Inositol-does it help your anxiety/depression?

[reinagrace]

Hi i recently heard about Inositol- this is a supplement/vitamin you can get anywhere that you get vitamins (no prescription required) , I think it is kind of like a B vitamin- hard to explain but anyway I got it bc i read that it has helped people with panic disorder, anxiety and depression. I feel like it is doing the opposite for me and making me more anxious- but I always seem to have the opposite reaction of everyone else, with any med or supplement. For example the prescription Trazadone, helps my friends who take it, fall asleep but makes my insomnia worse. Anyway Has anyone tried Inositol ? And please tell me how it affects you. I read that some studies show it can make bipolar disorder worse, which I don't like to think that I have . I mean , my main diagnoses are Major Depression, Anxiety and Bipolar Personality Disorder . But there have been psychiatrists throughout my life that have mentioned they suspect a touch of bipolar whatever that means. I just never wanted to accept that diagnosis bc it's overwhelming enough dealing with everything else i have,the panic attacks and depression/Borderline. Anyway i feel a panic attack coming on out of the blue- i mean i had no triggers or stress yesterday but now i'm wide awake all night can't sleep and can't think of anything different except the Inositol. The fact that it has helped people with depression and anxiety but possibly made bipolar people worse- makes me now wonder if those psychiatrists that mentioned bipolar , were right. Please tell me anyone if you tried Inositol and what happened. Or maybe you can research it and try it and tell me how it goes. Thanks

[Jeff1943]

I have been taking Inositol as part of a B-vitamin supplement for 30 years but have never heard tell it helps anxiety or depression. The only supplement that many people do find helpful for anxiety is Magnesium though I don't take it myself.

[reinagrace in reply to Jeff1943]

thanks, i take magnesium already and it helps some. But since i'm unable to tolerate antidepressants anymore i thought I'd try it- if you google it you will see there are studies that it supposedly helps depression and anxiety- but can make bipolar worse. But in my case, things that help people seem to do the opposite for me. thx

[Jeff1943 in reply to reinagrace]

Some people find that Green Tea taken at about 8am when cortisol levels peak helps reduce anxiety, the active ingredient in Green Tea is L-thianine.

Also a tea made from the dry leaves of Lemon Balm plants is an age-old remedy.

Are you sure you've given meds a fair chance? Often people approach them with such an expectation of negative side-effects that imagination willingly obliges.

Are you familiar with the self help books and YouTube videos of Doctor Claire Weekes regarding her acceptance method? Her first book is titled 'Hope and help for your nerves', written half a century ago but still the pre-eminant self help book in the opinion of many. There have been 1,600 reviews of her books on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and 90% rate her method Very Good or Excellent. Certainly made a huge difference to my life. I commend this book and her YouTube recordings.

[reinagrace in reply to Jeff1943]

Thanks Jeff1943 yes i have been on many meds for decades . The last antidepressant i was on was from 2009-2014- five years. Which i read 5 yrs. is the point that it stops working for many. After that round- nothing worked anymore- even ones that had previously worked for me like in 2006 or earlier . They just caused horrible effects .Something caused my brain chemistry to change, which my psychiatrist said happens- and i've become hyper-sensitive to pretty much everything- i can not even tolerate one sip of wine. Sometimes i wonder if it is all the meds that did it, but dr . can not answer for sure if it's that, or aging (i'm almost 46), or new traumas that i experienced in recent years. I had depression from bad childhood, but even after treating that with therapy and meds as adult, still new traumas happened , some from my own bad choices/relationships, and new trauma can also change brain chemistry . The only thing i can tolerate at the moment is klonopin and hydroxyzine, which i take both on as-needed basis for panic. Which i finally had to take klonopin this morning at 8 a.m. bc i was still awake from the night. I'm going to stop the inositol as i'm 90% sure that's what made anxiety worse -and see what happens. What tipped me off is when i read it can make bipolar worse. although i never wanted to believe the psychiatrists that said i have a touch of that- what was weird about last night is that from about 6 pm- 10 pm i was in extremely elevated mood. And out of nowhere crashed about 5 am into deep sadness. i never considered my elevated moods as mania, bc i didn't go into reckless spending sprees or impulsive sexual acts like typical mania-- but i'm learning there is such a thing as "hypomania" - also part of bipolar but not as out of control or "high" as mania. Even in how unusually almost high as i was feeling last night, i was wondering if it was normal though i was trying to enjoy the great mood. Sure enough as i'm reading about it now - the hypomania can either switch to mania or severe depression- which is what started to happen at 5 a.m. Both the high last night and the low this a.m. were from out of the blue. So knowing i probably have that "touch" of bipolar i better stay away from anything shown to possibly worsen it- which , is the case with inositol. Thank you for suggestion of book- i will look into it. Blessings

[Jeff1943 in reply to reinagrace]

I think many people with anxiety/depression have up and down mood changes but it doesn't mean they are bipolar, just something to do with what they eat or other factors.

Have you considered the use of diazepam/valium as a one-off-when-needed tranquilliser. I don't think there is another med that gives such complete and instant respite, even after its effect wears off it often still leaves you with a quiet mind. Unfortunately diazepam has become a victim of it's own success and can be addictive. But what highly effective med isn't? As a result diazepam has been demonised to such an extent that doctors are scared to prescribe it. But used responsibly it is magic: this means taking it occasionally when really needed or continuously for no more than 3 to 4 weeks and then tapered off. I've been taking it occasionally for 40 years without addiction or loss of efficacy. There are no side effects that I've noticed.

This reminds me of a famous saying by the outrageous 1930s actress Tallulah Bankhead who said: "All this talk about cocaine being addictive is absolute nonsense and I should know because I've been taking it for 10 years!"😄

[reinagrace in reply to Jeff1943]

i think i already tried that- there are so many many i've tried over the years. i used to be highly addicted to Xanax- which is why my Dr. and i settled on Klonopin- also a benzio- but not as strong or as much potential for abuse. He even tells me i can take it more than i do- i try to keep it down to once a week or twice a week- bc i am so scared of getting addicted again. i journal my episodes and pretty much know my triggers and what to avoid, and can at times even go 2 weeks without a klonopin. Hydroxyzine has been good too, as needed- it is not a benzio therefore not addictive supposedly- and works if my insomnia/anxiety is at a level 6 -7. But once it goes to 8, 9 or 10 (Scale 1-10) i need a klonopin. When it's below 6, i am able to calm down /sleep naturally. Bleach is one trigger- i'm gonna have to buy all-natural cleaners for my bathroom etc bc i noticed patterns of all night insomnia after i had done cleaning. Lately i've been at social gatherings with unwanted political discussions,that's gotten me highly agitated and it takes me a while to calm once i'm stressed. I wish more people take inositol so they could tell me what their experiences are- but when i read my anxiety tracking document for the past 2 weeks- i see i've mentioned inositol a couple times, so pretty sure at this point i can conclude it's a trigger. As i said i didn't want to believe the psychiatrists that mentioned possibility of bipolar to me- i always rejected their statements . But it's been more than one dr. , and it does make sense as i think back on my life and read about it a bit. i don't know what "having a touch of it " means- but i'm not gonna worry too much about it as long as i know triggers and what to avoid. Thanks again though- i'm just 99% sure diazepam is one of the many many meds i've already tried. Hope all is well with you