Ashwagandha herb for anxiety, stress and toxic overload

[Chuck83]

I think this plant can be is quite dangerous in some cases, especially for those who have taken SSRIs. One guy has a blog where he says he developed persistent Anhedonia and PSSD only from Ashwagandha, without ever touching an SSRI's.

[methuselah]

I ingested Klaire brands 150mg Ashwaganda on Sunday at 1030 am at the behest of my holistic psychiatrist.  I felt off almost immediately after taking it.  2 hours later I had a bout of bone crushing depression that lasted a few hours, the kind that physically hurts. Ive never felt tru depression until comimg Off ssri’s as an aside so it’s not an “underlying condition” of mine.  I will NEVER take this again.  In fact, I’m done with supplements entirely.  Time and fish oil is all I can handle.  Even magnesium doesn’t work wirh my jacked up system.

 

[curiousnootropics]

Anyone take Ashwagandha here?

[Ariel]

FYI

According to an herbalist I know and trust, if you are taking ashwaghanda and want to stop, it must be tapered. Do not just suddenly stop from one day to the next. Same goes for other adaptogens. Do not cold turkey these potent herbs, taper off gradually. My herbalist friend advises this for everyone, not just for those of us in withdrawal. Safe bet that it's even more important for our sensitized/traumatized nervous systems. 

[curiousnootropics]

On 5/2/2022 at 9:56 AM, Ariel said:

FYI

According to an herbalist I know and trust, if you are taking ashwaghanda and want to stop, it must be tapered. Do not just suddenly stop from one day to the next. Same goes for other adaptogens. Do not cold turkey these potent herbs, taper off gradually. My herbalist friend advises this for everyone, not just for those of us in withdrawal. Safe bet that it's even more important for our sensitized/traumatized nervous systems. 

How slow taper should you do? The same as with ADs?

[Ariel]

@curiousnootropics

24 minutes ago, curiousnootropics said:

How slow taper should you do? The same as with ADs?

 

I don't know. 

[Erimus]

I took Ashwagandha from December 2020 until cessation in September 2022. I started off on two caps a day, dropped to one a day (around 80mg Ashwagandha) a couple of months after starting. When I started it I was clutching at straws for everything and anything to deal with my ‘mental problems’. It just stemmed from a need to feel proactive in helping myself. Another one on the massive list of supplements to ‘cure’ me. 
 

I did an approx. 4 week taper off it and honestly didn’t notice anything different to my normal withdrawal symptoms waxing and waning. I was quite cautious in the tapering of it because I know it can act on dopamine receptors. I’m glad to be off it and down to the bare bones of what I need to take. It saves me a load of money and means one less thing to take. The taper consisted of 2 weeks every other day, followed by around 2 weeks every third day, then stopped. Glad to be off.

[Suikerwater]

Did anyone used Ashwaghanda to taper of an SSRI?

[conkaia]

On 5/2/2022 at 8:56 AM, Ariel said:

FYI

According to an herbalist I know and trust, if you are taking ashwaghanda and want to stop, it must be tapered. Do not just suddenly stop from one day to the next. Same goes for other adaptogens. Do not cold turkey these potent herbs, taper off gradually. My herbalist friend advises this for everyone, not just for those of us in withdrawal. Safe bet that it's even more important for our sensitized/traumatized nervous systems. 

Hi, thanks for this.  I came on here to research just that!  I've been taking ashwagandha 500mg since last summer.  Not sure whether it helped or not due to WD.  Anyway now my sleep is just terrible (hormone related) so any affect ash might have been having has clearly plateaued and I want to stop it.  My WD symptoms have diminished but I realise my nervous system might still be sensitised and I certainly dont want to risk triggering another wave!  

 

So I'm thinking take half a capsule (250mg) for a few weeks then maybe alternate this to every other day/every third day to taper off.  I've no idea whether this will be okay or not.  Would welcome anyone else's experience of this  

[Erimus]

Should be fine if you taper over a month @conkaia. I did 2 weeks every other day and then 2 weeks every third day. I noticed no discernible difference from my usual withdrawal symptoms, but of course each of us is different. There’s no harm in being cautious and spreading it across a month. 
 

Also remember you are likely to attribute any symptoms you experience to the ashwagandha withdrawal, although their correlation is probably unlikely.

[tsranga]

I was talking it for a year.  I did notice an increase in heat/reflux when I started taking it, but did not notice any issues stopping it CT. 

 

In general, herbs do not seem to have that great of an effect when you stop and start as opposed to drugs.

