Cannabis is highly effective for some people (and highly ineffective for others). Not exactly over-the-counter except in a handful of states, however.
Another vote for kava-kava if you can get it. Ask at a store like GNC; another poster told me not too long ago that, to my surprise, it apparently IS still available in the US (there was precipitous talk of banning it because somewhere one person had an adverse reaction, despite years of safe usage in the South/Western Pacific islands).
Anecdotally, catnip tea is supposed to be a mild sedative. I have not tried that yet, but my home grown catnip is hanging up drying now, so I’ll be checking it out.
I used to think Xanax worked. (Not OTC, yes I know) However, lately I think it’s been increasing my anxiety level. If I take .25 mg Xanax before bed, I wake up with a “hangover” feeling and higher anxiety.
I’m a firm believer in CBT in addition to ANY drug you would choose. It focuses more on teaching you how to deal with the symptoms of anxiety or depression by changing how you react to certain stressors rather than delving into whether your mother hugged you enough as a child. It’s just very practical learning.
Another vote for CBT. Like Ruby says, it really isn’t “therapy” in the traditional, and (perhaps unfairly) derided sense.
I use beta blockers (again not OTC) for specific circumstances, in my case seminar classes and public speaking. I really urge people who use alcohol for this kind of situation (job interviews, presentations, etc.) to consider them instead. They just act on the physical effects of anxiety, like the racing heartbeat and shaking hands, but don’t impair your overall functioning like alcohol can. (I used to have a drink before going to class before I was prescribed beta blockers. It helped a bit, but I worried a lot about acting drunk.)
Chamomile tea brewed from loose flowers (available for cheap in bulk at the health food store) and brewed strong will relax me quite a bit. If I’m feelign antsy and can’t turn my brain off from constantly stewing on my problems, it helps dial things down a notch. At that strength it’s kinda bitter, so I like to add some rose hips or lemon peel to help the flavor.
Although I’ve never done this for anxiety, I do find that very vigorous exercise can be a tremendous stress reducer. Much as I loathe exercising, there’s something about the endorphins released when I’m really pushing the limit. Assuming this is not contrandicated for you for some reason, spending some time pounding a treadmill, or just long vigorous walks, may be helpful. With the added bonus of generally improving your health of course.
Similarly if you have any sort of pet, spending a bit of extra time with the pet can help. Even our guinea pigs, those terrified lumps of fur that beam “please don’t eat me” thoughts: I plunk one on my lap, stroke its fur, and start to destress almost immediately (the downside of that of course is that if I destress for more than, say, 20 minutes, I’m faced with the stress of needing a complete clothing change due to the fresh dose of rodent pee).
Thanks for the info, everyone. I found several CBT practitioners that accept my insurance, and I’m calling around tomorrow to see who I can get hooked up with. I was looking for, well anything to get me through the next week, but I think I’ll just endure.
Good for you - please feel free to PM me if you have any questions (I’ve been volunteering with an anxiety support group for almost five years now. Well, I started going to the group, and ended up helping other people somewhere along the line. 
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Kava kava will definitely work well. The trick is to go to a bulk herb store and by the raw root/stems. Put a fistful of the herb in boiling water for 5-10 minutes, strain and drink. It tasts like shit, makes you lips numb but it will really take the edge off.
Another thing I am going to try is phenibut, which is a nootropic drug. It is supposed to work really well but you build a tolerance quickly and can go through withdrawls.
I second that! When I was having panic attacks, I found really beating the crap out of a punching bag helped enormously! So did a vigorous run. Take all that nervous energy and channel it into something that makes you physically exhausted!
Of course, you can’t exactly start punching things or running around the conference room table in the middle of an office meeting, so you do need to look into long term fixes.
As mentioned CBT is great. I combined it with SSRIs and I was amazed at how I got my life back! Seriously, there is help. This sort of thing can be treated. But it can take a while. So, don’t lose hope, but do find something to help you in the short term (like vigorous exercise).
If you’re not into the exercise, try deep breathing and progressive relaxation. You can find techniques in books or online. Deep breathing in a nutshell, try breathing in through your nose really rapidly and deeply for 4 seconds, hold your breath for
another 4 - 8 seconds, then release it slowly and calmly through your mouth for at least 8 seconds. Lather, rinse, repeat. Progressive relaxation in a nutshell: tense every muscle in your body from the top of your forehead to your toes. Really clench them tight. Feel all that tension. Then relax each muscle individually starting from the top. Relax your forehead, the rest of your face, your jaw (really relax your lower jaw–it helps calm your mood), your neck, your shoulders, etc down to your toes!
I hit submit too soon!
One other thing to try is to get a nice massage. The machines are okay and relaxing tense muscles, but a massage with human contact is really relaxing for an anxious mind!
I don’t have anxiety issues, but I am pretty jumpy and tightly wound. I’m like a cat – ready to spring into action at any moment… or hit the ceiling if someone touches me or startles me. Consequently, when my wife started working on various relaxation techniques, I made some effort to follow along to loosen up those muscles. I found progressive relaxation to be a dismal failure for me. When I clench up like that, nothing releases and I’m worse off than before. But I’m also sure I’m just an exception to the rule. Just sayin’ that this doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.
Bananas with a glass of milk is a daily routine for me. For an extra special treat I’ll add a dollop of peanut butter.
I also exercise on a regular basis so I can’t say for sure if the banana thing is a placebo or what but, in my mind at least, it sure seems to help.
I made the mistake of going on paxil once. It helped my anxiety alright but boy did it have some negative side effects I didn’t care for. Couldn’t achieve orgasm during sex. (that pending if I could even maintain an erection!.) I also had terrible mood swings on the stuff.
So yeah, I’m all for the non medicated route.
