A friend of mine has struggled with some pretty strong chronic anxiety issues for many years now and things have worsened. Mostly, he is constantly anxious and worrying all of the time. I've looked into what I can find on my own, other than the usual, avoid these foods, eat these foods, exercise...etc., but is there any other effective option? I've even tried looking into supplements, which seems to have helped him some, but it's not 100%. Are there any studies of parasitic infections that could cause this? Maybe he needs prayer as he could be under attack from the enemy? I'm at a loss. He has even prayed over it and he has told me he keeps running into all sorts of signs telling him to trust God and not worry in various forms. When he seems to get the message, he stops seeing those signs and he relaxes for a while, only to revert later. He has even gone to random churches where a pastor straight up said he felt compelled to give a specific sermon over again and it would pertain to his anxiety. He will see the same numbers on the clock over and over, feel like he has to look up a bible verse and it ends up being along the lines of trusting God (Psalm 91, John 11:11 for example) I think it helps him, but he still struggles. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations? Clearly, I think God is answering him and telling him to be calm.
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I'm not a medical doctor but here's some advice from my experience:
Without further medical info I don't think we can help much. Could be a chemical imbalance in the brain. I know for some anxiety sufferers once they take certain medication they get better. There's lexapro and zoloft that can be prescribed by a doctor but they have side effects. If you want to go the natural route take ashwagandha. It's an herb that is known to help with anxiety. I use it myself daily and it cured my social anxiety. I take 2100mg daily with x3 5-HTP (100mg) doses a day (Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/2w9sa34a).
WARNING: If your friend is allergic to the nighshade family of plants (ie tomatoes, etc), then do not take ashwagandha.
A safe route is taking x1 dose of 2100 mg ashwagandha a day for the rest of your life. It has no side effects that are bad for you that I know of or yet to experience myself. I only experienced side effects when taking high doses. With that said, it takes awhile for you to notice a difference. I would say about a month. It's a natural herb so it takes time for body to absorb. If your friend wants to speed up the process, then he can do what my dumb ass did:
When starting, I took three doses of 2100mg a day (Morning, Lunch, Dinner). I don't recommend doing this for more than two weeks. While doing these x3 doses, if your friend starts to feel side effects like small allergic reactions (I felt my tonsils swelling), stop immediately and wait 24 hrs. Lower the dose to x2 2100mg a day and continue. If the allergic reaction still continues then wait 48 hrs and lower the dose to 2100mg a day. I didn't get allergic reactions after that. Probably because the starting dose was very high. (I study herbs and like to experiment on myself). The reason why I recommend taking such a high dose at first is because it takes a while for natural supplements to work and I wanted to get off of pharma meds. You can speed up the process by taking controlled high doses of this herb in particular as there is very little chance of overdosing. Of course, don't be stupid and try to cheat nature by over doing it. This is only to speed up the process slightly. If after two weeks of doing the initial x3 daily doses and your friend is fine then switch to x1 2100mg dose a day. Continue forever on this. No side effects.
On a side note, 5-HTP helps the body by being converted into serotonin and can help with anxiety. That's why I use it with ashwagandha. I haven't had any side effects from taking it.
RE: ashwagandha can make one feel joyless when using it for months, even as it really evens things out buautifully, and tackles low blood sugar/sugar cravings and therefore starts sculpting the body (bodybuilders like it). It nudges one into better habits, and enhances uptake of all sorts of minerals, protein, creatin etc.
Forskilin has similar qualities - it's a root, and does all those things. Traditionally it was taken as a tonic for health. It can be more sustainable in terms of gentle nudging and regulating things like sleep (no waking in the middle of night, covered in terror-sweats) and elimination (aaaaah) - excellent to take down adrenalin surges, nausea etc.
Ginseng helps too, if one wants to get technical. I have pulled myself out of depression and accident trauma with ginseng - it was my first adventure into herbal options, when I became red-pilled vs. the Pharma/Industrail complex. There are lots of Chinese remedies that inorporate it, as drops or tea-crystals, and it tastes nice too.
I'll try Forskolin then. I have always been emotionless at times so I probably didn't notice the joyless side effect. I didn't even know about the joyless side effect. Thanks Fren!