Posted by bleauberry on December 14, 2010, at 17:06:28
In reply to Non-prescription therapy for anxiety (GAD): ideas?, posted by Melanie-00 on December 12, 2010, at 22:24:41
I understand you said you don't want to be messing with this for months or years, and I hope it doesn't take that. But it could. To do it right is sometimes a journey of self discovery. It teaches us patience and perseverance. And hopefully rewards us with a huge win.
In the anxiety realm, you have lots of choices.
Rhodiola isn't a bad choice. It is a tricky one to manage for several reasons. It is more stimulating at low doses, more calming at high doses, and finding the right dose is experimental....maybe some rough times trying to find it. If your anxiety is cortisol related, rhodiola is going to impact that, but exactly how it feels in the short term will be differenct from how it feels in the longterm. So it takes, again, some patience and perseverance.
Plenty of options:
Magnesium Gycinate
Magnesium Taurate
GABA
Niacinimde high dose (not other forms of Niacin)
Glycine
Lemon Balm
Passionflower
Skullcap
St Johns Wort (sometimes stimulating at first)
5htp (low doses, less than the instructions say)Of all the above, I found Lemon Balm to be the fastest most impressive. Total calm without sedation. (tincture, not pills)
Most naturopaths agree that the combo of Lemon Balm and St Johns Wort is far better than either alone. Sort of like, 1 plus 1 equals 3.
The second most effective I ever experienced was a combo of magnesium, glycine, and gaba. It to me was mildly depressing where lemon balm was not.
During my journey through Lyme I discovered that Japanese Knotweed is calming to the nervous system. The brand I use is called Resveratrol by Source Naturals. J*p Knotweed is the most potent source of resveratrol. Most brands use grapes instead. But there is nothing in grape resveratrol much helpful for anxiety or Lyme....it's the J*p Knotweed other constituents that do it.
With supplements and herbs, the name of the game is synergy....two, three, or more is very common. Especially in Eastern medicine where they have practiced this stuff for thousands of years, a pharmacy prescription will involve the mixture of 6 or more plants/roots.
A complicating factor is that sometimes what works is what doesn't seem to make sense. Boosting norepinephrine or dopamine would not make sense in anxiety, but sometimes is exactly what works...they were too low to begin with and the body was overcompensating by making adrenaline instead.
For longterm support, Eleuthero should be in the mix. (Siberian Ginseng...not the other ginsengs). Over months it gradually balances out the thyroid, adrenal glands, and overall helps the body deal with stress and illness.
There are probably a dozen other things I could mention. The ones listed here are the ones I feel have the most immediate potential.
Also keep in mind, lithium is usually calming and is a natural salt of the earth. Without a prescription it can be bought in the form lithium orotate. Tiny doses is all it takes.
poster:bleauberry
thread:973355
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20101202/msgs/973567.html