How do I deal with this? If it were not for this problem it would be fairly straightforward to figure out what to take to feel better. I'm currently considering hemp cbd oil for anxiety and insomnia, but with my history of paradoxical reactions and rapid tolerance to supplements and herbs, I feel like it will just be another dead end. Or worse.
Hi
@soundasacrystal - the hemp cbd oil might be another dead end, or it might work great for you. I think for every supplement or herb that I have found that has helped me, I've tried 5 or 6 that didn't. But it was worth it to me to keep trying, as I have found a few things that really do help and if I had not kept experimenting, I never would have found them.
Having said that, here are some guidelines I tend to follow when I want to try something new:
1. Learn as much as I can about something before trying it; what adverse reactions do others have; what positive reactions, etc.
2. Only start one new thing at a time so you can figure out what is doing what to you.
3. Start with a low dose; and only slowly increase it.
4. Pay attention carefully to see how you react.
Many people have posted that B12 and/or folate made them feel like crap. Well, it turns out for many of them the problem was that the methylation supplements caused their potassium levels to tank, as new cells were being formed and rapidly dividing, which increased their need for potassium. So actually in this case feeling like crap was an indication that they really needed the B12 or folate, but they also badly needed to increase their potassium.
I disagree that non-herbal supplements are necessarily easier to deal with. When I first took B1, it gave me a great burst of energy - yay! - and then dropped me way down in a day or 2. My first thought was potassium but no, that wasn't it. Then I made an educated guess - I had been reading about refeeding syndrome and how hypophosphatemia is its hallmark - so I theorized that perhaps my phosphorous levels had tanked (I read about low phosphorous symptoms and they matched), so I added in a lot of kefir (high in phosphate) and sure enough, the terrible fatigue went away. I was able then to take a small amount of B1 and gradually increase the dose, keeping an eye out for low phosphate symptoms.
Most recently I started taking the herb andrographis - my sister had great results using it for a bad sinus infection - and I reacted very well to it.
Of course taking supplements and herbs can get very complex - throw in herx and detox reactions to various things as well as refeeding type symptoms and it can be difficult to sort out what is going on, but it's the only way I have made any progress.