advice on herbal remedies please :)

[sazlebazle]

hi all ive tried the ad route and its not for me ive tried prozac and citalopram and sertraline but all have made me really ill so im back on stemetil and starting cbt in the next couple of weeks but im looking into the herbal route can i take them with stemetil and if so whats the best to take for anxiety with as little side effects as possible any advice appreciated as i need to get myself up and about .... my son has had to miss his last week of school as i can get myself out the door and in my car :( x

[nomorepanic]

Have you read this:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/articles/remedies/

[JonoClouds]

Don't worry, saz, there will be no side effects from any of the herbal remedies.
In fact there will be no noticeable effects at all!
It's a real shame but as far as I can see, no herbal remedies have any useful benefit for anxiety or depression, with one exception.
St Johns Wort helps with mild to moderate depression but must not be taken along with any prescribed anti-depressants. It affects serotonin in the brain and can cause a dangerous condition (serotonin syndrome) if taken along with anti-depressants.

All the other herbals are simply an expensive waste of money. I just wish it was otherwise, but it is not. Like you, I've tried several SSRIs, SNRIs, atypical antidepressants, sertraline, venlafaxine, trazadone and more. None had much benefit, except perhaps for the first few months. All had bad side effects.

Herbals (and other alternative products and therapies) are tempting as they make wonderful claims, but these turn out to be no more than dishonest marketing.
There is no clinical evidence that they have any effect other than placebo (sham). This means that the patient may feel better simply because they believe that they have taken a useful drug, though the drug itself is ineffective.

I had 2 years of CBT (I was lucky!) and this does actually help a lot - it's well worth trying.

All the best - Jono

[sazlebazle]

hi thanks for the info very interesting :) ill be looking into the rescue remedy

---------- Post added at 18:30 ---------- Previous post was at 18:28 ----------

hi jono i know what you mean about the vits but thought it was worth a try i know deep down the only way to beat it is myself and not let it beat me but the last 2 weeks have been hell so willing to give anything a try im looking forward to my cbt that starts monday i had it a while back but only had a few sessions as we thought i was doing ok but looks like i could have done with longer as ive forgotten everything they taught me :) x

[JonoClouds]

Ok saz. All the best for the CBT!

Jono.