Posted by Hombre on November 2, 2010, at 5:06:15
In reply to Re: maximize supplements, lower meds?, posted by morgan miller on October 26, 2010, at 23:38:19
Sorry to have hijacked your thread, Christ_empowered, but I wanted to make one more comment:
Ashwagandha is the closest thing to the Chinese herbs that gives real warmth/stimulates metabolism, but in my opinion it might take a while to really kick in. It is pretty calming, I think.
I suffer from deficient Kidney Yang by nature and in a large part because of the medications I'm on. The main symptoms are a generally apathy and lack of drive, feeling "out of it", hypothyroid/hypoendocrine type symptoms. I feel no desire to do anything.
I think my AD, an SNRI, stimulates kidney yang and hence revs up metabolism a bit, but since I have had some serious anxiety and sleep problems in conjunction with debilitating depression, I have to put a cap on the top with something like Seroquel. Benzos and Z-drugs work pretty well also, but they have to be taken often and sometimes you don't know you need them until your mind starts starts going into overdrive.
The problem with something like Seroquel is that is seriously slows down metabolism and causes what they call "dampness" in Chinese medicine, which can be an accumulation of fluid and/or fat. You just sort of get lazy, puffy, and couldn't care less about anything. While it is nice not to be depressed, this is no good if you want to get on with the business of living. There is also the vague anxiety associated with not feeling productive. That may be more psychological than physiological.
After taking an unscheduled week or so off my Kidney Yang tonic formula, I decided that I was becoming too apathetic. I bought the pills and took a strong dose. A little while later I started feeling warm, especially in my lower back and abdomen, and a little while after that I decided I needed to cook some pasta. Usually these herbs won't have such an immediate effect, but the formula I take contains prepared (detoxified) aconite, the strongest Yang tonic herb in the Chinese materia medica. Not something you want to mess with in raw form, but in a formula it is safe.
I am not going to mess around any more with too many other herbs. The adaptogens are good for overall energy, but for my core hypo-metabolic symptoms/kidney yang deficiency, I do better with the Chinese herbal formula (Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan). If the kidneys are strong, they will also support good digestion (again, the metaphor of fire).
If I feel like I am retaining unnecessary weight despite good diet and exercise, or feel like my overall energy is flagging, I can always take the myriad Chinese tonic herbs for Spleen and overall energy (mitochondrial health). These may not be necessary on a regular basis.
The take home lesson is that there are certain states of function/dysfunction that the body can get into that can strongly affect mood, motivation, drive, energy, anxiety, and other things we normally associate with the 'brain' but don't think have anything to do with our 'guts' or 'organs'. But everything is connected, and many of these connections escape the narrow view of reductionist science. Let's not let that keep us from delving into alternative therapies, especially one so well documented and tested as herbal medicine.
poster:Hombre
thread:967069
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20100930/msgs/968040.html