Posted by LOOPS on April 2, 2006, at 18:29:22
In reply to Re: Anti-anxiety review (valerian, kava, gotu, 5htp..) » daorlando, posted by Jakeman on April 1, 2006, at 0:59:26
Hey you!
I've had similar responses to things plus a few more.
5htp - excellent for anxiety, but throws me into a kind of snappy depression if I take too much.
valerian - have been taking this for sleep, but it recently quit working for me, so now I mix it with ambien (probably not a good idea).
kava - hmm, really effective if I make the drink the old-fashioned way. Pills don't seem to do much for me.
tyrosine - I am a machine without emotions.
phenylalanine - weeee. Yup - up with anxiety.Um, what else.
Right now tryptophan - cool. Has completely different effects on me to 5htp - like actually WORKS for depression instead of making me feel like the dead. Too much and I'm lethargic though. Taken with SMALLish amount of B vits, magnesium, zinc and vitamin C it actually works. Drawback - makes me VERY hungry - can also mess up my sleep even more if I take it at night.
Holy Basil - get that cortisol DOWN. Great for morning anxiety, even better coupled with tryptophan and taurine.
There are some things I keep going back to - it's a bit like a juggling act but that is how it seems to work best.
Fish oil - undecided. I took very high doses for about 6 months and although this worked very well for depression, I noticed my anxiety and tension at times were a bit high, especially if I was in a situation with not a lot to do. Other side effects for me included having a very red face all the time, bad acne and not sure if it exacerbated my insomnia. I still take it, but at a small fraction of what I used to. I try to eat more fish instead as who really knows what else is in fish which balances out the 'special oils'??
GLA oils - coupled with fish oil, grrrrreat for anxiety, but hello lack of motivation, reduced social interaction and initial insomnia. Oh, and also fluid retention and increased appetite. Doh NO!! (I'm a recovering bulimic).
Maybe I was taking too much, but I got scared off this stuff. I actually think now that due to my massive omega-3 intake at the time, my production of GLA had gone down (hence the anxiety) - so initially supplementing was a good idea. However this was so hard to balance without being shoved back into depression, so I ended up ditching the GLA and just taking fish oil and coping with the anxiety. Right now I figure a small amount of fish oil is the best way.
Passiflora - mmmm - nice stuff. Pity the effects wear off after a few weeks. Still - makes me calm and really helps with sleep if I haven't taken it in a while.
Alchohol and pot - well, yes they work, but only a few hours with alcohol until it kicks you in the face again. Still, I like my wine, just not tooo much of it. Pot - smoked every day makes me paranoid, but occasionally seems to help me regain my perspective on things. DO NOT COMBINE POT WITH DMAE - this made me quite anxious.
Loops
poster:LOOPS
thread:627208
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060313/msgs/627953.html