Posted by psychobot5000 on January 10, 2011, at 12:24:53
In reply to Non-prescription therapy for anxiety (GAD): ideas?, posted by Melanie-00 on December 12, 2010, at 22:24:41
Saw this thread, thought I'd share recent experiences:
Have been taken Passiflora recently, but now have stopped. It was not, overall, a good experience; taking several capsules of the herb was briefly anxiolytic, but was followed by a 'come down' about twelve hours later--making for a very unpleasant afternoon, if one took it the night before. This happened on four occasions, so it seems to be a consistent effect for me. Do not intend to take it again.
Have also been taking chamomile, which herb's effect I do not fully understand at this point. When taken in sufficient doses, i.e. 3-4 350 mg capsules nature's way chamomile, it is mildly anxiolytic, but the effect seems to last longer than I'd prefer--at least eight hours. It also seems to have an interaction of some sort with my sleeping med, zaleplon (similar to ambien or benzodiazepines), possibly blocking its action in some way. (my hypothesis is that something in the chamomile competes with the zaleplon to bind at GABA receptors, but who knows) I'd like to understand more about this, to know whether the chamomile can be useful in the medium term. Right now, it's hard to say.
Hope that's helpful, in some way. The chamomile definitely has some action, and might be worth trying, at least (the Nature's Way stuff is fairly cheap).
Psychbot
poster:psychobot5000
thread:973355
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20101202/msgs/976440.html