I had hellish, unrelenting generalized anxiety disorder for several years, and, having tried hundreds of supplements (as well as SSRI drugs and TCA drugs) in my frantic efforts to treat it, I recently found 3 supplements that seem to pretty much eliminate my anxiety!
My anxiety was so severe that on bad days it would often border on mild psychosis. So it is quite amazing that just by taking these 3 supplements together, I have pretty much eliminated my anxiety disorder symptoms. OK, I still have chronic fatigue syndrome, but ditching the anxiety is a great improvement. Note that generalized anxiety disorder involves mental tension and/or worry; in my case, there was no worry, just severe mental tension. This anti-anxiety protocol worked very well to eliminate the mental tension.
Most of these supplements should start working within two hours or so of taking them; if you don't feel the benefits within a few hours, then they are probably not going to work for you.
Note that NAG either works very well (in around 50% of people), or it does not work at all (in the other 50% of people).
Anti-Anxiety Effects — Mechanism of Action
It is not entirely clear why these 3 supplements work so well for me. They are all anti-inflammatories, and they may work by reducing inflammation in the brain. Recent research has shown that brain inflammation can cause many mental symptoms, including anxiety symptoms, depression, ADHD, and many others. So the anti-inflammatory properties of these supplements may be the mechanism by which they eliminate anxiety.
On a similar note: on days when my sinusitis was worse, my anxiety levels would shoot up. My theory is that in some people, sinus inflammation may be a prime factor causing anxiety symptoms. Perhaps inflammatory cytokines in the sinuses spill over into the brain (the brain is situated just next to the sinuses), precipitating brain inflammation, which in turn leads to the anxiety symptoms. I observed that that N-acetyl-glucosamine dramatically reduced my sinus inflammation, and so this may be the mechanism by which N-acetyl-glucosamine eliminates anxiety symptoms.
Another consideration is that these 3 supplements are all useful for irritable bowel syndrome (which I have), and it may be that their anti-inflammatory action in the gut helps lower overall body inflammation, which can help lower brain inflammation.
By reducing the inflammation causing your anxiety symptoms, you are treating the very source of anxiety, biochemical speaking.
Note that this thread is an update and advancement on my older anti-anxiety thread here: Non-Standard Anti-Anxiety Treatment, where I detail the mechanism by which I think brain inflammation may cause anxiety.
Being "Wired" Related to Anxiety?
I have the impression that the "wired" feeling in ME/CFS patients is related to anxiety. Feeling wired (as in "wired but tired") may be a mild version of anxiety, or be related to anxiety. I certainly find that I never feel wired when I take these anti-anxiety supplements. So these anti-anxiety supplements may also help people eliminate the "wired" state of ME/CFS.
Update February 2015:
People often ask me the question: "Are you still taking these anti-anxiety supplements, and are they still working?" The answer is yes: they are still working well, even after three years, and in fact if I stop taking these supplements, although there are no withdrawal symptoms as such, I notice that my anxiety soon returns, within days. So this indicates the supplements are still effective.
On this thread over the last few years there has been a lot of feedback from people trying this NAG / flaxseed oil / turmeric combination to treat their generalized anxiety disorder: roughly around 50% report very good or excellent results, but equally the other 50% say that this combo did nothing at all for them.
Supplement Sources:
N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG) can be found online through a Google shopping search. I found that the Jarrow brand of NAG seems to be good value and good quality. You can also obtain NAG more cheaply as a bulk powder here: US, UK, AU.
A US supplement supplier with good prices is iHerb. Both these have cheap shipping rates for mailing internationally. Amazon and eBay often also have good prices, and are worth checking.
• The first and most potent anti-anxiety supplement is N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG), taken at a dose of 700 mg twice daily on an empty stomach; the dose can be reduced once daily after a few weeks. NAG should not be confused with glucosamine sulfate, which will not work for this anti-anxiety purpose. Note that NAG may be inadvisable in Lyme disease (see here). NAG can also aggravate asthma. NAG is usually shellfish derived (however Swanson NAG is derived from fermented yeast, though Swanson say they cannot guarantee it is shellfish free). NAG should not be taken if you are on the blood thinner warfarin (see here). Glucosamine and likely NAG also may raise intraocular pressure (see here).
