And how.

I started my life as an anxious person, and thought I had outgrown it, only to later find that it was the alcohol all along that had been a "great" medicine for anxiety. Even when I wasn't drinking I was relatively calmer.... But when I quit drinking it came back thru the roof!! It's been a hard few years without it.

So, everyone that's going for AF - just be aware, the faster you get there the more anxiety you may have that you didn't have before. Ideally, the longer your taper I'd expect the more time your brain has to readjust it's coping mechanism.

I haven't done TSM yet (don't shoot) but I am well aware of that it's like to quit drinking overnight. Expect your anxiety to rise, at least temporarily. But it could be quite a while before you are comfortable in social situations.

Zk

Hello JABA

I was trying to send you a PM regarding your blend of valerian root but I couldn't get it to work.

If you don't mind, what blend/brand/dosage are you using?

Have you experienced any memory loss with it?

I have been using something called "SleepMD" for some time, not every night but no doubt more than I should. It works very well, the trouble is I've been having short term memory problems for months and as a 45 year old engineer this is really cramping my style.

SleepMD has:

hops flower 40mg
Valerian Root 10mg
GABA 10mg
Melatonin 5mg

All this time I thought it was mostly melatonin.....

Funny, when I was drinkin alot I didn't have any memory problems....

Tahnks

Zeke

More great info from this site....

I'd like to check out this L-Theanine as well.

I have suffered with my anxiety for two years, although as I've put some miles and bad things behind me the past two years it's a little better. I do not like anti-depressants, and I don't want to take anti-anxiety meds unless I need them because of the addictive properties and memory loss that is associated with it.

Thanks to all....

Hey Zeke -

The anxiety issue is interesting. Alcohol acts like GABA on the brain's GABA receptors (the brain's brake pedal), so it's a GABA agonist and also acts like an antagonist on the Glutamate (the brain's gas pedal) receptors, as well as causing the endorphin release that starts, bit by bit, programming you to reach for the bottle. L-theanine is a GABA precursor that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, as I understand it. You can get GABA + vitamin B6 formulations that folks with anxiety and panic attacks seem to like. Some even use it to get a good night's sleep. Now, the word is that GABA is too large a molecule to pass the blood-brain barrier so the boffins say it won't do any good, but people still seem to get benefit from it. Dr. Amen says 750 mg is the max you should take, I guess some go beyond that but start to get side effects like niacin gives, like flushing, burning and itching. I picked up a GABA/B6 supplement and I have some L-Theanine too. Figure I'll try it on my Alch-Free days if I have problems sleeping or get too anxious.

Howdy Joe

Yeah, many people have tried to tell me the anxiety is "only" because I stopped drinking, but I know that's not the case. I knew when I was younger, way before I had a drink that certain situations made me uncomfortable. Large gatherings, but mostly large gatherings of family or people you know.... Solo team sports (skiing and track) or school band and my rock band I was in back in high school made me anxious. I suppose I didn't know the word for it back then. I have to say I did pretty well considering, but always noticed that nobody else seemed to be bothered by these things.

Anyway, though I probably didn't realize it till I was over the line and needed to stop boozing, it definitely was controlling my anxiety. I was very functional on alcohol right to the end. With hindsight I guess it wasn't perfect but I sure didn't feel I was effing up like other drinkers I knew...

Anyway, I have really been struggling the most with just wanting to feel that calm "I'm ok" feeling of contentment I've been very careful to use any benzos really sparsely, if I took one every time I was keyed up and stressed or anxious, I'd be taking them most of the time and that would be bad.

I've had some trouble sleeping, the sleep aids work fine but seriously my short term memory is suffering pretty bad.

I bought some L-Theanine and I'm trying it tonight, I forgot to take my hypertension pills today so we'll see if it can control that as well.....

Sorry for the thread hijack OP, it wasn't intentional.

Zk

Hi again everyone,
I woke up yesterday without any anxiety and I woke up this morning also with no anxiety! It's the first time in about a month that I haven't felt anxious! In fact I now feel stronger than ever! Whether this means that my anxiety was just another short lived side effect of TSM or not, I don't know yet (it's still early days). I have felt spaced out on Naltrexone (in the first two weeks of taking it), have had a couple of weeks of feeling depressed, have had disturbed sleep (which is now curbed by the L-Theanine. ie. now I sleep well), & then a month or two of feeling anxious, these have been the side effects of TSM, but now I feel great! I still recommend that people cut their Naltrexone in two before consuming it, as I know that it dissolves faster this way, and things sure have got better for me since I've been cutting it in two.
I've been on TSM for about 13 months and maybe now (hopefully) I can say that I'm cured!!!!
Thank you everyone for your support. I'll keep you posted as to whether the anxiety is gone for good, or not.
Cheers (literally ).

Xlnt, Paddy!

What brand of Anti-Stress pills did the pharmacist sell you? Was L-Theanine the only ingredient?

Hi Joe,
The brand is "Go Healthy" but I think that this may be a New Zealand company. According to the package each tablet contains 400mg of L-Theanine (free form) & that's all. Just take one pill a day, or if you have a real stressful event that day then take two, according to the package.
Cheers again (man that Vodka & Lemonade was good )

Thanks Paddy, and cheers to you too!

Hi again,
I feel like I need to clarify what I wrote earlier on in this thread. I had said previously that the L-Theanine had cured my anxiety. It actually did so for about a week, when I first took it, but then the anxiety returned again.
I know that the L-Theanine is helping me to sleep better and it is also helping me to feel less anxious but I still have been feeling on edge over the past month, until yesterday, when I woke up feeling much better/stronger.
Thanks.