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Completely eliminated my severe anxiety symptoms with three supplements!

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
The cheapest way to get turmeric is in an Asian store, or online from Asian spice suppliers. I bought a whole kilogram bag of turmeric powder for £3. Then you can just swallow say half a teaspoon of the powder with some water. The taste is not unpleasant. I tend to buy a lot of supplements in bulk powder form, because you save so much money that way, often around a 90% reduction in price compared to capsules. A good supplier of bulk powder supplements in general is purebulk.com.
I buy a lot of my supplements in powder form too, but you have to be careful because some things taste really terrible. I agree that turmeric isn't too bad compared to others, but I can understand why people wouldn't like it. We get Frontier herbs because they have a lot of organic products. For Triphala I get an organic brand from Pureformulas.

I have a question about your anxiety threads. Do you differentiate between mental and physical anxiety? If so are there some supplements that work better for one kind? I think physical anxiety is more my problem although sometimes it's a combination of both.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
Feeling wired can coexist with anxiety..but Ive found it to not always be the case at all.

I can get into this wired but tired but still very happy state at times.. like im on some kind of happy wired drug high. (which also at times can feel like if I'd had a massive boost of caffiene). Ever seen a child who on staying up too late goes all crazy and silly.. starts running about a room making noises or whatever (not all get cracky when over tired and gone into wired, it can be more like a child who's had too much red food colouring and has all this energy which one just cant get out). That's how I sometimes feel...with no negative emotions connected to it.

Other times (it all depends on if I have had anxiety or not as part of my recent ME/CFS symptoms) being wired will increase the anxiety I had at the time. (what im saying.. as if it wasnt there already a bit of anxeity there already, I dont get anxiety with being wired.. wired just intensifies anxiety if its already there).

for myself.. feeling wired occassionally, can be an enjoyable state to be in (as can be very useful as it makes me feel more energy to go and do things which in turn..knowing im doing things without having to push myself is pleasurable, thou the crash from it later can suck).

It is annoying thou if one is wired right before bed..or at other incovenient times...(in those causes it can lead to anxiety esp all if one really wants to do is go to bed and actually sleep).
.....

Great post thou with all those anti anxiety ideas.
I get this same happy wired state, or maybe it's more excited than happy. Either way it's positive feeling, not negative feeling. However, it's negative because it happens at night when I want to go to sleep and it does keep me up later than I want.
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
I get this same happy wired state, or maybe it's more excited than happy. Either way it's positive feeling, not negative feeling. However, it's negative because it happens at night when I want to go to sleep and it does keep me up later than I want.
I think I'm the same way although for me it's all day long and my health is at a point where I really need to stay in bed much of the day rather than be at the computer. If things keep up, my post count will hit 10,000 be next year. I actually feel like I did when I took ADD medication. And my wired state doesn't seem to have much effect on my mood either.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
I think I'm the same way although for me it's all day long and my health is at a point where I really need to stay in bed much of the day rather than be at the computer. If things keep up, my post count will hit 10,000 be next year. I actually feel like I did when I took ADD medication. And my wired state doesn't seem to have much effect on my mood either.
I do get it in the day sometimes too but mostly at night. For me it seems to also correlate to my menstrual cycle (seems to happen during PMS). I thought maybe there was some sort of connection with serotonin since that can be affected during PMS. I also have ADHD, not sure if there is any connection with that.
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
I do get it in the day sometimes too but mostly at night. For me it seems to also correlate to my menstrual cycle (seems to happen during PMS). I thought maybe there was some sort of connection with serotonin since that can be affected during PMS. I also have ADHD, not sure if there is any connection with that.
I meant how I felt from the effects from the medication. ADHD medication raises dopamine and norepinephrine.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
I meant how I felt from the effects from the medication. ADHD medication raises dopamine and norepinephrine.
I figured that's what you meant, I was just saying that I have ADHD and not sure if that is related to my feeling wired. I wasn't making a parallel to your comment about ADHD, I could have been more clear! As a side note I don't feel wired at all on ADHD meds but I think that's because I have ADHD so the meds are more focusing rather than stimulating to me.
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
I figured that's what you meant, I was just saying that I have ADHD and not sure if that is related to my feeling wired. I wasn't making a parallel to your comment about ADHD, I could have been more clear! As a side note I don't feel wired at all on ADHD meds but I think that's because I have ADHD so the meds are more focusing rather than stimulating to me.
When I'm wired I am mentally focused, but my body is too amped up. Part of it is probably from the Prozac I'm on. Unlike most SSRIs, Prozac also increase norepinephrine and dopamine. I'm sure my adrenals are also a huge factor. Someone has also been telling me some other factors that could be increasing my norepinephrine.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
For me when I feel wired like that I'm not well focused. Lots of thoughts in my mind. In that way, maybe it resembles anxiety but it certainly feels much better than anxiety. But it still doesn't feel normal. It feels like I am bursting out of my skin. I think for me it only happens during PMS, I'll have to pay attention to see if it happens other times too. Have you tried other SSRIs to see if you might do better on those?
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
For me when I feel wired like that I'm all over the place, looking up a bunch of things at once and super short attention span. Lots of thoughts in my mind. In that way, maybe it resembles anxiety but it certainly feels much better than anxiety. But it still doesn't feel normal. It feels like I am bursting out of my skin. I think for me it only happens during PMS, I'll have to pay attention to see if it happens other times too. Have you tried other SSRIs to see if you might do better on those?
I guess I'm a little bit of both to be honest. Not sure how to explain it. I might switch to Paxil, but I think there are a lot of other factors besides the Prozac that's causing overstimulation. Except for some recent problems, the Prozac has been working really great. Once I get the other things taken care of hopefully I'll be more balanced. Someone told me it's not good to switch back and forth between antidepressants so I'm going to hold out and see if things settle down.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I have a question about your anxiety threads. Do you differentiate between mental and physical anxiety? If so are there some supplements that work better for one kind? I think physical anxiety is more my problem although sometimes it's a combination of both.

