Kalms.

OOH Grannyknot should we ask?

Trouble with "proper" anti-anxiety medication, I'd probably suffer from the nocebo effect

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo

I avoid taking medicines if I can help it. If I can't help it, I take them "like a good girl".

I was over-excited last night, so I popped a Kalms Night or 2 (remembered I had them from this thread, had to check they were still in date), slept like a log, no weird dreams, no fuzzy head this morning.

They didn't work on me - that was why I went on to try the hard stuff!

I found them useful with my children before exams, like a placebo. I told them that they would be calm - so they were.

Useful to have an opinion from someone who's tried them jingl .. after all we can still make our own decision at the end of the day.

And where is the "doom and gloom" in what I've said? I have posted my answer to the original post, that's all.

Do you want me to lie?

No I'm not medically qualified Granjura. Just tried the lot of it in my time.

Tegan do you give your dog piriton on the advice and with supervision of your vet?

There are 2 types of Nytol, the green one does NOT contain anti-histamine if I remember well.

The quantities of herbs used in Kalms would hardly cause any problems, and may help, perhaps some people more than others.

Why all the doom and gloom Jingle- are you medically qualified btw?

Falconbird, go and talk to the pharmacist or to your GP- much better than an internet Forum. Hope you find help.

I'm not on any prescription medication.

Thanks for that. I found Night Nurse helped me sleep when I had a bad cold, but I admit to a little swig now and then if I can't get to sleep even though the cold has gone.

Didn't think I should be doing this so looking for a better solution.

Herbal remedies do need a little investigation, it is true. For example St Johns Wort, which is a good anti depressant, can seriously interfere with prescription drugs, such as Tamoxifen and statins to name but two. Valerian can react with anti depressants, statins and anti histamines, and increase their effects.

(I checked a lot of these out when I found out about SJW and Tamoxifen..)

I use Nytol if I end up in a hotel on a busy road or a wedding going on. They work, but I only take one as two is a bit much and makes me feel dopey the next morning.

What happens is that once you get to sleep, you stay that way. Even if you need the loo in the night, you drop straight back off. Two sends you off better than one. The herbal ones seem slightly less potent and I feel less muzzy in the morning, but I keep both just in case I end up somewhere really bad, in which case I will go for non-herbal.

Herbal are also great if you have a bad cough at night. You still cough - but sleep through it.

I take Piriton too if I wake at night and can't get back to sleep. Daughter has bought me some ?Nytol tablets but I haven't tried them yet.

Oh no; I give my dog Piriton !

I used to take a Piriton at bedtime - chlorphenamine - but it was on that list of drugs that came out that can knock a couple of years off your life. So I stopped. Better to go to bed really late. IMO.

The herbal one is the same sort of stuff. There is a a Nytol with a drug in it. It's an antihistamine. The old sort that makes you sleepy.

I take Nytol (not the herbal ones) just every now and then and I certainly sleep better when I do but they are not for regular use.

Anyone any experience of taking Nytol?

I treated myself to some coffee beans at Christmas. I usually stick to decaffeinated tea and coffee throughout the day but found myself having a cup of strong coffee in the evening and was still awake by 5 the next morning sometimes. I was suprised at how long the effect of the caffeine lasted [maybe more so because I drink so little of it]. Trouble is I started to look forward to my coffee and am having trouble not having a cup now [although about to run out of it soon and won't replace it]. We spoke to a young guy at a wedding last summer who said that one cup of coffee would keep him awake for 24 hours and he had to avoid it. Of course,caffeine is in some medication isn't it [headache tablets for instance].

...and it's serOtonin.

I don't mean both at the same time!!! (not that your doctor would prescribe that )

There is no way they lessen anxiety. You might feel a bit dopey and 'out of it' but the anxiety will still come through.

Not dogmatic Grannyknot. Just fact.

You need a good supply of seratonin sloshing about in your brain to help with anxiety. Fluoxetine and cipalopram will do the trick.

I used Kalms for quite a long time during stress, so did my work colleagues. Nobody said they felt sleepy just soothed. There are night time ones which are to relax you so that you can go off to sleep easier. I don't think they would give you a 'fuzzy' head.

I found them very good ans never without them.

Like all things vaguely medicinal caution is needed, They are worth a try. I have had benefit from them. Whether it was just a placebo response or not I don't much care.

The main ingredient Kalms is valerian - which Hitler was addicted to!

The side effects of valerian are listed on www.drugs.com/sfx/valerian-root-side-effects.html

The "strange dreams" , "feeling excited or uneasy" and "thinking problems" do sound rather like Hitler.