
Makaira
Hi. I have a question for you. Do you know of a doctor who knows all about kava kava that I could get in touch with? My husband takes an anti-depressant and is sure interested in this product. We live in a very small town in Kansas and the doctors we have here are not into herbal remedies. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Makaira,
Thank You Very Much! 🙂 I will keep you all informed of my progress, I am spreading the word & all of the people that have already tried or ordered your products that I know about are astonished & very happy that they have also found out about Kona Kava Farm. I’m long not finished! 🙂
Take Care & Enjoy,
Bill
Bill,
Thank you, from all of us here at Kona Kava Farm, for offering such an inspiring story. We applaud your bravery, we appreciate your open mind and your determination to not let this disease win out, and we’re extremely happy that you have found what we have known about Kava for many generations: Kava can be a healer in so many ways; both mentally AND physically, and it seems that you’ve found this out for yourself.
We could have said that better, and wish more people realized this, and not just about Kava. Mother Nature has provided us with a vast cornucopia of healing medicines, but they are constantly under fire by those in power.
Thank you for sharing; we’ve sent off a permanent discount code for you at our shop. Please keep us posted, and please feel free to write me directly with absolutely any questions or concerns you might have now or anytime in the future.
I wish you a long, happy life, and may God bless.
Aloha no, Makaira
Dear Makaira,
I’m a 50 year old male American living in Germany since 1978. I’d like to share my long year but shortened story with everyone.
In 1988 I was diagnosed with SMA after years of suffering from almost daily migraine headaches & slow progressive muscle degeneration of the upper body which also involved constant muscle cramping, muscle tension & knotted muscles. There was no medication therapy to stop or slow down the SMA so I could only try to treat my ailments with different pain medications.
In 1997 I completed a German RN course. Before the Exams my doctor had prescribed Kava capsules to help with the stress and anxieties and they worked wonderfully. I’d always hoped that with my new profession that maybe I would find another answer to treat my condition.
In 2002 I almost went blind and actually according to the eye doctors I should have been. I was then referred to the Neurologists where I finally found doctor’s that would listen to me and my idea that I didn’t have SMA because of the symptomatic. Once I explained why I thought this way they agreed with me and started new testing which showed that I have an Auto-Immune Deficiency but they were unable to determine which one, my condition was dangerous so I was put on medication to suppress my immune system and I was added to their MS group.
In 2004 because of my migraines it was determined that it was because of elevated pressure around the brain and I was finally prescribed two different elixirs, one for inflammation and the other was an addicting opiate.
In 2009 through more testing my illness was finally given the name; Vasculitis and the type is Microscopic Polyangiitis. The life expectancy for this illness untreated is 50-80% of the patients will die within the first 2-5 years. I still don’t think that this is the only illness that I have had this since the beginning of the 80´s causing my condition, but who am I? I then started a therapy with new medications for the pain and muscle tension, went through six months of IV Chemotherapy & after the Chemotherapy I started with weekly injections of MTX. I had so many side effects that from the new medications that new additional medications were prescribed.
In April of 2010 I was actually starting to feel as if I was on the road to dying, that the life was being drained out of me from the effects of the medications. Because of the medications my blood work was showing elevated liver counts and I don’t drink alcohol. Even though I kept telling the doctors since Dec. that I wanted the MTX replaced, they were doing nothing except complaining that my use of the opiate elixirs were increasing again. I finally had enough of the entire process.
For some reason I started thinking about Kava daily. My wife is also an RN and I told her about my thoughts and we both decided to start doing research in the internet. At first we were only getting the horror stories on the German websites about liver damage and then we went to the US websites and found out the truth behind the stories. We also found out that there are still companies out there that are still using the Whole Plant Process. From the 32 cases of liver damage almost all of them were listed doubled to get the total of 32 cases that they were reporting. Also all of the patients had some type of illness that affects the liver or they already had liver damage before using Kava. It’s strange that they don’t mention the thousands of people per medication that die every year because of their side effects and that those medications are not banned.
I then systematically stopped all eleven of the medications that I was taking and started with Kava Elixirs x5 to help with the withdrawals and muscle problems. I also started drinking fresh Ginger Root Tee to give my body that additional help that it needs. My lab work is now showing a drop in the liver counts; I’m not sleeping twelve hours a day anymore or spending five days on the couch like I did after the MTX injections. I’m no longer taking the opiate elixirs & the MTX has been replaced with Arava.
After three days of using your Kava Elixirs x5 my muscle cramping, muscle tension & knotted muscles were basically gone and now are. I’m able to think clearer and able to take an active part in our family life again. Of course the paralysis in both of my arms and rest of my body hasn’t gotten any better but that is something I’ve already learned to accept and live with. Who knows maybe Kava will help the rest of my condition in time to come. It’s all in believing and activating the natural healing properties of the body and it was your product that has helped me find hope again.
It’s true that two people are not the same and that each person will have to make their own experiences with Kava. I’m not bad mouthing modern medicine but I am bad mouthing the responsible people for putting lies into the world because they don’t have the full patent on Kava and stopping or scaring doctors from using Ancient Medicine that has proven itself for thousands of years, just to promote their products.
I am a true believer of nature’s pharmacy and think that if your condition isn’t too serious that you should check to see what God has offered us before accepting the alternate man made products with all of their side effects.
Because of my condition and the long flight I haven’t been able to visit my family in the USA for about twelve years. Now with Kava, my condition is daily getting better and if it keeps doing so I’m really thinking that I might just be able to make that flight again.
I would like to thank you Makaira and the rest of the Kona Kava Farm Team for your expertise, quality and pride in your products.
May God Always Be With & Bless You All! 🙂
I Wish You All Peace, Love and Prosperity,
Bill
Hi my name is Sean From California, and I just received your Kava in the mail yesterday, I got the Mahakea Kona Kava pound and 30 84% Capsules, and I got to say it works very wonderfully for me. It is excellent help for relieving my anxiety and stress, and it give me a calm relaxed feeling with out feeling wasted I can still communicate and think clearly . I just wanted to say the kava is Excellent and I plan on buying more later on from you guys thank you very much. BYE BYE and
Aloha from California.
That’s very true, although you could put up some links to wikipedia and similar sites that explain what’s known about kava’s mechanism of action, and let them draw their own conclusions from there. Basically a sort of how it works section added to the about kava page.