The brain certainty has the "anxiety circuitry" to produce an anxiety state in our minds.

This "anxiety circuitry" is located in certain areas of the brain that create the normal anxiety response; the main anxiety area or "anxiety circuit" of the brain is the amygdala (but the prefrontal cortex and the locus coeruleus are also involved in anxiety).

Mental anxiety, as you term it, arises when external life circumstances and life situations trigger this anxiety circuitry and switch it on. Usually this anxiety is a normal, healthy and appropriate response. For example, if you had a job interview to go to tomorrow, then today you would likely be feeling anxious about it. This anxiety is a healthy and appropriate response, because some anxiety ensures that you properly prepare for your job interview.

What you term "mental anxiety" always has psychogenic causes; that is to say, it arises from stressful external situations you face.

Physical anxiety (what is medical called generalized anxiety disorder) I believe arises when there is a dysfunction in the brain or the body, which causes the anxiety circuitry of the brain to be inappropriately permanently switch on, even though there is no external reason for this — there are no stressful external situations that you face to provoke any anxiety response.

This thread (plus the other threads I started on this subject) is all about physical anxiety (generalized anxiety disorder), which arises from physical dysfunctions of the brain's anxiety circuitry.


The muddle comes when you have both physical anxiety and mental anxiety occurring together. So if you already have physical anxiety, such that your anxiety circuits are switched on to a high level, and then you also start experiencing mental anxiety (psychogenic anxiety) due to some stressful external situations, this is going to raise your anxiety levels even higher still, as now you have two driving causes of anxiety, one physical and one mental.

Since you have physical anxiety already (and physical anxiety might not only switch on your anxiety circuits, but perhaps also make them more sensitive to stressful external stimuli), then when mental anxiety from an external situation hits, it becomes very difficult to cope with.

So most people with physical anxiety will tend to minimize or avoid stressful external situations (which is a good thing to do if you have anxiety disorder); but these external situations are not the cause of their extreme anxiety, they just further add to the already high anxiety burden.


When you hear stories of high-flying business executives suddenly having a nervous breakdown out of the blue, although it is popularly believed that this occured because they "pushed themselves too hard", thereby causing burnout, I think what in fact happens is that the unfortunate executive suddenly develops a dysfunction in his anxiety circuits (perhaps triggered by a viral infection or toxic exposure, for example) leading to of physical anxiety, and from then on, all the demanding situations in his business life — situations which were once a great "buzz" and a thrilling adrenaline ride for that executive — now suddenly become a nightmare to cope with, because now that executive's anxiety circuitry is physically malfunctioning, such that his anxiety state is permanently switched on, and may also be over-sensitive to any form of external stress.

The popular public perception, and the view among many psychologists (who as we know often get things wrong), is that the demanding high-flying career itself caused the burnout; but I suggest the opposite is true: that their anxiety circuits became dysfunctional due to some physical damage or biochemical imbalance (such as from a virus or toxin), and only then does this physical damage/imbalance make a once fabulously exciting high-flying career now seem extremely stressful — stressful enough to make the executive resign.


All the remedies and medications in this thread are focused on reducing the physical damage and biochemical imbalance of the brain's malfunctioning anxiety circuits. Once you have treated the physical dysfunctions of your anxiety circuits, and your brain's anxiety circuits are functioning more robustly, then you will likely find that mental anxiety arising from stressful situations will be easier to deal with.

