کاوا · Piper methysticum
Safety concern — avoid
It does reduce anxiety. It has also caused liver failure, and that settles it.
This is information, not medical advice. This page is information, not medical advice. Nothing here is a prescription, a diagnosis or a recommendation to take anything, and none of it replaces a doctor who knows your history. Supplements are not harmless because they are natural: they interact with prescription medicines, some are unsafe in pregnancy, and a few can cause real damage. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist before starting anything here, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18, have a liver, kidney or heart condition, or take any regular medication. Never stop a prescribed antidepressant to try a supplement instead.
A root from the Pacific islands, traditionally prepared as a drink and sold in the West as an anti-anxiety supplement.
Kava has decent trial evidence for reducing anxiety - better than most herbs here. It is listed as one to avoid anyway because of what came with that: reports of severe liver injury including failures needing transplant, which led several countries to ban or restrict it. Whether extraction method or contamination was to blame is still argued. Until that is settled, an effective supplement that occasionally destroys a liver is not a trade worth making when safer options exist.
Not recommended here.
Recorded because a person who has decided to try something will find a number somewhere, and a forum's number is worse than a trial's. It is not a recommendation, and the right amount for you depends on things only a doctor who knows your history can weigh.
Do not combine with alcohol, paracetamol, or any medicine affecting the liver. Stop immediately and seek care for yellowing eyes or skin, dark urine, pale stools or persistent nausea. Not for pregnancy. Heavy use also causes a scaly skin rash.
Not commonly available, which is just as well. If you see it sold as a natural anti-anxiety cure, read this section again first.
Tell your doctor or pharmacist about everything else you take, prescription and herbal both. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18, or have a liver, kidney, heart or thyroid condition, ask first. And if what brought you here is that you have been feeling low or frightened for weeks, that deserves more than a supplement — ask us anything, anonymously, or talk to us on WhatsApp.