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ashwagandha and arjuna

Hello,
Has anyone tried the ashwagandha supplement? I took 400mg and felt more energetic. However, when I did light aerobic exercise, I had difficulty breathing, and my pulse was 10 beats above normal. So, I am a bit confused, as on the one hand I felt energetic, but on the other hand had difficulty breathing on exercise. Should I discontinue the supplement?

My second question relates to the herbs arjuna, harjor, vana tulsi and amalki, which are the ingredients in the Organic India capsule "Lipid Care". I have experienced vivid dreams on taking it, though otherwise it seems to be effective in lessening my tachycardia episodes and improving shortness of breath. Has anyone had any experience with these herbs?

Thanks
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757137 tn?1347196453
I use ashwagandha to help with insomnia. Its Latin name is Withania somnifera.
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the post. I guess my problem is dysautonomia, a nerves disorder caused by the weakening of the nerves. I think my varied symptoms like tachycardia, shortness of breath, a full feeling after eating very little, etc, may be due to this, as the heart tests have come back normal. The doctors are unable to give me a cause for these symptoms. So I am now trying out alternative medications and supplements. Due to the tachycardia, I am a little cautious about superfoods. I shall check out Planetary herbs as you suggest.
With best wishes,
Malan
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Avatar universal
Things for anxiety slow you down.  Things for energy sometimes speed you up, increasing anxiety.  Ashwagandha is usually a good choice.  Eleuthero is often a good choice -- I take both.  Perhaps you just need time to get used to it.  I've never heard of Organic India, so I can't comment on the company.  I would have bought it from Planetary Herbals just because it's an old herb company owned by herbalists who started before this became big business.  I trust them.  I take the tincture from Eclectic Institute or Herb Pharm.  Again, old line companies started by real herbalists when they did this for idealism, not money -- never knew it would become so profitable back then.  I wouldn't use the raw herb powder just because it's complicated to use it.  I'm too lazy for that.  You could try holy basil for the anxiety, it's great for lowering blood sugar and cutting cortisol production, but it often can leave you tired because of that.  Why don't you try superfoods for energy like spirulina or bee pollen?  See if that helps for the energy side of it.  The question is, why are you lacking in energy?  That's the issue to solve.  Is your diet lacking?  Sleep problems?  The anxiety?  Medication making you tired?  Not enough exercise or too much?  Too much work?  
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Avatar universal
Thanks very much for the post. Yes, I took a standardized extract in capsule form, from Organic India. I can probably buy the raw herb powder from a local seller, but am not very sure about the quality- I am worried about pesticides, etc. I am looking for a supplement that addresses low energy levels and anxiety, so if you know of any could you let me know? Since I experience tachycardia, I have to be cautious regarding anything I imbibe, and your post has been very helpful.Thanks again and best wishes.
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Avatar universal
The most important comment is, if something doesn't agree with you don't use it.  Doesn't matter what happens to others.  We have different reactions because we are different.  Medication, whether natural or human invented, is dosed by generalizations generated by either research studies or historic use, but that doesn't mean that generalization will apply to any particular individual.  Now, for most people, ashwagandha isn't actually that stimulating; quite the opposite, it is relaxing.  It's a "cool" adaptogen as opposed to more stimulating adaptogens such as eleuthero, or even more stimulating ones such as rhodiola or Chinese ginseng.  Because of this ashwagandha is popular among anxiety sufferers, quite the opposite of what you experienced.  But that doesn't mean you didn't experience it, but you might have -- psychosomatic reactions to all forms of medicine is often stronger than the chemical one.  Also, mg doses are meaningless with herbs.  Traditionally they have been used as teas or alcohol based tinctures or just consumed, but obviously nobody historically knew what the mg dosage was and there was no equipment to test the potency of the particular crop.  Therefore dosing is traditionally done by the number of times you take it in a day, not a mg dosage.  My guess is you took a standardized extract in pill form, though I don't know this for sure, which isn't a natural way of taking an herb but is a modern way.  Standardizing locates a marker chemical constituent of the herb thought to be responsible for the herb's action (this is almost universally found to be incorrect, as plants work synergistically) and duplicates this marker chemical in each batch.  The only way to do this is to pile on more plant to reach that marker, and in so doing alter the other constituents so the plant is altered from its natural state.  Sometimes this works better, sometimes not.  With kava they managed to make it liver toxic to some people by standardizing it, though it did make it stronger.  So you may have a different reaction to different preparations of this herb, and some companies are much more reliable than others especially with Chinese and Indian herbs, because those countries have unreliable economic marketing systems.  Not that the US is a paragon of honesty, but there are old established companies in every country that are just more reliable.  I take ashwagandha in a traditional alcohol tincture, and haven't yet tried it in standardized form though I have a bottle in my cabinet.  Complicated, eh?  As for the Indian formula you used, ayurveda relies usually on ancient formulas, but newer companies are making newer formulas.  I haven't heard of the particular company you're using, so can't comment on the dreams but if it's working it seems a small price to pay.  
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