A nice thick towel or two on your lap will help to keep you from being doused in guinea pig pee. So says the woman who at one time had a herd of 8 pigges [damn, but I miss 'em].
Do you have a cite for this? I’m not trying to be combative, I’m trying to keep up. I’ve been out of active investigation in the field for a while, but when I was last in it, the bc/sjw interaction was theoretical only, without actual found instances of a problem. I’m wondering if any investigation into the matter has been done,
There was a problem in Germany with a couple of patients taking a particular brand of kava kava which was extracted with acetone instead of water or alcohol. Apparently, the acetone worked too well, extracting out some rather potent alkaloids which prompted kidney failure; water and alcohol extracts don’t contain those compounds, and so are considered safe. This is exhibit A in my rant in support of traditional preparation over standardized extracts.
Do you decoct (boil) the root, or do you make a tea with water off the heat? I’ve always used a cold extraction or tincture via alcohol solution.
While I like kava kava a lot, I find patient compliance on it to be low. I’ve had much better luck recommending lemon balm, valerianand passionflower- the lemon balm as desired throughout the day (aiming for a total of 3-4 cups of tea or the equivalent leaf or tincture) and a valerian/passionflower combo at night before bed.
I find that chlorphenamine maleate has anti-anxiety effects. It’s officially an antihistamine. There’s also a brom- version. A win-win when I get a sinus headache.
Doesn’t make me drowsy like benadryl. But if I’m tired anyway, then bedtime ensues.
You’ve hit on two things that are recommended for anyone who has stress or anxiety - bananas, milk, and peanut butter are good foods for people who need more serotonin, and exercise is good for damned near everybody. Don’t underestimate placebo, either, when dealing with mood issues; if you believe something is working, that can be enough to make it work. One thing I always recommend for people who start coming to my group is positive thinking; I know it sounds hokey and new agey, but it works.
I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety a few years ago and take prescription medication for it. I also did 6 months of cognitive therapy, which helped a ton. I would like to wean off my medication at some point, though honestly almost every person in my immediate family has depression, and both of my parents take pills daily for it. I might just need medicine, and I can deal with that.
Anyway, besides the pills I second (third? fourth? whatever) exercise. My therapist encouraged me to look into yoga or pilates. I also really enjoy getting on an aerobic machine with a book or magazine and zoning out into my reading while I do a slow run for 20-30 minutes. It clears my mind.
This part depends on where you live, but every few months when I’m stressed about something and I can feel it pushing up against my chest, my boyfriend and I will get up early in the morning and drive to some state park and hike for a few hours. We go early and try to find places without many people. It relaxes me like nothing else.
I am not a regular user of such remedies, and I am well aware of the general arguments against their possible effectiveness, but I have reason to conclude that they CAN work in some manner not related to the placebo effect.
Anectdotal evidence to be sure, but I am not foolish enough to disregard my personal experience as meaningless just because it disagrees with the “facts” as accepted by some.
I noted that in the case of Rescue Remedy, it could very well be the placebo effect at work because I have no way of judging if that is the case or not, esp. since I have used it to treat a mental condition, albeit one with clear physical symptoms.
But in several other instances, I’ve used homeopathic preparations on myself without any expectation of success or on my young children and experienced or witnessed dramatic and undeniable results.
I used to use a belladona formulation for fever with my young children, and it invariably worked as quickly and well as any OTC antipyretic. My 2 yr old certainly had no pre-conceived notion in his mind to explain the effect.
Once, I was stung by a bee while at work. I worked at a school which kept a supply of homeopathic remedies on hand at the time, so when I went to the office seeking relief, I was given a nosode. (perhaps pulsatilla? I don’t recall what is routinely given for stings). I was thinking, ok, great, whatever, now what ELSE do we have here that will actually HELP? I was in terrible pain and the offended area was horribly swollen. Within 30 seconds of dissolving the tablet, the swelling went away and the pain ceased. Completely. I was amazed.
But the clincher for me was when I sought treatment for a recurring topical staph infection I’d struggled with (and been prescribed many conventional medications for) for over 7 years. When it flared up again, I went to our family Dr. at the time, who happened to be not only an MD but a Naturopath. He prescribed a homeopathic remedy derived from killed staph.
I was dubious, to say the least, so much so that I didn’t even take it as directed, not expecting it to do any good. I was supposed to take 7 nosodes a day for 5 days. Instead, I took at most 4 that first day and said forget this.
Within 24 hours, the bumps were totally gone and never returned. That was over a decade ago. My outbreaks typically lasted for weeks and several rounds of different antibiotics and assorted ointments had failed to remedy the situation. I certainly had no faith or even mild expectation that the treatment would work, but it did.
The theory behind homeopathics is that even after dilluting/purifying a substance to the point where no physical trace is detectable, an energy imprint remains and stimulates the body to respond. (and that certain substances trigger certain responses, usually on a like treats like basis, such as using belladonna, a fever inducer, to eliminate fever, or a plant with inflammatory properties to ease inflamation, or in this last case, killed staph to trigger an immune response to a staph infection.)
Most conventional scientists reject this notion as absurd, but then, most rejected accupuncture on the same basis (that it claimed to heal via the manipulation of undetectable energy patterns) but more recently this therapy has come to be more widely accepted as effective.
At this point, I remain open to the possibility that there may be something behind homeopathy.
At the very least, when used for anxiety, if it works for the individual, does it really matter HOW it works? May be all in the mind, but the mind is the area needing treatment, no?
I have found that green tea works really well for garden variety stress and anxiety, i.e the normal stress and anxiety of daily life. I have no idea if it would work for the kind of stress and anxiety which psychiatrists treat.
Vigorous exercise seems to work even better, but it can be hard to keep up an exercise program as a working adult.