so, valerian seems to be garbage for taking the edge off my anxiety. kava-kava seems hideously unreliable; I've had good results from one or two commercial preparations but most make feel kinda weird and a little sick even. theanine has been recommended...is there anything else?
@CarrierLost I'm considering just what I can get over-the-counter.
@kara_dreamer Ah. I can't help you much there. I've been using Remeron for depression and sleep. It's really helped for both but it makes you hungry constantly. That said, I don't feel so detached or down anymore so I'm kind of thankful for it.
@CarrierLost the current state of my mental health care is kind of a mess right now because my new job has made it almost impossible for me to get time slots to see anyone :/ still, if I ever get a chance, I'll consult about it
@kara_dreamer Sorry to hear that.
@kara_dreamer STRONG tea made of valerian, catnip, skullcap with damiana optional.
@kara_dreamer at the Wizard's Tower I used to make that mixture for cutting after-rave sketch, soothing anxiety attacks and dealing with insomnia. Patients reported high degree of success.
@IanCBell hm. the valerian "supplement" I tried made me feel worse, but possibly proper valerian tea wouldn't...
@kara_dreamer ugh the pills never agreed with me either. That's a lot of concentrated aromatics and so forth to drop in one's stomach.
@IanCBell ah! so maybe this is a case of delivery mechanism being key to success. I suspect this is true of many things that are naïvely packed into capsules and sold OTC
@kara_dreamer but if you find it makes you ill in the tea you can omit it. Even just skullcap esp with catnip does a good job.
@IanCBell skullcap I'm not familiar with. wonder if Tenzing Momo has it (downtown Seattle store that has a _lot_ of the more outré herbs &c. in stock)
@kara_dreamer couldn't tell ya. It was easy to come by in Toronto.
@kara_dreamer valerian, skullcap and poppy as a homeobotanical tincure
@kara_dreamer -tincture-
@kara_dreamer Properly prepared it's safe for human adults and new born babies as well as angel hybrids.
The witch who came up with that was one heavy duty plant seer. Could fix bones in days, massive bruising in hours, surgical level bleeding in minutes, bring dry breasts into milk, hold a foetus in a damaged uterus, or throw one out of a healthy one.
Saved our life after we couldn't find our way back from a triple whammy of meningitis, pneumonia and septicemia.
Like everyone, she had her limits though, couldn't repair the damage from chemotherapy, and even combined with us, couldn't undo MS.
@kara_dreamer are you just trying herbal stuff or are you searching for anti-depressants?