 

[conkaia]

On 1/29/2023 at 7:42 PM, Erimus said:

Should be fine if you taper over a month @conkaia. I did 2 weeks every other day and then 2 weeks every third day. I noticed no discernible difference from my usual withdrawal symptoms, but of course each of us is different. There’s no harm in being cautious and spreading it across a month. 
 

Also remember you are likely to attribute any symptoms you experience to the ashwagandha withdrawal, although their correlation is probably unlikely.

 

Hi, thanks for replying.  I've cut from 500mg to 250mg and will continue with that for two weeks.  Then I think I'll do the 250mg every second day, third day etc like you suggest.  I'm just really hypervigilant about taking or removing anything now!

 

On 1/29/2023 at 7:56 PM, tsranga said:

I was talking it for a year.  I did notice an increase in heat/reflux when I started taking it, but did not notice any issues stopping it CT. 

 

In general, herbs do not seem to have that great of an effect when you stop and start as opposed to drugs.

 

 

Thanks @tsranga I'd hope herbs would be less potent in terms of WD than drugs.  But guess I'd rather be safe than sorry.  It's reassuring to hear you didnt have any issues stopping, did you stop 1g CT?

[tsranga]

22 hours ago, conkaia said:

did you stop 1g CT?

Yes

[conkaia]

So I'm a week at 250mg Ashwagandha with no adverse effects of note, touch wood

[conkaia]

On 2/6/2023 at 6:26 PM, conkaia said:

So I'm a week at 250mg Ashwagandha with no adverse effects of note, touch wood

Spoke too soon.  Drank too much at the weekend and am back in a wave, triggered by a vile intrusive thought.  Wondering if the ash reduction has maybe contributed but as @Erimus points out, I'm likely to attribute any symptoms to this.  Its more likely the alcohol has destabilised me again  

[Erimus]

Alcohol is an absolute no-go if you want to succeed through psychiatric drug withdrawal. Learn from your errors and move on, don’t dwell on it now.

[conkaia]

3 minutes ago, Erimus said:

Alcohol is an absolute no-go if you want to succeed through psychiatric drug withdrawal. Learn from your errors and move on, don’t dwell on it now.

I thought I was healed; but clearly not.  How long do you reckon alcohol is a no-go for?

[Erimus]

I wouldn’t touch it until you’re completely off medication, and have been stable and symptom free for a good 3-6 months. It’s a psychoactive drug and you have to learn how to cope without it whilst you heal from withdrawal.

 

The short-lived dopamine hit isn’t worth the rebound that comes.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Erimus

[conkaia]

20 minutes ago, Erimus said:

I wouldn’t touch it until you’re completely off medication, and have been stable and symptom free for a good 3-6 months. It’s a psychoactive drug and you have to learn how to cope without it whilst you heal from withdrawal.

 

The short-lived dopamine hit isn’t worth the rebound that comes.

It definitely isn’t worth it. I’d been drinking lightly without any issues but definitely overdid it the other night. I’m not planning to taper any further until next year. So guess I should give it a good 3-6 months symptom free from now at least. Thanks @Erimus

[guile2]

Organic ashwaganda powder helped me

 

FGO Organic Ashwagandha Root... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PRM4M2F?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

Interesting experience with this. Helped with stress/anxiety caused by medication side effects but i triid another brand first that caused anxiety so i only trust this brand. 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Shep
added title after moving from another thread

[Shep]

On 5/13/2023 at 6:05 AM, guile2 said:

FGO Organic Ashwagandha Root... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PRM4M2F?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

Interesting experience with this. Helped with stress/anxiety caused by medication side effects but i triid another brand first that caused anxiety so i only trust this brand. 

 

@guile2 Please note I moved your post from the new thread you'd made. Please use the search feature to see if there's already a thread about a topic before starting a new thread. 

[lillo9546]

Thinking critically, it's a scam?

[manymoretodays]

@lillo9546merged your recent new topic start to pre-existing topic

Please search first, before starting any new topics, to see if there is already one.  Thankyou.

And ways to do that:

How to Do a Site Search on Surviving Antidepressants

and: How to find just about anything on this site

[lillo9546]

On 8/1/2013 at 6:42 PM, Altostrata said:

Come tutto il resto, usare con cura. Prova prima quantità molto piccole per vedere come influisce su un sistema nervoso che potrebbe essere sensibilizzato.

I'd like to try Ashwaganda, but what do I need to verify first?
My problem is agoraphobia, due to hipersensitive amigdala. For the rest, I am very relaxed and polite person

[manymoretodays]

@lillo9546

 

You are still lacking a signature.  Please attend to doing one.  We cannot answer your questions without this information. 

