Valerian Root

[Guest Guest]

Ok, who has any experience with this?

 

I've been having trouble with insomnia for a while now and a gf was telling me about it yesterday so I bought some...boy could I really feel the effects of it...it calmed me down and made me relax enough to sleep with no residue sleepiness when I woke up.

 

I did some research on the net and it looks fairly safe to take but does anyone have any experience themselves with it?

 

Thanks.

[Mother]

Yup, sure do, Darlene. I've taken it for insomnia before too. It's pretty effective and non addicting though if you take it continuously you tend to need more and more of it to be helpful and then it can be residual sedating. You can also get it in a formula with other herbs like skullcap and hops. It's a fairly heavy herb to use, meaning that it's more sedating than some of the others like Lemon Balm (Melissa). But it at least tends to turn off the mind to allow you to sleep. To keep from overusing it, alternate it with the lemon balm and see if that isn't helpful also. Lemon balm, unlke valarian root which smells like dirty socks

[moonstar]

We've used it on occassion. Works pretty good. Supposed to be like valium but without the side effects. Yep, no grogginess when you wake up. It's considered safe by the FDA but large amounts can give you a headache, nausea, and morning grogginess. Recommended amounts won't do this. If you have high blood pressure there's a slight possiblity it can lower it. (In West Germany, valerian is the active ingredient in more than 100 over the counter tranquilizers and sleep aids and during WW1 Europeans afflicted with over wrought nerves from artillery bombardment used valerian frequently.) Don't open the capsule and smell it. It really

stinks. Not recommended to take with any other sleep aids.

DH has insomnia bad and valerian helped somewhat. Had to go to prescriptions meds, though. Valerian wasn't strong enough.

[moonstar]

Sorry, Mother, you hadn't posted when I was writing this.

 

[Mother]

I think it's great that everyone add what they know about a certain post or question. That way we all get to learn. Great info on Valarian Root.

[gardnmom]

Why aren't you able to sleep? Have you tried St Johnswort tea or chamomille tea there is also Oat straw to use to not get used to just one substance that you learn to depend on. I use a combination of St Johnswort, catnip, and a little peppermint for relaxing in the evening.

 

You may also find that part of your problem is to much coffee.

Valarian root shoud be fine for occasional use.

[moonstar]

Just a quick note on the chamomile tea...I found when I first started drinking it it made me drowsy but then I guess I got used to it because it doesn't affect me that way anymore. I my opinion, it's still a great tea.

[Guest Guest]

It seems that ever since my surgery, my body has been all off whack...the anesthesia, the powerful pain meds I was on that I literally went through a w/d from that was skerry...I've been under alot of stress, alot of things on my mind, struggling with feeling down alot lately and I just think I've gotten run down with everything and my body is just totally outta whack....I'll lay in bed till 2, 3, 4:00 in the morning trying to sleep, with my mind racing...

 

I started taking Wellbutrin today cause my doc gave that to me to help me stop smoking...that's helping a little bit with the emotional chaos I've been dealing with, but now that I started to take that, I'm afraid to take anything else cause I don't know what adversely works with what...I bought some St Johns good mood tea today rofl, and some St Johns Wart...I have no idea exactly what this stuff is for, other than hearing other people say it helps with this or that...

 

To put it quite simply, it's quite obvious I don't know what I'm doing lol.

 

I just really, really, really, wanna get myself physically, emotionally and mentally balanced out again as naturally as possible. I don't seem to be able to deal with these excessive stresses as well as I usta, which I'm sure is to be expected.

 

Oh well, *sigh*, that's a glimpse into what I'm trying to fix.

[gardnmom]

Antioxidents like grapeseed extract will help to get those chemicals out of your system. Believe it or not try a bath in epsom salts, that also helps eliminate toxins, like nicotine. Use a nice body oil after your bath, like coconut oil, and your skin will feel soft and silky after your bath. Any kind of salt bath is drying so do use the body oil.

[gardnmom]

I harvest my own St Johnswort and I prefer the tea for relaxing. My St Johnswort has flowers and all and seems more effective than just the leaves. But that is just me and may not be true for others. It is very prolific around here.

