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EEDIE

I have a question

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Hi,

Last year i was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). My Psych keeps trying to get me to take Effexor, which is i believe a SNRI. I am not too confident in anti-depressants as they have adverse effects on me.

A friend of mine suggested a natural remedy called sceletium, which sounds to be very helpful remedy. i was wondering if anyone could help me as to getting some more information on this and some info on other natural remedy's for other medical conditions such as Polycystic ovarian syndrome (pcos), and night terrors.

thankyou

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Hi Eedie

Sceletium is an SSRI here are some links for info further info:

http://www.entheogen.com/articles/pre-2004...sceletiumt.html

http://www.erowid.org/plants/kanna/

Torsten Has some for sale

http://shaman-australis.com.au/shop/produc...products_id=148

As does Planthelper

http://www.shaman-australis.com.au/cgi-bin...1191;p=1#000000

And herbalistics

http://www.herbalistics.com.au/shop/produc...products_id=103

[ 28. October 2004, 16:34: Message edited by: Jack ]

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Sorry, can't help you much with this.

Has anyone here had any experience with SNRI's?? (note: not ssri's)

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Yep they're as useful and as dangerous as ssri's Effexor made me feel VERY unstable and suicidal.

A safer and better option for PTSD would be a short course of beta-blockers.

My psych presented this option to me last year and it was the only successful 'drug' treatment I have had!

The course is ~10 days from memory....not the rest of your life and you'll like the feeling of not being overrun by adrenaline.

This pagehas an article on it.

Edit:And you don't need to have just had the trauma either.Mine was from years ago and it helped dramatically.

Good luck eedie :)

[ 28. October 2004, 23:02: Message edited by: mescalito ]

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Good luck, EEDIE.

www.crazymeds.org is a very good source of information from people who have tried many of the medications.

You might like to find a support group for PTSD in your area and talk with other sufferers. They may have tried many of the drugs themselves and perhaps even some herbs.

Sceletium is a very short-acting herb, only a few hours (minutes for me) compared to days for other antidepressants. Be very careful not to mix with other medicines without checking for its contraindications. It is a very powerful drug, herbs are not necessarily safer or better than chemical drugs. They do tend to be cheaper though.

Cannabis is being tested by the Israeli army for their soldiers against PTSD. Relatively non-toxic (compared with water). Not for continous heavy use, you need some memories. I would presume the heavy indicas rather than the occasionally anxiogenic sativas. The dream suppression effect could help against the night terrors too. Dreams are probably useful, so best for occasional relief when you know you can't face another.

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An alternative to chemicals is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

I've had very positive first hand experience and it is very effective in the treatment of depression and stress or anxiety related disorders.

See http://www.cognitivetherapy.com/ for more info.

There are many practitioners in Oz, see http://www.aacbt.org/ for a list of them. A lot of them are recognised as educational therapists and are covered by medicare and/or private health insurance.

Cannabis can also work wonders in *some* cases. In my case, I use it very occasionally (once a month at most) and get prolonged lasting effects. It is very effective at helping me shift my frame of mind/view point when I get stuck in a negative mood. However I must also admit that I spent many of my teenage years smoking it daily with generally negative effects...

Hope this helps :)

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The first article mentioned--from Edot--is one of mine, written under yet another alias from many years ago, when I was first introducing Sceletium to the entheogenic world.

Several of the original edot articles from the old days (pre 1998) are mine under different noms des plume, although all mention of me (except for hate-filled psychotic rants from the owner) has been eviscerated from the site.

Maybe some day I'll delve into that topic, but not today.

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During a really bad depressive episode, I found Effexor to be extremely helpful. It worked much more quickly than SSRI's like zoloft and paxil(three days compared to a couple of weeks), with less sexual side effects.

I have used sceletium to help moderate mild depression/anxiety and it does work. I find I need to smoke a small dose about twice a day to get steady relief.

I've read a number of reports about small doses of salvia used daily to help with depression.

Of course, none of this gets to your problem: PTSD, and I don't know a whole lot about treatment of that. But I would assume if the doctor was treating it with an anti-depressant, other drugs that have an anti-depressant/anxiety effect might be of use to you.

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many of us here have had to search for answers to our medical problems that conventional medicine is not able to provide.

ultimately we are our own doctors.

depression is a common factor,in my own case this is because i have a limited life and daily battle due to hereditary illness.i'm depressed because i have good reason to be depressed!

anyhow what has worked for my friend and i is damiana.not only an antidepressant its a tonic cure all.after a month i didnt need to take it anymore.but i now smoke plant maoi's most days and almost cant remmember what depession is!

there are many real miracle plants out there but only trial and error can tell which will work for you.

t s t .

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but i now smoke plant maoi's most days and almost cant remmember what depession is!

wow, really/ I'll have to try that one...

but then i'm not getting depressed a lot lately...

since I cut out bloody alc that is...

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thanks heaps for all your help guys,

i am also doin CBT and i find it most helpfull... my main concern is my nightmares, they are horrible and i am beginning to fear sleep. My health is failing and i smoke pot to help me clam myself before sleep.. but as i am a serious asthmatic smoking can only last so long.

any herbs or such that might help with the dreams???

thanks again guys...

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My sympathy for the nightmares thing especially: a few years ago I had eight hour long hidjus chainsaw weilding horror films in my head every time I went to sleep- waking up was not helpful to disrupt them- as soon as I went back to sleep they continued on like they'd never left off- no plot disturbance at all.

Never found any herbal remedy for it, but didn't exactly try a heap ( kava worked occasionally ) after a while it wore off with a combination of exercise, l-glutamine and an evening regime designed to lower adrenaline levels as much as possible. I also used ( and still do ) melatonin; if you do a search here you will find a fair bit about ( hint- avoid the homeopathic stuff )

Good sleep is a learned behaviour trait imo and if you haven't set yourself a good pattern you won't have a good baseline to get back to. I hope you are in a position to learn to 'spoil' youself of an evening and use any time then to treat yourself to a relaxing evening routine so you can learn to trust a good night's rest. If you hate going without coffee after dinner, for example, make it up to yourself by watching a ( light ) movie you've been wanting to see for ages- that kinda stuff. It sounds petty, but it's gotta be worth a go.

Effexor is apparrantly a hidjus medication to withdraw from, however desparate the need- are you taking it, or have you stopped? Withdrawl might account for some of the nightmares

Back when it was legal, kratom used to help me sleep on occasion, but I see you are in Australia so that's not much help as prepared kratom is illegal here now

Best of luck with it and please let people here know what you tried and what works for you- in the long run it benefits us all

[ 04. November 2004, 15:28: Message edited by: Darklight ]

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