Harmalas low–moderate doses for anxiety/rumination – what’s your experience?

[Thierr7]

I think Rue seeds can help in plenty of disorders ...
I've read studies that show that it works fine with diabete in rats testings ...

Atm , i'm tapering down from Kratom every week or so and Rue seeds help a lot to fall asleep when i withdraw a few grams of Kratom from my daily dose and it works fine by taking only about 2 or 3 grams of Rue seeds half an hour before i go to bed . it seems to work fine against the envy of smoking tobacco as well !

It's probably got a positive effect on anxiety too but the bad side is obviously the lack of energy and body load ...

 

[Jamie01]

yh, prolly meant to say 8 μg, eh?

I have taken to thumbprints as of late…

Ya I meant 8 micrograms.

 

[Pumpy]

I'm not sure if other posters are harping on the necessity of extracting it yourself enough -- the quality of harmala extracts that are available to buy is pretty low (so i've heard). If it helps at all, making a tea from syrian rue seeds is easy and potent enough to use without taking large amounts at once

 

[Space88]

fwiw, I've found Californian poppy (Eschscholzia californica) to be an excellent, non-habit-forming treatment for acute generalised anxiety. Skullcap - Scutellaria laterifolia - can also be useful, although I find it tends to leave me feeling rather groggy the following morning, possibly on account of its strong effects at GABA receptors.

I've also found that Syrian rue tea can have surprise interactions with normal nocturnal neurochemistry, leading to symptoms similar to those you've described. It's also worth bearing in mind that caffeine and harmalas have a noticeable interaction - leading to my hypothesis that harmalas can act to release caffeine from enzymatic- or platelet binding sites, causing a reactivation effect.

I haven’t tried Californian poppy yet, but I did try skullcap tincture a long time ago, although I don’t remember it doing much for my anxiety.

Interestingly, the vendor of the caapi tincture suggested switching to evening dosing instead of taking it earlier in the day (especially together with coffee), since both affect the CNS and may compound the stimulating effect... which sounds quite similar to what you described

Another thing they suggested was diluting the drops in a full glass of water and drinking it slowly, which might change the way the alkaloids are absorbed and may produce a milder/more gradual effect.

I’m not planning to stop the Coaxil (tianeptine) right now since it’s prescribed by my DR, although I may end up tapering off it over the next month or so anyway, because so far its effects for me have been fairly subtle

What I can do for now is at least stop taking the saffron, and possibly either reduce the caapi dose by half, take it every other day instead of daily, or try switching to an evening schedule rather than taking it earlier in the day