Here are the instructions again.

How to summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

You've almost been here a year now, so get that done. 

 

If you have never taken psychiatric medications, are not tapering, or experiencing WD(withdrawal) from psychiatric medications you might find other sites that better meet your needs.  We don't recommend ashwagandha to any of our tapering members or members in WD.

Use at your own risk.

Read the topic here of people who have tried it and their experiences.  Search outside of this site.  Most posting here have been on or have or are tapering psychiatric drugs.

 

We are a site for tapering and withdrawal from psychiatric medications. We are not at all a general mental health/illness central site, or supplement or other medication referral site.  We don't do that and it takes us away from members who do need our help.  I'm sure you can understand this by now.  Read all you want on site, you are more than welcome to do that.    We, at least staff, don't have time to explore any more with you how to mitigate your symptoms best.  You know the purpose of the site by now.  Or should.

 

Best and good luck.  Your main topic is here, if you want to review what has been offered to you to date.: 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by manymoretodays
urgh, more.....

[guile2]

On 5/13/2023 at 6:05 AM, guile2 said:

Organic ashwaganda powder helped me

 

FGO Organic Ashwagandha Root... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PRM4M2F?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

Interesting experience with this. Helped with stress/anxiety caused by medication side effects but i triid another brand first that caused anxiety so i only trust this brand. 

Ok so i was wrong because i was more drugged up when i posted this FGO brand ashwaganda is still not pure Anthonys organic Ashwaganda seems to be the best brand i have tried and seems pure. Howeveri have found that Tulsi loose leaf tea from Organic India is also pretty calming and its not expensive easily found on Amazon. I do have ashwaganda and it did help somewhat when more drugged up but some of the brands of ashwaganda actually caused me stress so i only suggest Anthonys organic on amazon. I do not take ashwaganda regularly but i do take organic tulsi tea regularly from Organic India brand which helps me relax. 

[guile2]

3 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

@lillo9546

 

You are still lacking a signature.  Please attend to doing one.  We cannot answer your questions without this information. 

Here are the instructions again.

How to summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

You've almost been here a year now, so get that done. 

 

If you have never taken psychiatric medications, are not tapering, or experiencing WD(withdrawal) from psychiatric medications you might find other sites that better meet your needs.  We don't recommend ashwagandha to any of our tapering members or members in WD.

Use at your own risk.

Read the topic here of people who have tried it and their experiences.  Search outside of this site.  Most posting here have been on or have or are tapering psychiatric drugs.

 

We are a site for tapering and withdrawal from psychiatric medications. We are not at all a general mental health/illness central site, or supplement or other medication referral site.  We don't do that and it takes us away from members who do need our help.  I'm sure you can understand this by now.  Read all you want on site, you are more than welcome to do that.    We, at least staff, don't have time to explore any more with you how to mitigate your symptoms best.  You know the purpose of the site by now.  Or should.

 

Best and good luck.  Your main topic is here, if you want to review what has been offered to you to date.: 

 

While it is important to quit medications i believe even alto pointed out that eating nonprocessed food is a strategy (i noticed the suggestion in a stickied post). Eating chemicals in food while injured from strong drugs is like trying to run on an injury in my opinion. And it has had much the same effects on me. So ive cut out processed foods and food chemicals. It follows then that eating without pesticides or unnatural fertilzers as well that swell produce also helps as injesting insect poison while injured from strong drugs isnt quite good in my view... so it also follows that if a person is not going to eat chemicals or insect poison while severely injured by drugs it might be positive to try organic plants fruits vegetables roots and such that are packed with nutrients. While i dont suggest extracts of anything which are not natural i do have many positive experiences from cutting out food chemicals and insect poisons from my diet. It makes sense that when you taper you do so in light of being injured and taking as much care of the injury as possible while tapering in my view and this can be accomplished by eating organic plants and cutting out insect poison from the diet as well as in my opinion food chemicals. (I am not specifically saying ashwaganda is positive and its also hard to find trully organic roots processed on organic equipment without cleaning chemicals from the equipment or polish or cross contamination from inorganic plants or nuts milled on the equipment). 

[Tonia]

Has anyone successfully tapered off ashwagandha while in withdrawal? Ive been taking it for the past few months to help with symptoms but would like to come off of it now. Im having difficulties finding information at what speed to taper. I have seen some articles suggest a 25% reduction (from the initial first dose every time) each week. So a taper over the course of a month. I am a little spooked by withdrawals and debating a slower 10% taper each week (of the total initial dose.) Is it safe to assume an exponential taper that is recommended for SSRI's is not needed?