Valerian Root for anxiety?

I may have posted about this before I'm not sure but...

While my pdoc is giving me medication I don't feel comfortable taking (and have legitimate reasons to feel this way) the last time I had effective medication for my panic and anxiety was in May, from the emergency room.

The anxiety and panic have gotten better, but are still standing strong. While I'm not shaking day and night, while I can keep somewhat still and I'm not afraid of everything, I still have that constant uneasiness. That constant feeling of needing to be somewhere else, anywhere else. I still have a lot of fears, claminess, sweatyness, shakiness, you know they typical. I'm just able to barely manage it, which is a lot compared to me back in May. Therapy is doing great.

I've gone back and forth thinking about taking valerian root for my anxiety. A friend recommended it almost a year ago, but the friend did other drugs so I didn't know if his opinion was trustworthy or not. But then today I brought it up with t and he said some of his anxiety patients use it and do well on it, and recommended I bring it up with my pdoc next month.

I'm not on any meds at all atm to cause bad reactions with med mixing. So now I'm considering it. But I don't like taking meds I don't know, meds I'm not educated about. Any advice or information or experiences on it? I need SOMETHING and can't get in with pdoc until next month. I know no one should/ca say "Yes take that" but it's a vitamin, so I can easily get it, it doesn't seem harmful and I'm hoping it may help so I wont need other meds.

Has anyone tried it? If so does it help the anxiety and panic attacks? It says take before bed, would it still help you after taking it at night, sleeping and waking up, granted I have anxiety at night but my biggest issue is the anxiety during the day, would it still help even if I took it at night? Any info advice or anything?

Valerian, in pharmacology and herbal medicine, is the name of a herb or dietary supplement prepared from roots of the plant, which, after maceration, trituration and dehydration processes, are packaged, usually into capsules. Based on its pharmacological mode of action, valerian root has been demonstrated to possess sedative and anxiolytic effects.[1]The amino acid valine is named after this plant..this is from wikipedia

Hope this helps

Also this:
Valerian Dosing

Anxiety: Valeprotriates 150 mg/day in 3 divided doses for 4 weeks has been used in a clinical trial. Other trials used the dried herb 0.5 to 2 g, extract 0.5 to 2 mL, and valerian tincture 2 to 4 mL for anxiety. Insomnia: Valerian extract 400 to 600 mg/day taken 1 hour before bedtime for 2 to 4 weeks has been used in clinical trials. Single-dose studies have consistently found no effect for single doses of valerian in insomnia....from Drugs.com

Thank you missbell, I googled and apparently it's better for anxiety in tea form, I think I might try it, I just don't see too many people using it. I'm kind of nervous, but I have GAD, when am I not nervous?

I think that it MAY calm mild nervousness, but that is the extent of the help. I doubt that you will find relief. I have a concoction of herbs including the valerian root and I do not think it is beyond placebo.

Sorry to say.

I agree with the above...if you have serious anxiety, Valerian root is not going to help.

Also, if I recall correctly (it is been years since I tried), the tea has an unpleasant taste. So I think it is better to find some tea that simply tastes pleasant for you and drink it to your heart's content. Will be more value.

for me valerian does help with insomnia. If you mix it with other herbs it's survivable.

Never tried to for anxiety, since it tends to knock me out when I use it as capsules for insomnia. I use it sometimes to take care of manic states, but other things are more... effective.

Glory to heroes!

HATEFREE CULTURE

Hi! I am relatively new but I will give you my experience if it will help you.

I have severe anxiety and debilitating panic attacks I DO use Valerian root. (I look for as many natural remedies as I can but I do also take medication for my problems). I take valerian sometimes to help relax before going to sleep. I take 2 x500 mg tabs, it calms me right down and doesn't make me drowsy the next day. I will drink it in tea form ('celestial extra sleepy time' has it in it and covers the taste up with mint). For day to day stuff I take one 500mg tab occasionally, it makes me less dizzy and drowsy than an ativan would. Another thing I use is kava kava tea, it is a great thing for my anxiety, again I only use it occasionally. I know that even though herbs are relatively safe these ones in particular can hurt your liver over time, so use with care and caution!

Other things I use on a daily basis (totally natural) are calcium and magnesium supplements, these really help me relax my muscles and also help me sleep. I take around 1000mg of magnesium every night and wake up feeling refreshed. If I feel too anxious I'll take some liquid mag/cal formula and it helps calm me down. Don't take too much of anything though, read the daily recommended dose.

