herb- rhodiola ???

[sick and tired 47]

Hi! Is anyone  familiar with the herb Rhodiola?? I starteted taking from homeopathic nutritionist for high cortisol/ some anxiety issues.
First week, great... but now into 2nd week and I feel like I am on caffine. Very wired, TONS of energy yes but today noticed my heart rate and BP are really up!!! I decreased dose ( 3 pills to 2) earlier in week to see if that helped but it hasn't. The product I am using is called Purecalm PRT by neuroscience.
   The nutritionist says taking  3 pills a day is the usual dose, but I am taking two, considering stopping for a day... I do not like this feeling. I have SVT of the heart so I want to be careful... my PCP approved the herb before I started taking it.
I am at a loss, I have read that sometimes it causes this problem as your body gets used to it... but I don't want to feel this way.... its like I drank a GIANT espresso.... and could go and go. Advice/ help with this is appreciated.
Thanks all.

[deepdiver]

Side Effects:
Standard testing and clinical observations have found no significant side-effects to taking Relora. Relora does not produce side-effects normally associated with anti-anxiety medications such as drowsiness and dry mouth.

Cautions:
If you are taking prescription drugs, consult your Health Care Practitioner for medical advice before taking Relora.

[sick and tired 47]

Hi all! Thank you for the information.
Deepdiver,
I appreciate the great write up.. I do alot of those things such as magnesium vitamin C, fish oil, multivitamin ( I take iron because I am slightly anemic). Never heard of Relora?? Any side effects.. I also have SVT of heart which makes me review everything I take carefully.
   I do try to eat very healthy... have given up soy because of my thyroid and eat NO red meatsx 20 years.
I believe my cortisol is from stress ( it took 1 1/ 2 years for them to diagnose my SVT of heart... kept saying it was just hormones/anxiety and I had constant chest pain , tachycardia and untreated hypothyroid). And cortisol is high at night... so yes, have sleep issues. Plus perimenopausal.... oh the fun of my life right now!!!
My hubby laughs cause excess cortisol is supposed to be around your waist... thru this I have lost 40 lb.., not overweight at all now.
It is so bizzard... I have always been extremely healthy and taken  great care to stay that way... and this is where I am right now.
Paxiled,
My purecalmPRT has taurine,gaba and glycine in it. I felt SO great the first week and now its like I have to much in my system. The nutriitionist/homeopath I am working with says I need more of this to make it work...  I am SO sensitive to everything. Pain meds, .. I take a child's dose.. or I am totally wasted,  loud noise really bothers me, all the signs of overstimulation.
I was on zoloft for 6 months.. old PCP did nothing but raise the dose higher and higher til I was a zombie BUT still had chest pain, tachycardia.  Thats when I switched to new PCP... went off zoloft and found SVT of heart.
  New PcP is really into natural meds and encourages it if possible, but he has limited knowledge so I search and he reviews it because of my heart issue. I also do accupunture ( feels great) and did biofeedback.
  Thank you all for listening... I think I may back off rhodiola for a day and start back at 1 a day..... if that doesn't work... another plan of attack. Slow ... and frustrating. Keep any ideas coming... very appreciated.

[Paxiled]

I had the same experience with rhodiola, but I suffer from anxiety.  Rhodiola is an adaptogen, which helps the body adapt to stresses, and there are a lot of alternatives if it doesn't work for you.  Herbs are trial and error, and most often used in combinations, not alone.  If rhodiola makes you hyper, try American ginseng and eleuthero and ashwaghanda, or any one of them.  They are also excellent adaptogens, and generally aren't as energizing as rhodiola.  For direct calming, passionflower and hops along with valerian can be very helpful, and I personally don't believe kava is dangerous as long as you stay away from the standardized kava.  But there are so many relaxant herbs.  Taurine and GABA can be useful amino acids.  Just keep working, and as deepdiver lays out, diet, exercise, etc. all go along with the package.  The best herb for reducing cortisol levels might be holy basil, which also reduces blood sugar.

[deepdiver]

