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

although the herbal teas dont feel like they have much difference on me now... i think they had a larger difference ages ago because i probably had alot more gut inflammation back then. so maybe you wont feel it as much unless you have unknowingly a inflamed bowel or something. i always had ab pain too so it lifted tension and relaxed. i guess you just feel it more if the areas if effects are actually under more strain and pain and the normalising and relaxing of it you feel the difference, where as if it isnt under too much pain and it feels normal anyway then normal going to normal youd likely not feel the difference as its the same as normal.

not sure, but i know some herbal stuff can help you relax.
i had peppermint tea and chamomile tea and they both did seem to have a relaxing effect and made my stomach feel less bloated and uncomfortable. they supposedly act as anti-inflammatory and get rid of inflammation so probably good if you have bowel issues anytime i guess. and given anxiety can effect and disturb your bowels it could be good. plus it made me sleep a bit better probably more efficiently.

so herbal stuff can have a effect, just whether the effect is big enough to make a difference or not is the question.

Kate Kestrel said:

Your experience sounds very similar to mine - and it made me laugh to read of you swigging down natural remedies and wine in desperation - I can relate! 
What’s not funny of course is how hard it is to live with long term, persistent anxiety - at its worst it feels genuinely life threatening because it can become unbearable. 

Me too! In desperation I swigged nearly the whole bottle of CBD oil, instead of the recommended few drops. Still no effect. Then on another occasion recently I finished a whole bottle of wine in less than an hour. I certainly do not recommend that and I don't think I'll be touching wine for a while yet 

It is so hard to live with persistent anxiety. I wake up anxious, I go to bed anxious and remain anxious to some degree at every waking second in between. Most of the time I don't even know why I'm so anxious, since I've removed myself from as many triggers and stressors as I can.

When my baseline anxiety is so high to start with and something does trigger me the physical effects very quickly become unbearable. I understand when you say it can feel genuinely life threatening. As our bodies age I think we become more aware of the damage that kind of constant fight or flight stress response can do.

proper thc. the green stuff. smoke it. vape it. eat it. make tinctures, creams and oils. just dont tell the muggles. 

Hi Jenny - many thanks for this - it’s extremely helpful. Your experience sounds very similar to mine - and it made me laugh to read of you swigging down natural remedies and wine in desperation - I can relate! 
What’s not funny of course is how hard it is to live with long term, persistent anxiety - at its worst it feels genuinely life threatening because it can become unbearable. 

Like you I feel I’ve wasted a lot of money trying things that don’t work - which is frustrating (I ordered more yesterday……). 
I’ve contacted Sapphire Clinic this morning - I remember you mentioning them before - so thank you for sharing your experience. It’s completely legal and I find that very reassuring. 
I’m so glad it’s helped you. It really should be available on the nhs in my opinion - so many of the other drugs the nhs prescribes are much more dangerous than low doses of medicinal cannabis after all! 
 Thanks for your help Jenny - and I hope it keeps working for you. It’s so hard to enjoy life when your anxious - and we deserve to be able to enjoy life - just like anybody else. 

I'm afraid I never had any success with valerian or passiflora or hops or chamomile or any OTC remedies containing mixtures of these, not even when I swallowed down half the jar (in desperation) and washed them down with alcohol (in even greater desperation).  I tried rescue remedy too, but that didn't help at all, nor any other of the flower remedies.  

I have a long history of trying such things, plus also various psychological approaches, although the range on the NHS is very limited.  Plus I've been on a few courses too.  I always thought the answer would be just around the corner and I'd be able to bring my anxiety levels down. 

Meditation, tai chi and yoga have helped to a degree, and especially over the years as my nervous system has seemed to calm down as I've aged.  Not what you're asking about, I know, but those practices helped to restore hope for me.

Unfortunately, the only herb that has helped me is cannabis and then only when it has at least a little THC in it.  I believe the Sapphire Clinic are offering places for subsidised treatment at the moment, but I don't know how many or how affordable this might make it.  The THC oil works well for me and is expensive at £80 a bottle.  However one bottle lasts me 3 months so the cost/day is reasonable. 

To be honest, I wish I could go back and bin many of my other efforts as the costs for those mounted up over the years.  A bit of acceptance of my anxiety-prone self would have helped too, plus more understanding of the many drivers behind it.  

Sorry you are going through this.  I know it's a load to carry each day.  I know I recommended cannabis before and there are many barriers to accessing it, unfortunately.  If you have a local cannabis club they might be able to help.  For me edibles were the way to go and a low dose,  slow and steady approach has enabled me to relax without any negative side effects.  Please pm me if I might be of help on this subject.  Cannabis is one of those subjects where I expect to get deleted, even though I get it on legal prescription these days.  

