As someone who deals with varying levels of anxiety on a daily basis, I was VERY interested when I heard about this magical hormone balancing "adaptogenic" herb called "Ashwagandha".
Mind you, I fully support the use of modern medicine for depression, anxiety and the like; while I have used medication in the past, I have the personal belief that the anxiety I deal with can be healed through holistic and functional medicine. I AM NOT A DOCTOR. Okay? Do your own research, ask questions and figure out what works for you--that's all I've done.
That being said, after extensive research and shopping around, I found that these hippie pills have WORKED for me.
I started out just taking Ashwagandha Root from Gaia. After getting through my first month of that, I hadn't noticed massive changes but I wanted to keep going and see if it just needed more time.
After doing more research, I found their Adrenal Health Daily Support, which has a combination of a number of adaptogenic herbs that are supposed to help balance hormones and regulate moods. In addition, I started taking Adrenal Health Nightly Restore in the evenings to get the full range of herbs.
Now, I am in my 4th month of consistently taking both the daily and nightly support pills and I feel GREAT!
What do I mean by great? Let me break it down:
No hormonal mood swings
No panic attacks
Better, more sound sleep
Steady levels of energy throughout the day
Now, I still have anxiety. These supplements are meant to support, not cure. But since in the past two months especially, I've been able to quickly recognize mood changes and though patterns and adjust accordingly. I also used to get horrible, horrible mood swings around my cycle; I have not had a single irrational breakdown since I started taking these.
I cannot and will not guarantee that you will have the same results. However, if you too suffer from constant or even occasional anxiety, do your research!! Between your brain and your adrenals, anxiety is NOT just "in your head". It is a physiological response to stress and there are ways to improve how you respond to stress, both through mental therapies AND herbal supplementation (and modern medication if that is what works well for you and for your body).
If you have any questions or have found something that works for you, I would LOVE to hear about it!! This is a huge area of interest for me and I'm happy to share and learn more as I continue down this path of functional, holistic healing.