Posted by TriedEveryMedication on August 20, 2022, at 13:13:11
I've had pretty serious GAD for about 4 years since trying to self-treat with psychedelics. I would be woken up by it around 4am and it was just crushing. Lexapro didn't help it, effexor didn't help it - the only thing that did was mirtazapine and I had a bad liver reaction to that.
After reading about the large effect size and high quality studies of "silexan" in psychiatrist Scott Alexander's blog [1], I gave it a try.
The normal dose of 80mg didn't do much, so I tried 160mg. My GAD was gone. It's been about 2 months and it is still working. I take 80mg now at night and I have almost no anxiety. Sometimes a little creeps through but it is manageable.
"silexan" is a particular preparation of lavender oil with a certain ratio of linalool and linalyl acetate and is available in the US in the brand Nature's Way "Calm Aid".
The proposed MOA is inhibition of calcium channels. Anyway, the two side effects I've noticed from it are unpleasant lavender burps and weight gain. I get strong carb cravings from it.
[1] https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/lavenders-game-silexan-for-anxiety
poster:TriedEveryMedication
thread:1120409
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20220530/msgs/1120409.html