There is of course no reason why you should not also try to train your mind to better deal with mental anxiety arising from stressful situations. Though research has shown such mental training tends to work OK for panic disorder, but does not work so well for generalized anxiety disorder.
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
When you hear stories of high-flying business executives suddenly having a nervous breakdown out of the blue, although it is popularly believed that this occured because they "pushed themselves too hard", thereby causing burnout, I think what in fact happens is that the unfortunate executive suddenly develops a dysfunction in his anxiety circuits (perhaps triggered by a viral infection or toxic exposure, for example) leading to of physical anxiety, and from then on, all the demanding situations in his business life — situations which were once a great "buzz" and a thrilling adrenaline ride for that executive — now suddenly become a nightmare to cope with, because now that executive's anxiety circuitry is physically malfunctioning, such that his anxiety state is permanently switched on, and may also be over-sensitive to any form of external stress.

The popular public perception, and the view among many psychologists (who as we know often get things wrong), is that the demanding high-flying career itself caused the burnout; but I suggest the opposite is true: that their anxiety circuits became dysfunctional due to some physical damage or biochemical imbalance (such as from a virus or toxin), and only then does this physical damage/imbalance make a once fabulously exciting high-flying career now seem extremely stressful — stressful enough to make the executive resign.
I suspect many people burnout from going to bed too late then getting up early for their job and taking a bunch of caffeine to compensate for their tiredness. Even though I suspect Lyme disease has screwed up my adrenals, I think having chronic insomnia and then getting up early each day for school also contributed to my illness. I believe for myself norepinephrine is a big factor, but it also seems like NMDA could also be important. I know a lot of people here suffer from fatigue, but my body seems to have found a way to override my fatigue symptoms which is why part of the reason I norepinephrine seems to having a big role (at least for myself).
So most people with physical anxiety will tend to minimize or avoid stressful external situations (which is a good thing to do if you have anxiety disorder); but these external situations are not the cause of their extreme anxiety, they just further add to the already high anxiety burden.
Things got so bad a few years ago that I actually had to stop watching TV and movies, following politics, and reading fiction novels. Until recently I thought that high cortisol was causing my symptoms, but it looks like there's some other things to consider too.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I suspect many people burnout from going to bed too late then getting up early for their job and taking a bunch of caffeine to compensate for their tiredness.

I believe that the human being is a very robust creature, both mentally and physically, and does not normally succumb to disease, to stressors or to mild bodily abuse (like drinking too much, or "burning the candle at both ends"). Millions of years of evolution — working on the principle of surival of the fittest — has made us very tough, and has given us the best of genes.

This is the precise argument put forward by evolutionary biologist Paul W. Ewald: he says that most common diseases will not turn out to have genetic causes, and are not due to some inherent weakness in the human being. Ewald explains that any disease-causing gene that reduces survival (and reproduction) will eliminate itself over a number of generations. So chronic diseases such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, anxiety disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, schizophrenia, clinical depression, etc cannot be primarily genetic, according to the logic of evolutionary biology.

So if it is not genes and not inherent weakness, what causes these diseases then?

Well, once you catch a few pathogens, these are the one thing that can destroy the normal health and harmony of your body, because pathogens too have been harnessing the immense power of evolution — but in this case, for the purposes of their own survival, not yours. Their survival is your downfall. So once you start accumulating a few pathogens in your body, it becomes a battle, and this is where disease begins.

One day , the human race will wake up to the fact that it has been pathogens all along that have messed things up for us. And then, once the penny drops, and we have our "ah-ha" moment, we will finally do something about it.

But until that day, not only will pathogens will continue to win, but we will also have to put up with all these unscientific psychogenic theories put forward by Wessely school psychologists and the like.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
is it better then NAG,i have tried them several times,but no benefit

For me personally, NAG, flaxseed oil, turmeric, and also the excellent drug amisulpride 12.5 to 25 mg daily (which you can buy in India here), were the best anti-anxiety treatments.

But I also found these supplements good for anxiety: taurine 2 grams twice daily, vitamin A 25,000 IU daily, choline bitartrate 1000 mg daily.

If you can find some arginine powder, then I discovered that snorting (nasal insufflation) a very small amount of arginine powder (100 mg) into your nose has a very powerful and rapid anti-anxiety effect. You can snort arginine powder using a short length of drinking straw.
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
Deeee, try the Indian herb Bacopa monnieri (brahmi), one heaped teaspoon once or twice a day. This is good for anxiety, and it should be readily available in India. Another other good Indian herb for anxiety is Withania somnifera (ashwagandha), one heaped teaspoon twice a day.
What's your opinion about adaptogens and cortisol? Some people say it just lowers cortisol while others say it balances cortisol. I'm not sure about bacopa, but ashwagandha and many other adaptogens affect cortisol in some manner. If they do lower cortisol this could be a problem for some people here.
 

liquid sky

Senior Member
Messages
371
Hi Hip, I wonder if you've ever used benzos for your anxiety and if yes, were you able to stop them using these supps? (Sorry if you've addressed this as I have not made it through the whole thread yet.)