Controlling Anxiety and Panic Attacks
While there are a number of pharmaceutical
drugs used to control anxiety disorders, not all
are successful and many produce unwanted side
effects, including neurological damage, impotence
and profound weakness.
There are things you can do to reduce anxiety
in a much safer manner. For those not adequately
controlled by these methods, it would allow you to
use lower doses of your medications, which would
reduce side effects.
• Most important is to avoid excitotoxins
in your food. These include MSG, aspartame,
hydrolyzed proteins, vegetable protein, isolated
protein, soy products (including soy protein isolates,
soy protein and soy milk), natural flavoring, sodium
or calcium caseinate and others. All of these food
additives worsen brain excitation and have been
shown to specifically target the amygdala nucleus —
a set of neurons in the brain’s temporal lobe. They
are key to the processing of emotions.
• Increase your vegetable intake to at least
5 servings a day. Many of the flavonoids in
vegetables have been shown to reduce anxiety —
especially hesperidin, quercetin and curcumin. All
three are available as supplements. The dose is 250
mg. of each three times a day. Quercetin comes in a
water-soluble form. Otherwise it must be dissolved
in either fish oil or extra-virgin olive oil.
• Reduce your intake of fats — especially
saturated fats and omega-6 fats (vegetable oils,
such as corn, safflower, peanut, sunflower,
soybean and canola oils). Studies have shown
that animals on high-fat diets release more cortisol
and take longer to recover from stress than those on
low-fat diets.
• Magnesium is the body’s natural calmative
agent. It reduces excitotoxicity and when taken at
bedtime, it aids sleep. It also reduces the immune
over-reactivity seen with anxiety disorders. In
addition, it reduces your risk of heart disease, stroke
and type-2 diabetes (and metabolic syndrome).
• White tea contains a flavonoid called
epigallocatechin gallate. This flavonoid has
recently been shown to calm the brain and reduce
anxiety. It works by activating the organ’s most
protective system against anxiety — the gammaaminobutyric
acid (GABA) receptor. This aids
sleep as well. White tea has a higher level of this
flavonoid and much less fluoride than green tea.
• For those who do not want to take a
pharmaceutical drug, the herb valerian has
been shown to activate the same calming brain
GABA receptor. It has been used to induce sleep
but also calms anxiety during the day. It should not
be mixed with medications that act as sedatives or
tranquilizers.
• Another useful product is called Relora.
It is a blend of two extracts — Phellodendron
amurense and Magnolia officinalis. In a number
of tests, Relora has been shown to reduce excess
cortisol levels associated with stress while
improving mood and reducing stress. It acts via the
brain’s GABA and serotonin systems, which are both
important in controlling anxiety.
• Avoid caffeine. People with anxiety disorders
hyper react to stimulants, such as caffeine. They
can also worsen insomnia.
Stress: How It Affects the Brain
One of the most frightening revelations to come
out of the neuroscience studies of stress is that
the condition causes critical areas of the brain to
actually shrink (atrophy).
This was first seen in cases of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), which occurs when people
are exposed to extremely stressful events such as
war, severe trauma, a rape or a life of sexual or
physical abuse.
Researchers determined that in sufferers, the
brain’s hippocampus — a portion critical to memory
and learning — was significantly shrunken and
many suffered from memory loss. A number of
subsequent studies discovered that people with
moderate to severe chronic depression also had a
shrunken hippocampus.
Even more disconcerting was a follow-up study
illustrating that even those with early depression
experienced memory loss without shrinking of the
hippocampus. The good news is that the shrinkage
is usually not permanent and can be healed with
treatment of the depression.
Dr. Bruce McEwen, mentioned earlier, uncovered
the cause of this horrifying effect of stress.
We had long known that higher concentrations
of cortisol, a steroid hormone excreted from the
adrenal glands, were present in cases of severe
depression, chronic stress and anxiety disorders
— all associated with brain (hippocampal) shrinkage.
Dr. McEwen found that this area of the brain
contained the highest level of cortisol receptors.
Normally, when we are under stress, our brain
signals our adrenal glands to secrete cortisol, which
actually helps the brain remember things.
But if the cortisol levels remain high for too long,
the opposite happens. The substance begins to destroy
brain connections, which are referred to as dendrites
and synapses. It does harm by triggering excitotoxicity,
which starts free radical and lipid peroxidation in the
brain — a condition always seen with chronic stress.
The excitotoxicity is caused by an accumulation of
the neurotransmitter glutamate, which in higher
concentrations destroys these connections.
In essence, the stress is burning up our brain
connections, mostly in the part of the brain that
controls learning and memory. Fortunately, since
the brain cells themselves are still alive, new
connections can re-grow once the cortisol and
glutamate levels are returned to normal.
Generally, our cortisol levels are highest in the
morning and lowest in the evening. Stressed out and
depressed people have just the opposite pattern,
with the highest levels in the evening. This, of
course, interferes with sleep, which explains why
sleep disturbances are the first sign of trouble.
Experts acknowledge that as we age, our cortisol
levels begin to rise. .
Most important are:
• Vitamin C (as magnesium or calcium
ascorbate): The dose is 500 to 1000 mg. three times
a day between meals.
• Vitamin E (natural form-Unique E is the
purist form): 400 to 800 IU a day
• Multivitamin/mineral without iron: I
recommend Extend Core (www.vrp.com).
• Riboflavin 500 mg. a day for those age
50 and over: This increases brain cell function
and reduces free radical formation. It also blocks
excitotoxicity.
• Curcumin 250 mg. twice to three times
a day: Curcumin is being shown to be one of the
most powerful brain protectants known. A new
study in the journal Experimental Neurology found
that curcumin dramatically improved synaptic
plasticity (brain healing), mental ability (cognition)
and reduced free radicals and lipid peroxidation in
animals with severe brain injury. Mix the curcumin
with a half of a tablespoon of fish oil.
• Quercetin (250 mg.) twice to three times a
day: Also a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant
for the brain. Mix with the fish oil and curcumin.
• Fish oil: One of the better brands is Norwegian
fish oil liquid from www.vitacost.com. It has been
shown to specifically reduce brain inflammation and
improve healing within the organ (especially the
dendrites and synapses). The dose is 2 to 4 grams a
day. Keep the oil refrigerated.
• Relora: As stated above, this reduces cortisol
elevation caused by stress. The usual dose is 3
capsules a day with or between meals. You can get
Relora from Pure Encapsulations by going to
(www.MyVitaNet.com).
• Regular, moderate exercise is important:
Studies show that it strengthens the antioxidant
systems and releases endorphins (a morphine-like
compound) from the brain, which calms the mood
and reduces depression. However, excessive exercise
will increase free radicals and can be harmful. Also,
exercising in the late evening can cause insomnia.

[sick and tired 47]

Yes, the go is a nice change for me, but this is NOT how I felt before taking the herb. I had high cortisol, I startled easilly, sometimes felt anxious... but not constantly like this... WAY to hyper a feeling. I would rather not have this ... want to get in a race car and drive fast, faster, faster still....

[margypops]

You know I havent taken this one but I have found with a few supplements that the body does get used to them ,I have strated to take several fely super energised the after a few weeks its as if it stops working, what I have done is stop for a while the go back on them again. I could use some' Go 'right now maybe I'll try it