Natural/herbal remedies for anxiety - do any of them actually work?

St Johns Wort will square my head away, but it is useful for no more than 2-3 days.  I consider it to only be useful for balancing my neurotransmitters when my brain chemistry gets out of sync.  After a couple of days it no longer has any effect.

For general anxiety, admittedly, copious amounts of cannabis is where I'm at.  I get more sleep, I think less about all the BS I have to deal with, but it doesn't stop the rage.  The rage runs deep.  Sure it makes me calmer, but it also lowers my snap point.  I tolerate BS a lot less.

Anti-depressants for me, and probably anti-psychotics too, don't work.  They don't remove the depression.  What they give is clarity of thought.  Unfortunately clarity of thought generally tells me to throw myself off a bridge, because it never gets any better and hasn't in the last 40 years, no matter how many anti-depressants I take.  I don't do Anti-depressants or anything else like that, because throwing myself off a bridge isn't an option.

Mushrooms of the Psilocybin variety used to work really well.  If I took a couple of (dry) grams once every couple of months it would leave me calm and no longer depressed for a few weeks to a couple of months.  Obviously you have to hallucinate for 6 hours and if you have a fragile mind, it's probably inadvisable to do so.  There are other side effects as well, including tracers andhearing voices, which was kind of unpleasant, but went away after a few months.  Microdosing may work with this and there are some studies on this if you look for them.  I haven't had chance to use them in 20 years, so they are not an option.

So i have tried all manner of things over the years.  Exercise is about the only thing that squares me away to some level right now.  I'm not talking 10 mins on the treadmill.  I'm talking 2 hours of lifting the heaviest weights possible, wrecking my body, ripping muscles and 30-60 mins of hard cardio or HIIT.  Doing that lessens the depression a little.  Releases endorphins.

St Johns Wort will square my head away, but it is useful for no more than 2-3 days.  I consider it to only be useful for balancing my neurotransmitters when my brain chemistry gets out of sync.  After a couple of days it no longer has any effect.

For general anxiety, admittedly, copious amounts of cannabis is where I'm at.  I get more sleep, I think less about all the BS I have to deal with, but it doesn't stop the rage.  The rage runs deep.  Sure it makes me calmer, but it also lowers my snap point.  I tolerate BS a lot less.

Anti-depressants for me, and probably anti-psychotics too, don't work.  They don't remove the depression.  What they give is clarity of thought.  Unfortunately clarity of thought generally tells me to throw myself off a bridge, because it never gets any better and hasn't in the last 40 years, no matter how many anti-depressants I take.  I don't do Anti-depressants or anything else like that, because throwing myself off a bridge isn't an option.

Mushrooms of the Psilocybin variety used to work really well.  If I took a couple of (dry) grams once every couple of months it would leave me calm and no longer depressed for a few weeks to a couple of months.  Obviously you have to hallucinate for 6 hours and if you have a fragile mind, it's probably inadvisable to do so.  There are other side effects as well, including tracers andhearing voices, which was kind of unpleasant, but went away after a few months.  Microdosing may work with this and there are some studies on this if you look for them.  I haven't had chance to use them in 20 years, so they are not an option.

So i have tried all manner of things over the years.  Exercise is about the only thing that squares me away to some level right now.  I'm not talking 10 mins on the treadmill.  I'm talking 2 hours of lifting the heaviest weights possible, wrecking my body, ripping muscles and 30-60 mins of hard cardio or HIIT.  Doing that lessens the depression a little.  Releases endorphins.

I have used low dose of mushrooms. I have found them useful to curtail obsessive thoughts and ruminating and generally felt the benefits for a good week or so after. Maybe longer. And more productivity, less inertia. But set and setting are important as they seem to emphasise current moods or mind sets.

Thanks for your reply - it’s really interesting. You’ve been through such a lot by the sound of it - I’m sorry. No one can say you haven’t tried lots of options (!) - you’ve obviously worked hard to find solutions. I find exercise helps - though through long walks out in nature - not lifting weights or anything like that. When my anxiety is really bad though I feel really sick and get down and can’t face walks sometimes. I’m far too fragile for any kind of hallucinogenic drug ! I’d be much too scared for that. I’d like to try cannabis but can’t  access any safe supply - because we (typically autistic!) don’t know anyone we could get some from. I’d love to try it though because I’ve heard many people on hear say it has helped them. I wish I could get my hands on some.