herbals for anxiety or insomnia

rucksack

Has anyone used herbals for anxiety or insomnia. Valerian or any such similar. I would like to hear experience. Not looking for medical advice

finooola

I've tried them all. To be honest I've never noticed much effect from valerian and valerian-based products. I used to get a thing I called "stress throat" from anxiety where my throat would feel like it was closing up. Eventually after trying all the obvious things off the health food shop shelf, I was recommended a thing called l-theanine. It was brilliant for my stress throat. I'm not sure if it would work for your symptoms though.

I'm sure valerian works well for some people. It works well on skittish racehorses supposedly! I used to work in a health food shop and we sold parcels of fresh valerian to horse owners. The stuff stinks like old socks!

rucksack

finooola wrote: »

I've tried them all. To be honest I've never noticed much effect from valerian and valerian-based products. I used to get a thing I called "stress throat" from anxiety where my throat would feel like it was closing up. Eventually after trying all the obvious things off the health food shop shelf, I was recommended a thing called l-theanine. It was brilliant for my stress throat. I'm not sure if it would work for your symptoms though.

I'm sure valerian works well for some people. It works well on skittish racehorses supposedly! I used to work in a health food shop and we sold parcels of fresh valerian to horse owners. The stuff stinks like old socks!

Thanks. Did you try the teas like chamomile? Valerian is supposed to work on GABA which is the part of the brain valium affects. But seemingly must be taken for a couple weeks before it works. What is stress throat?

finooola

Yeah, I drank/drink chamomile tea. It's more nice than massively effective against stress. Actually that reminds me, one of the most successful measures I took against stress and anxiety was cutting out caffeine.

I don't know the correct technical name for stress throat. I think it's something to do with fight or flight hormones. It used to frighten me a lot. I thought I might choke. I didn't know it was related to anxiety. i don't get it much anymore thankfully, but now that I know what it is it's not as scary if it does happen.

Gremlinertia

Hey there, herbal remedies can certainly be useful in some cases, like a lot of things it varies from person to person however i must say this, if you are taking any or thinking of such while under gp care remember to tell the doctor, some of these can react badly with prescribed medication and vice versa.

Wanderer78

*snip*

Kurtosis

Folks, a reminder that medical advice is not allowed. The OP has asked for people's experiences with herbals, so posting about your experience with specific herbal medicines and how you found them is fine. Suggesting what the OP should try crosses the line and is not ok.

Under_Graduate

I tried Valareine.
Didn't do jack.

Melatonin - also didn't do jack.

Benedril is meant to be good, but you have to go up north to get it.
It's OTC.

I tried every herbal tea under the sun, as well as various Chinese medicines.
They also went by the name of Jack.

In shorts - herbals, in my experience, aren't really good, for anything, certainly not if you're treating insomnia.