[Mother]

Great suggestions for cleansing toxins out of the system, Lois. But Darlene, please don't take the St. John's Wort with the Welbutrin as the two compound. Usually when you get your RX the info with it will tell you that.

 

St. John's wort is a really good substitute for most of those types of meds. The only problem with using any of the herbs for depression and such is that the strengths vary and some unscrupulous companies udulterate the herb. They may be really helpful or useless depending on the company. Most of the well known brands are safe and effective though.

 

There's other possibilities also. If it's hormone related you can try Dong Quai as that is calming and helpful. It's not something to take if you have excess bleeding but other than that it's great. It is an adaptogen, meaning that it normalizes processes in the body instead of adding something to it. I found that when I was having a lot of problems with menopause I could take one or two, go lay down for about fifteen or twenty minutes and come out more myself. Black cohosh is also helpful.

 

Believe it or not, exercise is the great mood elevator also. Have you tried meditation, visualization and relaxation? They work and especially in tandem with herbs and nutrition. Nutrition, optimal nutrition, is one great way to elevate the mood and calm the body, not to mention flush out toxins. I'm a great defender of juicing but not every one is willing to spend the time doing that. Freshly made juice, and I don't mean just freshly squeezed orange juice or boughten juice, is a concentrated way to get vitamins and minerals. Low levels of some nutrients can cause you to feel out of it and all mixed up, especially some minerals.

 

Should I get off my

[gardnmom]

Thanks Mother I was not aware of the Welbutrin problem.

[Guest Guest]

I really appreciate everyone's input, while in some ways it's easy for me to abuse myself physically by not taking good care of myself all the time, there are other ways that it scares me to try new things that I don't understand, so all your input means alot.

 

I usta work out in the gym with a personal trainer 3 times a week until it just got to be too painful on the knees...then I had the surgery and have been in a lopsided recovery mode with that but I think I'm well enough to be able to get back into the gym...that is something I've always enjoyed and I know that in the past it really has increased my stamina and energy levels...there are times like yesterday when I just cleaned the kitchen and I was about to pass out so I went and rested in bed watching tv and got up a little bit later when I felt a little better. Today it hasn't been as much as a problem but I know that it's probably from the Wellbutrin, as that always gives me alot of false energy.

 

After the first of the year, I'm gonna get back into the gym...I need to tone up some of this flab anyway.

[Roseofsharon]

I don't know if you are still having the sleep problem but have any of you more experienced herb people tried passion flower for a sleep aid? I tried it once several years ago (my problem now is staying awake past 9pm) and had great results- I think it is susposto put you in the rem sleep so you wake up really refreshed feeling.

 

ps in my opinion you don't have to open the valerian capsule to catch how bad they smell -PU!

[shamrockus]

You all think the capsuls smell bad? You should have been there when we were repackaging some herbs that Mom ordered! I wrote"dirty sox' on the package!!!!

[Guest Guest]

OH MY GOSH!

 

You're mom did that to poor YOU?

 

 

 

I'm in shock.

 

lol

[Linda]

i havn't used the stuff myself but DD had a couple of times and she said it really does the trick.

 

Do be careful mixing herbs and medication together. or even herbs.

 

for me; when i was on paxil i wouldn't take any other kind of calming herbs. but that is just me. i was one of those people who could take a baby asprin and get rid of a headach. now i am up to one adult asprin. any more then that i get accused of drinking.

[Mother]

Passion flower is another of the calming mood enhancing herbs. It's a bit milder and a lot better smelling than valarian root is

 

 

 

[Guest Guest]

well if I had anything that smelled like dirty socks.. I would get my slave children to do it too!

 

what a great Mom you have!

[bee1425]

A few years ago, I suffered an injury that really messed up my pelvis. My chiropractor prescribed Valerian Root as a muscle relaxer. My muscles were so knotted up and tense from the shock and pain of the injury, he had to get me relaxed to be able to ease my pelvis back into its correct position. The Valerian Root worked wonderfully.

 

As an aside, waiting posted this link... Drug & Herb Digest awhile back. You might find some of the drugs and herbs listed, to check interactions.

 

I hope you get to feeling better soon, Darlene.