I am without health insurance, and suffer from moderate anxiety/depression (diagnosed by my doctor) and am looking for information on herbal or natural remedies to help calm my anxiety. I have tried st. johns wart more than once, and didn’t notice any difference, and I am looking for other herbs and such that might help, preferably with knowledge from experience.
1) Wild Kratom (strongest and best, guaranteed to work for EVERYONE)
2) Kava-Kava (works for most, not for everyone and NO it is NOT toxic, that study was debunked and Kava is now approved by the FDA)
3) St John’s Worth (works for few, not for most)
4) Salvia (works for everyone, except it’s very tricky, as at higher doses it can cause hallucinations for up to 10 mins)
5) Marijuana (only resort to it if it’s legal in your State)
St. John’s Wort is very good. Some people get immediate relief and others have to take it for awhile. Herbs are not instant fixes but they have lots of beneficial properties and no side effects. The longer you take them, the better they work and usually you should take more than one as they work synergistically to tone, calm, provide energy and also give you protection from infection and boost your immune system. They also contain vitamins and minerals. Get some books on the subject and you will get a better understanding of how they work and for what condition or disorder.
Forget that stuff. It’s all basically unrefined, unregulated drugs. Herbs are drugs, just dirty ones. Kava is liver toxic, so avoid it.
What you need is simply Wal-Mart’s or Food Pyramid’s $4-$5 generic plan. I get Celexa as citalopram (which has several refills, so that limits the $70 office visits because of no insurance) for $4 at Wal-Mart. Anti-anxiety drugs like xanax, are also pretty cheap even w/o insurance and may even be on that $4 generic plan (not really a ‘plan’, nothing to ‘sign up’ for). So aside from your office visit to get the scrip, the meds can be gotten cheap.
Oh yeah, they work, too, and are FDA approved. So go with safe and effective rather than sketchy and practically unregulated.
5HTP is serotonin, if you decide to take that, please be aware of serotonin syndrome.
Otherwise I would try St. John’s Worte.
Easily found, pretty cheap, and no known extreme bad consequences. Has the same effect as most anti-depressants do that are on the market.
P.S. Anti depressants can and ARE used for treating anxiety.
Note that you don’t have health insurance but if you really want to sort out your issue it’s best to see someone about it, like a naturopath who’ll be able to prescribe something that suits your constitution rather than something generic. I’ve had chronic sleeping issues since last August and have seen a naturopath since December to try and sort it out. Even if the remedies may not work you will get emotional support if you find a good naturopath. Best to ask around to see if someone can recommend one to you. Good luck!
Couple notes for others who answered, kava is not recommended when you have depression, and Vitamin B gives an uplift, not a natural calmer.
Chamomile, passionflower, scullcap, oats all have a relaxing effect, all on a different way, I usually mix them as a prescription for my patients. I am a western herbalist, working in Melbourne.
It may not work for you, but it works for me (with many cubes of sugar of course). For anyone but me, ignore the sugar comment.
Try warm jasmine tea, no sugar added.
Make sure you are comfortable, and perhaps some relaxing music?
This has a 73% chance of succeeding, but isn’t it worth the attempt?
Screw herbal remedies. Try meridian therapy.
This is a great course/product which helped me basically CURE myself of anxiety and stop it for good, check it out below:http://www.stopanxietyinminutes.com
I highly recommend it, good luck.
I find Kava quite good, also a proprietary brand called Quiet Life which is a mix of different herbs. St John’s wort can be good but some brands don’t seem to work, try Hypericum. If you are in the UK google Helios homoeopathic pharmacy where you can buy Hypericum tincture in liquid form which is good.
Vitamin B complex is a natural tranquilizer. Add magnesium and avoid caffeine like the plague.
I have used 5-HTP and it may work for some people but in my case it suppressed my breathing so that I couldn’t breathe deeply.
(St. John’s Wort makes the skin photo-sensitive so that you end up with pigmentation.)
The best herbal remedy for anxiety that i know is a combination of several of the herbs listed above such as 5-HTP, L-Theanine, and GABA. They can all be found in one formula called panicyl. Hope this helps!
Here’s a good article about that.http://artofbalancedliving.net/2008/10/0…
Valerian might help. To instantly calm you down a powder supplement called Calms by Peter Gillham (is magnesium) works really well but you have to be careful because too much magnesium can cause diarrhea.
weed
cannabis
its called 5HTP. lookit up. buy it. be cool.