Saturday, September 20, 2014

adventures in vitex

Anyone who also reads The Scribble Pad will have heard of Wooo's experiments with the herb vitex agnus....  After reading all she had to say about it, and looking up more info for myself, I decided it might be a "fit" for me, too.  A lot of the things she supplements fit her issues better than mine and I don't choose to try them, but I discovered long ago that one of my lifelong problems has been a shortage of dopamine.  Conclusion -- worth experimenting!

So I got myself a bottle of the encapsulated herb from a good company and gave it a shot.  Vitex wasn't a bright-light-on-the-road-to-Damascus like glutathione was, but I felt a perceptible lift to the spirits and better motivation.  Success.  Vitex is an herb worth keeping around.

I added another herb a couple of weeks later, which is also a keeper -- guggul, of which I wrote awhile ago.  When I started to experience a little heart-palpitation occasionally, first I asked Wooo if it could be vitex (and consulted WebMD), then I started eliminating things -- I was concerned it might be the guggul, and I didn't want that to be true!  But I stopped the guggul and it didn't help.  I stopped SAMe and it didn't help.  I stopped phosphatidylserine (which I planned to discontinue anyway, when the bottle was empty) and it didn't help.  I stopped the vitex and it helped.

Damn.  So a few days after the vitex-cessation and I had a few extra stressors come along ... damn again.  I haven't felt depression like that for quite a long time!  I took a vitex anyway (what's a little palpitation, compared to feeling like life isn't worth living?), and within hours I started feeling better.  And no palpitations.

I suspect that my dosage might simply have been too high.  I plan to use vitex every other day instead of daily, and see what happens.  Assuming all goes well, i'll try the herb in a less-potent form next time I need to re-stock.

The crux of the matter is, vitex agnus DOES seem to boost dopamine, and it does it more effectively than any of the other herbs I've tried.  NOTHING else has done for me, mood-wise, what this herb does.

When you're dopamine-deficient, you tend to feel that it's just not worthwhile to do a lot of things -- the reward you receive doesn't make up for the effort expended.  Things that you SHOULD enjoy don't make you feel any better, a tiny bit of discouragement puts your mood in the gutter, and thinking about taking a risk shows you downsides and no up.  Dopamine from carby foods make it impossible to stop?  HAH.  In my case, "I get no kick from ..." ice cream.  Or cake.  Or potato chips.  Food-addiction isn't the reason I was chubby as a child, or in my thirties, etc.  If you don't get a thrill out of ANYTHING, food ain't gonna help.  The distraction of a good book and the numbing effects of alcohol are the best some people can achieve.

So although vitex is not a romance made in heaven (like methylcobalamin and glutathione have been for me), it's definitely a good thing -- kinda like Bogart and Rains at the end of Casablanca -- an excellent partnership.

17 comments:

  1. Imo someone who suffers from both bipolar and borderline personality disorder isn't someone you should pattern yourself after.

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    1. "pattern [oneself] after"? hardly. but someone with significant formal AND personal education, who has gone a long way in ameliorating her genetic and/or nurture-based physical shortcomings BEATS HELL out of those whose studies are only done to provide excuses for their personal failures.

      TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I usually tend to delete anonymous comments unanswered, but -- feeling philosophical, today -- I chose to say something this time. I believe that people who post anonymously are FUCKING COWARDS, more desirous of raining on other people's parades than contributing constructively to any conversation.

      ego is a piss-poor reason to promote any point of view. NOBODY CARES if any one individual has made a miscalculation in the past, and advocated something that has turned out to be mistaken. once upon a time, I bought into the low-fat paradigm, too. IT DIDN'T WORK. I shrugged and moved on....

      WHAT WORKS is the only thing that really matters, in the real world. Vitex works. Guggul works. Methylcobalamin and glutathione work ... for ME. that's what I speak up for... what WORKS.

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    2. I don't think "both bipolar and borderline personality disorder" is an accurate and prejudgment-free description of the issues which Wooo has. Also, good luck to get a useful information from a regular healthcare provider about dealing with minor mood problems.

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    3. oh yes -- Galina's comment reminds me that I didn't address THAT charming little innuendo.... :-/ obviously, o courageous one, you have no qualifications to be making that sort of diagnosis (or you wouldn't have spoken up) -- therefore your insult falls a bit flat. Wooo describes herself in terms of imperfect mental health, as we probably all should in one manner or another -- except the truly crazy ones....

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  2. Interesting. There used to be (or maybe still is, don't know) a program on the alternative radio station here called "The Herbal Highway." I tuned in once while the host was talking about herbs for "female vitality" and recommended vitex. I started to scribble the name down but then she listed like ten other herbs too and I just said "screw it" and didn't buy/try any of them.

    I have depression and am tempted by your description of your experience, but I also tend towards anxiety, insomnia and a fast resting heart rate (palpitations sometimes). Hmm...

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    1. are you in "midlife", Sharon? :-) i'm a big enthusiast for paying attention to what works for "people like me" -- and low mood, low-grade anxiety, tendency toward light sleep, and sensitive heart-rhythm certainly describes my experience! if you decide to try vitex, i suggest the old truism "start low, go slow" is a good recommendation!

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  3. Casablanca - excellent film.

    .......Sorry can't comment about 'guggul' or the 'herb vitex agnus' suffice to say if it does suit you and helps then give it a try.

    It is good to share experiences - it often helps.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Casablanca -- all about HOPE when you're in a dark place! :-)

      i started this blog when i couldn't find one written by a woman who had similar problems to mine; i hoped to start conversations, so people could share what helps us. since then, we've collected a few people who help and encourage one another -- i consider that success! :-)

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  4. I'm all for working out whatever your situation is with a bit of self experimentation...we are each a bit different in our reactions to stimuli. As with any of these herbs/drugs proceed with caution and do a good bit of reading before starting them...that said we can achieve a lot of relief with many forms of herbs. Infusions, tsans, essential oils, orals, etc. I've been wondering about Vitex myself.

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    1. I think I may experiment with it myself. I initially started HRT mostly because of the symptoms which should be alleviated with vitex.

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    2. I try to read up on what herbs are traditionally used for, what people report about their experiences, and (as I mentioned when I discussed guggul) what "drug interactions" are cautioned against. :-) I also don't mix a lot of different ones! besides these two, i'm only taking my thyroid-support (T-100), the Nutreince vitamins, CLO, SAMe and glutathione right now.

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  5. "I believe that people who post anonymously are FUCKING COWARDS, more desirous of raining on other people's parades than contributing constructively to any conversation."

    Too right, I reckon they only post on our blogs when they get fed up with surfing for porn LOL they type their comments with one hand, and that's a fact.

    Kind regards Eddie

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    1. i think it's highly likely that some of them are chomping on doughnuts or [ahem] TRUFFLES while typing -- either way, i'd hate to see what their keyboards look like! ;-)

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  6. Tess

    I wasn't thinking they had food in their hands, but yes, their keyboards could probably do with a good clean up.

    Kind regards Eddie

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    1. oh, i understood you, but i thought you might be ... uh ... overestimating the trolls' actual capabilities. ;-) you've heard the saying, i assume, that "food is the LAST pleasure"?

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  7. I'm pretty sure I don't allow anonyii...for that reason. If one doesn't have the guts and fortitude to stand by their own comments, why are they even making them?

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    1. because they hope to discombobulate and upset people. they don't have satisfactory lives with adequate emotional rewards of their own. they like sparking off a reaction, and get vicarious excitement from the flurry -- kinda like a two-year old stomping on the cat's tail.

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