Side effects - Valerian and Depression (WARNING and QUESTION)

[Mr. Bob]

SWIM has been taking Valerian for about 3 weeks. Every night. Usually he would just take it now and then, as recommended, but having trouble with sleep he looked to it for relief every night.

Worked for a bit but now he has an extreme lack of energy - also depression, but it is a clinical state that was disgnosed prior to ever taking Valerian.

PLENTY of sleep - 15 hours last "night".

Alcohol and MJ are used daily but before had no problems at all with energy.

Have SWIY had a similar experience when taking Valerian dailt for an extended period of time?

[PsychoActivist]

SWIPA took Valerian every night for about a year straight and still takes it occasionally and he can honestly say it never effected him in such a way. He did not experience any negative effects from long term use. This is NOT to say that just because he didn't, someone else won't or that it is not possible. As said, this is just his experience.

Here are a few links below that all mention that Valerian CAN cause depression after prolonged use.

The first one has someones experience written about it.

http://www.raysahelian.com/valerian.html
http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Valerian.html
http://www.springboard4health.com/no..._valerian.html
http://www.nativeremedies.com/more-on-insomnia.html

My recommendation to you would be to try Melatonin or 5HTP. Both of these have been known to be real good for depression as well as for relaxation and as a sleep aid. You could try it WITH the Valerian and see if you feel any better. If not then I would certainly recommend that you stop taking the Valerian altogether. There are plenty of other natural sleep aids out there and I would think it would be much better for you to try some others and see if they work than feeling depressed.

Some others you may want to look into:
Passion Flower
Chamomile
California Poppy
Wild Lettuce (Lactuca Virosa)

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This information was helpful.

[Mr. Bob]

Thank you for this information and the links. SWIM appreciates it.

He did notice, strangely enough, that 24 hours sense stopping - most, if not all of it was flushed out with niacin apparently - sleep came easier, and the depression is cut in half. He seems to be back to the normal level of depression he's always had. It's strange that Valerian seemed to do this, though there are environmental factors that could have added to it as well. SWIM has continued to use Alcohol and MJ with no problems.

Well, too much of anything is bad for you as they say. I'll drink to that.

[humdroid]

Y thanks you for this info, as Y takes quite a bit of valerian.
Y gets depression, and put it down to the longest speed comedown, or a lingering residue from a set of psychotic episodes(depression was hanging around the two month mark of not taking speed)

Maybe Y hasnt broken his brain afterall, and maybe the valerian was the culprit.

[TestDummy]

I use valerian in combination with sleep teas and I wake up happy and refreshed. When I first started, It seemed to depress me until I added sleep teas with it.

TestDummy added 1 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...

In addition, I've cut back sleeping habits from 11 hours a day back to 7 on average