As I've mentioned in the past, I take an herbal supplement for my depression and anxiety treatment. This two-part series will talk about why I went herbal, and what I take. There will also be breakdowns of what the herbs do, and why they're included in the herbal supplement that I take everyday. I don't get paid to promote this brand or these herbs. It has simply saved my life with virtually no side effects. It's a godsend, and I only hope that I can help someone else feel better.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, so anything I recommend in this post is purely based off my own experiences. Check with your doctor if you have any questions about the herbs, or any drug interactions. Also, do your research. Some of these can possibly interact very badly with SSRIs, or Benzodiazepines like Xanax, and other prescriptions as well. They're pretty potent herbs.
WHY I WENT HERBAL
There are a lot of reasons I went herbal to help myself, but the biggest one is illustrated in the story of what happened to me in early September 2016.
I am a lightweight with most medicines. I explained this to my doctor, so when he prescribed me an SSRI to pull me out of my painful depression, I asked for the lowest dose he prescribed. That evening, with dinner, I took one tiny pill. After ONE pill of a low dose of Celexa, which had thousands of excellent reviews online, I was more violently sick than I have ever been in my entire life.
Within one hour of taking it, I was so nauseated that I forced myself to throw up. Then, I couldn't stop, and was throwing up for 14 hours straight. The pill had mentioned that it can keep people awake. So, if you experience that, take it in the morning. Well, keeping you awake is an understatement. I was awake for almost two days before I could go to sleep, and, for about 24 of those hours, I felt like there was a hot light going through my body, and burning me from the inside. I had legitimate thoughts about cutting myself open from collar bone to belly button to let the light out, and, while I was sweating profusely because I was so hot, my husband said I felt cold and clammy. I took my temperature at least 50 times, and there was no fever.
(The dark filter and my serious facial expression are to mimic the darkness of the story. Ha.)
The other weird and scary side effect was, I swore I could hear all the other people in the houses nearby ours... FROM INSIDE OUR HOUSE. At one point, I actually sat at the top of the stairs in our house, and rocked back and forth begging my husband to take me to the emergency room. I had never thought about hurting myself before, ever, and one single dose of medicine made me think it was a logically sound idea.
Thank the God above that my husband had experienced something similar ten years before. He knew that if he stayed with me, and just monitored me while it worked its way out of my system, I'd be ok. There wasn't much the hospital could do besides sedate me, or tie me to a bed, and make sure I didn't hurt myself, and we didn't really have money for the $1,000 ER bill anyway. To say it was the worst two days of my life is an understatement. And, that was from one single little tiny pill of pharmaceutical grade depression medicine.
After I got it out of my system, which took a few days, I remembered that my therapist a long time ago had had me take an herbal supplement that had helped me stabilize. I had forgotten all about it, and upon remembering that it existed, promptly went to the nearest health food store and picked up a bottle.
Within one day of taking it, all of my most troubling symptoms had disappeared -- the muscle tremors, choking sensations, heart palpitations, panic attacks and racing mind. It also improved some of the most crippling effects of depression -- my absurd lack of energy and motivation, and my completely tiny threshold for pain.
Within 48 hours of starting a daily dose of the herbs, I was at the gym lifting weights, and walking on the treadmill, and signing up for a monthly pass. I had energy to do things I hadn't done in a few years, and I was excited. I thought it would go away as I got used to the supplement because my depression and anxiety were so bad, but it didn't. I have taken the capsules everyday for almost a year now, and I feel like a mostly stable person.
WHAT I TAKE
The herbal supplement I take is actually an herbal mixture in capsule form. It is Dr. Christopher's Mindtrac.
This mixture includes: Valerian Root, Organic Skullcap, Ginkgo Leaf, Wildcrafted Oregon Grape Root, St. John's Wort, Organic Mullein Leaf, Wildcrafted Gotu Kola Herb, Wildcrafted Sarsaparilla Root, Organic Dandelion Root, Wildcrafted Lobelia Herb, Organic Rosemary, and Organic Jurassic Greens (barley, alfalfa and wheatgrass.)
All of these will be broken down with images, their descriptions and purposes in part two of this post.
Photo Credit: Herbsfirst.com
DOSAGE
I take 2 capsules in the morning and 1 capsule in the evening. I try to keep them 12 hours apart to even things out. I am 5'7" and weigh 137 lbs, and this dose works for me. If you weigh less or more, and also have different levels of what I was experiencing you may need less or more per day. I recommend starting with 1 capsule, seeing how it makes you feel and adding 1 more as needed until you figure out what dosage works for you. When I originally took this stuff 7 years ago, my needs were less, so I only took 1 or 2 capsules per day.
SIDE EFFECTS
I have had little to no side effects. The only ones I have experienced are occasional headaches and bouts with heart burn. Also, for the first month I was taking it, for about an hour after I took my morning dose of 2 capsules, I would get very tired, and need to take a ten minute nap or some caffeine. That went away after a few weeks, and I don't experience that at all anymore.
WHERE TO BUY MINDTRAC
Check any and all health food and all natural foods type of stores in your area and online to see if they carry this mixture. A good rule of thumb is, if the store carries a lot of vegan-specific foods, it will probably carry all natural medicines as well! Otherwise, it's available at a decent price from a lot of herb sellers on Amazon.
Stay tuned for part two where I break out each herb in the Mindtrac supplement, and what it's purpose is for. It's pretty fascinating to see the plant form of what medicine you're taking, and to learn what each ingredient does.
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