• 💊 OTHER DRUGS 💊 Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads 1 Notable Threads 2
    Dangerous Combos Addiction Support
    Emergency Services Benzo Guide v.1
    Addiction Stories Scary Case Studies
    Biology, Pharmacology & Drugs 101
  • Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Benzos Looking for experienced benzo users input on Valerian root. (if you have tried it)

pbuilder

pbuilder

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
2,119
Have been looking for something OTC to help with my general anxiety and have stumbled across Valerian root. Apparently it works on the GABA receptors in a similar way as benzo's, but I can't actually find any solid information regarding it's mechanism of action. It just seems like a bunch of people's speculations, i'm not sure why it hasn't been tested in a lab or something yet to figure out how exactly it works but anyways...

Just wondering, from the point of view of someone who has used and has some experience with benzo's, does Valerian root have a similar effect at relieving anxiety? I personally am completely benzo naive, only used 1m Lorazepam a single time when I was in the ER and at the time I had no idea what it was, so i have no point of comparison to work off of.

Is it just placebo non-sense and a waste of my money and time? Do you notice any similar effects between it, and an actual benzo.
 
It does work, but how well it works seems to vary a lot from person to person. I keep a bottle of 450mg valerian root capsules around and if I take a few of them it feels a bit like a lower dose of a benzo.

So yes, it works, but it may not work very well for you.

Worth a shot IMO.
 
NeighborhoodThreat said:
It does work, but how well it works seems to vary a lot from person to person. I keep a bottle of 450mg valerian root capsules around and if I take a few of them it feels a bit like a lower dose of a benzo.

So yes, it works, but it may not work very well for you.

Worth a shot IMO.
Click to expand...

Any idea how long the "half life" of it's affects are? I'm sure it vary's person to person as well, but from your experiences.
 
Not very long, maybe 3-6 hours?

It could be a bit longer, but I generally take it shortly before going to sleep.
 
it works much better if you actually buy shredded root as opposed to the capsules. anyone who has made valerian and/or kava tea will tell you this.

OTC capsules cannot compare to fresh tea from dried, ground root. saved my ass from a benzo spree during school.
 
i are spectre said:
it works much better if you actually buy shredded root as opposed to the capsules. anyone who has made valerian and/or kava tea will tell you this.

OTC capsules cannot compare to fresh tea from dried, ground root. saved my ass from a benzo spree during school.
Click to expand...

can you buy this at health stores or only over the internet, would prefer to not order anything over the internet.
 
The efficacy really depends on the product. The cheap bottles you find at grocery stores are going to be utter shit compared to quality extracts. The easiest way to tell if a product is worthwhile is by checking to see if they bother listing the valeric acid or valerenic acid content. Typically if a product bothers to standardize the extracts and list the content, they will be a much higher quality. If you find potent pills or tinctures, you will certainly notice a pronounced anxiolytic effect. I've purchased cheap drug store/grocery store preparations many times and even taking a dozen or 2 pills was inferior to relatively small doses of potent extracts.

Be warned though that every form I've encountered smelled horrible. My girlfriend makes me go in the other room to take the pills!
 
They do smell awful... But it does seem to help me out when I run out of benzos/opiates. I usually take some when I'm at the end of a taper to help with WD symptoms.
 
i are spectre said:
it works much better if you actually buy shredded root as opposed to the capsules. anyone who has made valerian and/or kava tea will tell you this.

OTC capsules cannot compare to fresh tea from dried, ground root. saved my ass from a benzo spree during school.
Click to expand...

I have used it and it works. I would recommend looking at buying it from some healthfood wholesale company by the pound compared to buying a bottle of caps at a healthfood store as cost savings will be ridiculous (although, depending on initial cost of the lb or whatever you might want to invest in a bottle of caps first to see if it has any effect). My recollection is that I needed to take several caps to notice an effect, hense my recommendation on buying in some sort of bulk.

as to studies- am amature/anti-gov't slanted view: pharm companies run the show, they buy congressmen, etc. Valerian root grows in the ground and can't be sold by pharm companies as a drug, so it is their enemy. Everything boils down to money. Who will benefit financially for running such studies? Only those who get grants I would guess. I'm surprised that there would be NO studies ever done on it though, but not surprized if you don't find a slew of studies such as those drug companies fund b/c they get rich behind them.
 
pbuilder said:
can you buy this at health stores or only over the internet, would prefer to not order anything over the internet.
Click to expand...

buy it over the internet, its legal and it will work. buy some capsules at the health store and youre looking at one day of relief for 20 or 30 bucks. you can get 2 weeks to a months worth of kava/valerian for that price from an online store.

cane2theleft: my girlfriend tells me to do the same thing. she is appalled by the smell of valerian. it's not THAT bad... is it?
 
Yeah, or not.

The tea works better as others have said.
 
It smells like a Dirty ass booty but yea I think its OK. I prefer Kava but no gmc/store bought trash. Only hawiian kava.
 
I'm a very experienced benzo user (have done 19 different benzos) and valerian is nowhere as good as even the weakest of benzos (chlordiazepoxide, oxazepam, clorazepate, etc).
 
Actually found a container in my drug cupboard at home, something called "nerve relieve". It's got 200mg valerian root, and then 100mg and 50mg of two other random herbs. On the contrary to your posts, after chewing a few they actually taste okay, kinda minty or herby. Most likely because of the other ingredients in them.

Noticed mild effects from 3 pills (600mg Valerian root then).

This is against sober anxiety, will be interesting to see how they go with cocaine induced anxiety, and comedowns from stims. I got like 50 or so pills left, so i'll test em out over the next few weeks or whatever, and then consider buying Valerian online if i find this effective.
 
Since you haven't bought yet. Something I have done in the past and something worth considering doing, is doing research on other herbs, etc (like the one's you say are mixed with what you have). There are several that have calming properties. I remember reading on some flower or something that had such a property. Compare prices, etc. And if caps are actually giving you an effect I'd say that's a good thing as others have said here they don't touch actual benzo's power.

I did this during one of my 'straight' phases since I have always had pretty damn strong anxiety and since dr's don't want to prescribe me a benzo b/c I abused alcohol 25 years ago.

I've decided I'm going to get a new psych (called a therapist and they said they closed my case- and lied and said she old me this, she kinda sucked as a therapist anyway so no loss there) but will use this as an opportunity to be straight with any dr before I begin tx. "A neurologist recommended I take X for Y condition. Will you prescribe it to me or should I look for another dr?"
 
i suggest something called l-theanine, its really useful for me. at 200mg it's mildly like a benzo, at 2000mg it can knock me out and turn me full retard like a high dose of xanax/lorazepam. i don't know why - but it really works and is shown to not be dangerous.

as for valerian its a bit shit, i don't like it, doesn't really do much for me. but thats just me. give it a shot honestly its not that expensive and if it doesn't work, it doesn't. you might have to up your dosage quite high, like i said - 2000 mg had be floored and super relaxed, and it says only take one and thats without a benzo tolerance anymore. it can start to get expensive at the higher dose range i guess. i once tried 4000mg, and i was knocked out, completely gone as if i'd drunk a load of alcohol with valium. euphoria at its finest through use of amino acid. surprised me.
 
There are are lots of herbs that have 'calming' properties, for those who are not at all experienced with drugs, should get decent effects from. Hell, some people get 'put to sleep' by a cup of tea at night and shit..
 
^ I always wanted to be one of those people.

I've tried Valerian root multiple times by itself and with other substances but could never feel a thing from it. That may be due to my fairly high tolerance to benzos though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top