Totally against medication ! Thoughts on vitamins or self healing on anxiety/Ocd intrusive thoughts?!.

[Wb88]

I'm looking into getting some vitamins for my anxiety and mental clearness.. Any suggestions

[philly101]

That's what I do, I take magnesium everyday. I also drink Chamomile tea every night. Sometimes when I am really anxious ill take Valerian root extract. Put a few drops on a teaspoon of sugar (because of the taste). Also started taking Marijuana oil drops. Its not illegal, you can buy it online and it doesn't get you high. I also see a therapist once a week, which helps out a lot. Definitely better to go the herbal/therapy route then taking medication. Good luck!

[blackcat64013]

Dr Google has lots of information about neutraceuticals (the trendy word for natural therapies) for depression etc.

My GP gives a thumbs up to magnesium which powers all of our cells but reckons Vitamin D is a waste of time.

My pharmacist gave me a medication review (free) including over the counter neutraceuticals which I found very valuable.

St Johns Wort was on the list of possible problems if taken with a prescription because of it's similar action in the body.

[CaptianInsano]

Holy Basil and St Johns Wort St Johns wort can cause problems. I've been medicated for 12 years. Lexapro worked great. I just switched to Buspar which is cleaner and less intrusive. Us nuts have receptor problems. CBT works well if you have insurance. Drugs do work wonders. It was very hard for me to admit that my brain is mechanically broke. The Meds fill in the broken areas. Fear of Meds is in no way better than anxieties. Good luck Meds gave me a close to normal life. 👍

[CaptianInsano]

I never had any luck with natural herbs etc. I take Meds and high guality organic vitamins . No drinking as alcohol causes anxiety. Binaural beats help me relax. You need head phones or buds for them. Find a app for binaural beats. Good luck

[Nicki1984]

Counselling and meditation is the best therapy. You could also look into aromatherapy oils such as lavender x

[Jeff1943]

Wb88,you will never cure yourself of anxiety by just taking vitamins. Think about it, if that was true doctors would just be handing out vitamins and nobody would be experiencing anxiety. For the past 40 years I have taken high doses of all vitamins and minerals but never with the expectation that it would banish anxiety.

Medication like valium and amitriptyline which you are totally against, on the other hand, offer dramatic relief from anxiety allowing people with job and family responsibilities to continue to function. They also provide a breathing space during which one can investigate non-medication self-help methods for recovery: I personally believe strongly in the Acceptance method advocated by Claire Weekes in her many books ('Self help with your nerves' is the main one).

Medications have an important part to play in recovery from anxiety but of course nobody would want to stay on them longer than necessary. Yesterday I posted a post here titled 'Anxiety about taking anti-anxiety medications is just another symptom of anxiety'. I believe that to be true.

[Jeff1943]

Wilburbudgirl, you can take all the vitamin B and magnesium you want and it won't affect your anxiety one iota. There have been no clinical tests that suggest they are helpful (other than the placebo effect). And what's all this about about anxiety/depression meds being "rather harmful to your body." Can we have your source for this please, all anti-anxiety and anti-depressants have to be rigourously tested before they are licenced. Very, very occasionally something slips through the net but not enough to make the general judgement that these medications are "rather harmful to your body." Please remember there are hundreds of people on this forum currently taking medications and it is wrong to undermine their confidence in things that are essential for their mental health right now.

[Wilburbudgirl in reply to Jeff1943]

I just wanted to say I'm sorry I shouldn't be saying that about the medications as I probably don't know as much as you and I know they do help some people, but at the same time it is the same with vitamins in my person experience I know that they are working (not a placebo effect) ....and a dr also said that vitamin deficiencies certainly cause anxiety and depression.

I'm not trying to be argumentative at all here just sayin that we both know different things

[Jeff1943]

Wilburbudgirl, I am a great advocat of vitamin and mineral supplements myself and take about 20 different supplements every day as I believe they offer some protection against the modern plague illnesses of cancer, heart disease, stroke, macular degeneration of the retina etc. I've been taking them for 40 years and I'm still here so they certainly aren't doing me any harm, whether I'm the first guy to live to be 125 remains to be seen☺ Among my daily intake is 33mg of vitamin B complex but I'm still nutty as a fruitcake, if you're going to take vit B you should take all the B vits in a B complex tablet rather than just individual B vits like B6 otherwisr your body thinks it's deficient in the other B vits.

In a very few people on a poor diet I think B vitamins may help but for the majority of us I have no faith in B's as a cure for anxiety I'm afraid.

Medications can be helpful for a while but we should all aim to be anxiety free without meds if possible. And it is possible - by understanding how too much fear and negativity can cause our nervous systems to become over sensitised and understanding how we can reverse that process and recover our peace of mind by accepting the symptoms calmly for the time being without generating more fear. Also it is reassuring to learn the limitations of anxiety: can't kill you, can't disable you, can't send you crazy.

There are many books that contain self help methods of recovery and many of them stress the Acceptance method first developed by Claire Weekes in the 1960s and described in her life-changing book 'Self help with your nerves' (U.K. edition) and 'Hope and help with your nerves' (U.S. edition), both available from Amazon.

I commend this book to you and all others searching for the exit to the maze of anxiety disorder.

[Indigojoe]

I refused to take any kind of main stream medicines. Taking meds made me nuts. I freaked out if I took anything more than an aspirin or half a tranq. I did alternative medicines, energy medicines, homeopathy, juicing, etc..........I am now on a tiny dose of Lexapro.