• The second most potent is flaxseed oil (aka linseed oil), one level tablespoon (15 ml) daily. 15 ml of flaxseed oil is 13,000 mg in weight. Flaxseed oil is best absorbed when taken with food. It is the alpha linolenic acid (ALA) in flaxseed oil that I believe has the anti-anxiety effects (flaxseed oil is 55% ALA; chia oil is 64% ALA).
• The third is the herb turmeric, at a dose of 1000 mg twice daily, best taken on an empty stomach (but if it causes irritation, take with food). This herb can be bought cheaply as turmeric powder for cooking. 1000 mg equates to just under one level teaspoon of powder. Turmeric is not to be confused with curcumin (turmeric contains curcumin, but turmeric has many other active ingredients, including: ar-turmerone, demethoxycurcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin, atlantone, and zingiberone; I suspect the ar-turmerone in turmeric may have the main anti-anxiety effect, as ar-turmerone is thought to reduce microglial activation). So don't buy curcumin thinking it is turmeric; they are not the same.
My anxiety was so severe that on bad days it would often border on mild psychosis. So it is quite amazing that just by taking these 3 supplements together, I have pretty much eliminated my anxiety disorder symptoms. OK, I still have chronic fatigue syndrome, but ditching the anxiety is a great improvement. Note that generalized anxiety disorder involves mental tension and/or worry; in my case, there was no worry, just severe mental tension. This anti-anxiety protocol worked very well to eliminate the mental tension.
Most of these supplements should start working within two hours or so of taking them; if you don't feel the benefits within a few hours, then they are probably not going to work for you.
Note that NAG either works very well (in around 50% of people), or it does not work at all (in the other 50% of people).
Anti-Anxiety Effects — Mechanism of Action
It is not entirely clear why these 3 supplements work so well for me. They are all anti-inflammatories, and they may work by reducing inflammation in the brain. Recent research has shown that brain inflammation can cause many mental symptoms, including anxiety symptoms, depression, ADHD, and many others. So the anti-inflammatory properties of these supplements may be the mechanism by which they eliminate anxiety.
On a similar note: on days when my sinusitis was worse, my anxiety levels would shoot up. My theory is that in some people, sinus inflammation may be a prime factor causing anxiety symptoms. Perhaps inflammatory cytokines in the sinuses spill over into the brain (the brain is situated just next to the sinuses), precipitating brain inflammation, which in turn leads to the anxiety symptoms. I observed that that N-acetyl-glucosamine dramatically reduced my sinus inflammation, and so this may be the mechanism by which N-acetyl-glucosamine eliminates anxiety symptoms.
Another consideration is that these 3 supplements are all useful for irritable bowel syndrome (which I have), and it may be that their anti-inflammatory action in the gut helps lower overall body inflammation, which can help lower brain inflammation.
By reducing the inflammation causing your anxiety symptoms, you are treating the very source of anxiety, biochemical speaking.
Note that this thread is an update and advancement on my older anti-anxiety thread here: Non-Standard Anti-Anxiety Treatment, where I detail the mechanism by which I think brain inflammation may cause anxiety.
Being "Wired" Related to Anxiety?
I have the impression that the "wired" feeling in ME/CFS patients is related to anxiety. Feeling wired (as in "wired but tired") may be a mild version of anxiety, or be related to anxiety. I certainly find that I never feel wired when I take these anti-anxiety supplements. So these anti-anxiety supplements may also help people eliminate the "wired" state of ME/CFS.
Update February 2015:
People often ask me the question: "Are you still taking these anti-anxiety supplements, and are they still working?" The answer is yes: they are still working well, even after three years, and in fact if I stop taking these supplements, although there are no withdrawal symptoms as such, I notice that my anxiety soon returns, within days. So this indicates the supplements are still effective.
On this thread over the last few years there has been a lot of feedback from people trying this NAG / flaxseed oil / turmeric combination to treat their generalized anxiety disorder: roughly around 50% report very good or excellent results, but equally the other 50% say that this combo did nothing at all for them.
Supplement Sources:
N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG) can be found online through a Google shopping search. I found that the Jarrow brand of NAG seems to be good value and good quality. You can also obtain NAG more cheaply as a bulk powder here: US, UK, AU.
A US supplement supplier with good prices is iHerb. Both these have cheap shipping rates for mailing internationally. Amazon and eBay often also have good prices, and are worth checking.
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