So I have occasional insomnia which from time to time makes my life very bad-- I HATE insomnia. So I discovered valerian a few years ago, which was a great improvement in quality of life-- I like the idea of it-- herbal, natural, non-addictive, yaddah yaddah. However a friend expressed concern about this, suggesting in as many words that my spleen might erupt out of my chest any second if I continued taking it. Now I’ve just read a tad on the kava thread about valerian being toxic. Does anyone know more about the negative effects of this stuff? Any herbalists by vocation? Input from medical physicians? Taken in reasonable doses (I take it perhaps once a week, usually less frequently than that, but some weeks more often, though) is this something to worry about, and if so are there better options? I’m only 30 so I don’t know if melatonin would be a better bet. Ambien is nice as well, but pharms are spendy. Any facts?
Actually, that post ends up sounding like medical advice. Rephrase; does anyone know anything about the alleged toxicity of valerian extract?
I think the “tad” was mine, so I’d better defend it, although I did say it may be one of those things where you have to take a ton of it for any harm to be done. Seems that I was right in that:
Valerian is on the FDA’s GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list, and is approved for use as a food. In animals, it takes enormous doses of valerian to produce any serious adverse effects. This web site discusses the possibly toxicity of valerian and also talks about the possibility of withdrawal symptoms from valerian.
As I mentioned in that other thread, some alternatives are chamomile, ginseng, horsetail (be careful with this one too), and kava (possible liver problems here, too).
I don’t know about melatonin but my sister took it some years back, and she said it helped her for a while but then seemed to lose its efficacy.
Hydroxizine is a prescription drug, pretty cheap and available generic in the US, which is actually an antihistamine like Benadryl, and it makes some people sleepy.