If a substance works well, it's either patented, or illegal..

I'm sorry that isn't a helpful observation.

Something needs to change.

Thank you - I really appreciate your reply. I’ve always felt a little sceptical about flower remedies but if they work for you I might give them a try. I have plenty of racing thoughts at the moment! Thank you for your help x 

Hi , I have taken St Johns wort in the past but they interfered with some other medication I am in . ( statins for high cholesterol). I tried Calms but they didn’t do much. I do use Bach flower remedies which are very gentle and you can just add some drops to water or use them neat. They are based on plants and I find them very good. There is one called White Chestnut which helps me with any racing thoughts. Wishing you all the best.

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. 

Yes - it’s probably complex causes and complex solutions. I take biokult and other gut health things like Actimel etc. I’ve no idea if it’s helpful or not. I’m glad you’ve found things that help - that’s good to hear. I don’t think anxiety is really that well understood by the medical profession - certainly not at gp level in my experience anyway. I’ve struggled with quite severe anxiety for about 18 years and I’m exhausted. If only there was an easy solution. 

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 also don't know much about the gut but I think our gut health is probably closely linked to our mental health but I don't know what is cause or effect. I don't know if inflammation has anything to do with anxiety (cause or effect) but I think having good gut health probably helps.

I think we have to find what works bestand look at it holistically if that the right term.  Look at our environment and see what we can change.  I've found talking therapies helpful the most closely followed by mindfulness meditation. Alongside supplements. And a better understanding of myself.

Thanks for your reply. Why do you say that about vitamin D? Funnily enough I’ve been taking a Vit. d supplement for months as I was told it was protective in terms of Covid. Can it cause anxiety? 
I must admit I’m nervous of things like Xanax. Is it addictive? 
All through my life I’ve tried to avoid medication where possible. I’ve always been a great believer in a healthy diet and exercise, and living in the country away from pollution etc. 

I was feeling pretty desperate when I tried anti-depressants and they were a disaster for me - and this confirmed all my concerns about prescription medication. 
when I was a toddler i spent a lot of time in hospital and I think maybe this has affected my nervousness and aversion to medical environments an treatment. Plus I don’t trust big pharmaceutical companies. So I admit I’m somewhat paranoid about prescription medication. 

I’ve had such a rough few months of terrible anxiety though and am so worn out.

I’m in my mid-fifties and am tempted to try HRT - some people find this helps with anxiety.

I don’t know. You just get to the point where you feel just carrying on with such high levels of anxiety is simply unbearable. There’s not much to lose - at least it starts to feel like that. Mind you I thought that when I tried anti-depressants and they made things so much worse! 
Thanks for the advice :) 

Thanks - someone else has mentioned Lions mane too - I’m going to investigate it. Haven’t tried Ashwaganda - so will look into that too. I find anxiety to be the worse part of being autistic - it’s exhausting and sometimes I get so overwhelmed. I’m sick of working so hard just to get through the day. Sometimes I have an alcoholic drink in the evening but I don’t think that’s ultimately a good way to deal with anxiety. It doesn’t really work anyway - it just numbs the edges a bit. 

Yes - I had agitation and suicidal thoughts with anti-depressants too - it was a horrendous experience for me. I’m sorry you experienced that too.  I tried St Johns Wort years ago - didn’t seem to help. I’ve tried various other A Vogel remedies too, and cbd. I haven’t found that any of them have made a noticeable difference. I haven’t tried Lions Mane - I’ll look into that - thank you. It’s dispiriting to keep trying things without success. I feel quite desperate at the moment to be honest. Not sure what to do. Thanks for your reply - I really appreciate it, 

Thanks for the reply. I’ve tried cbd oil but noticed no difference at all. It’s so expensive that I simply gave up with it. I tried the largest dose too. I’m really glad you’ve found it helpful though - these things vary so much from person to person don’t they? 

Herbal remedies are something one has to try to see what works, from my experience. I'd be mindful of too much Vit D. For instance, Ashwaganda OR mushrooms. Not both. These things can help over time

I know I've mentioned a few times on here, but when it's really bad I've found the only immediate solution is alprazolam (Xanax), which you can get from a GP. It's not a long-term solution, but it can be beneficial in a micro-dose as and when needed. It's not necessary or helpful to take it daily. Just don't mix it with grapefruit. 

I've been digging into some research on this, and hopefully with a team, will be able to show how this is necessary for the autistic brain, and why it's a unique situation. Too much stress, in my experience has a worse effect on health.

I find lions mane helps. I take it every day. I've also read about ashwagandha and 5htp which both help with anxiety. I think magnesium is another one too. Sometimes I take st John's wort. It works for me but I've also heard it can make anxiety worse.