I also take omega-3 fish oils, this is supposed to support the nervous system and balance in the brain. You can get all these things from your diet, too. (for example eggs and fish have high omega-3 oils)

Hope this helps. I have always had great success with Valerian, I think it works better with some people than others. I would try taking it at night first to see how you react. Take care.

Some anxiety talk, may be triggering*****

Thank you all, I've read a ton online regarding valerian root, and some says it does others say it don't but like stratocaster I'm looking for herbal remedies for the most part. Medication maked my anxiety peak. Heck I don't take Tylenol unless my pain has me in tears because it's so bad. So the tea, knowing it's not a pill even, is a bit of a relief to me.... But...

I'm having anxiety thinking about it... Worrying, "will there be a bad reaction?" I went out drinking last night because my fiances band had a gig (he plays the drums) and I had a good time, I drink maybe once a month to two months. Well we get home and I go to sleep and woke up having panic attacks every hour. Woke up feeling like a full blown anxiety attack got me. Reminds me why I don't always like drinking. It wasn't until around 3pm that the anxiety eased at all. I kept thinking about drinking some of the Valerian root tea to try it out but I get so panicked thinking about it "what if I have a reaction and once I've taken it it's too late, it's already in my system" the same thing goes for the pills, and I am too afraid to try it at night because the thoughts "well what if I have a reaction while I'm sleeping and I don't even know it, and I wake up horribly ill or worse?"

I have a lot of irrational fears, this is an herbal remedy and I'm ONLY allergic to one thing, Flagyl and it's just a type of antibiotic, and the only thing that happened when I took it was a mild rash. So I shouldn't be so worried about these things but I am. I want to try it, I've had the valerian root capsules for about a year and the tea for 2 days now, but haven't worked up the courage to try it yet...

Again thank you for the responses, they were greatly appreciated.

I honestly don't know about panic and anxiety, but it works really well for sleep and would recommend it to anyone before getting a prescription. My son has Asperger's syndrome and had to take sleep meds for a long time. The Valarian works just as well as anything else they put him on. You can buy it in a liquid and and dropperful does the job for the night. The taste isn't the best but not as bad as some. If your panic/anxiety keeps you up, start by trying it for that and go from there. Oh...and I never had problems waking up after taking it...unlike Melatonin which usually leaves me groggy. I think you could experiment with it during the day, but you might want to do a little more research first.

In the uk there are alot of non prescription meds aimed at anti anxiety that are valerian based and I have used the ones for sleep. I had no side effects.

I can agree with you sounds like we are in same vote. Although I have tired the valerian also, it did not help me but i have not tired the tea, really wish there was something feeling like this is horrible. I also checked the web for stuff too, there were some others but too many side effects, lord only knows have enough already.

how about go research it yourself? since you felt ur friend's help wasn't trustworthy. i am into herbal medicines only and nothing else. i have heard good things about valerian root and how it helps with anxiety, although, i have not taken it yet. there are library books you can read on plant medicine.

check out naturalnews.com, mercola.com, earthclinic.com, and curezone.com

herbs and drugs do not mix never will! the drugs will kill the plants' medicinal properties if you mix it with drugs. lavender oil is great for anxiety you could use that i am using it for stress but still have anxiety issues

Hello In this forum you can know your health related problems.

Just wanted to update. I finally tried the tea. While it ended up causing a panic attack (when first drinking it since I was so worried about any effects) it seemed to work well. But I didn't get good sleep. Could have been because I drank it at 3pm and didn't go to bed until 1am but I used one tea bag and eck, it wasn't a pleasant taste. But all night, for 8 hours, I was in a much better mood than I have been in in months. It's not a "happy drug" or anything but my job really stresses me out. I'm a front desk clerk at a big hotel. We sell out quite a bit and let's just say the guests nor my co workers are easy to work with.

Well yesterday I tried it for the first time and I ended up having a decent night. I didn't get upset, rage or stressed the slightest bit and we were fairly busy. So I drank some more today knowing we would be sold out. I'm 5 hours into my shift and while I'm already ready to go home, I'm in a much better mood. Guests are even now saying I smile "too much", granted the smiles are forced because I'm at work, but it's much easier to force them now, they come much easier.

Not to mention the one and only negative survey I personally have had in 2012 was that I didn't smile enough. Now the last two days they are saying I smile too much... Hmm... Don't know if it's a coincidence or not but I feel so much less stressed out today than I have any other Wednesday night in the last year or two.