Surprisingly, I feel pretty good

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I've been experimenting on myself for a long time to try and figure out something I could do to improve my mood and motivation. The pharmaceuticals I've been prescribed in the past never really helped much. Adderall did help with some things, but not with anxiety or depression and mixing it with benzos to take care of the anxiety wasn't an option I was comfortable with. So anyway, I've been playing around with nootropics for a little over a year and while I'd found several things that help with focus, energy, and motivation, I had never really come across anything that was very good for mood and anxiety until recently. After much research I decided to get ashwagandha and Rhodiola rosea a try and I've been pleasantly surprised. They're both adaptogens which mainly work to balance out neurotransmitters. Rhodiola is mainly for dopamine and serotonin and ashwagandha is mainly for acetylcholine and GABA. I've been taking them both for a couple weeks now and I've gradually felt better and better. At first I was getting pretty tired during the day, so I played around with dose timings and found out that it was the ashwagandha that was making me tired, so I switched to taking that before bed and taking rhodiola right when I wake up. Since doing this I feel a lot more energized and motivated and today I just feel all around great. I feel like how I think normal people feel. I definitely need a lot more time to figure out if it's truly helping or if this is just coincidental, but it looks pretty promising so far. If anybody here has tried them please feel free to share your experience and if you haven't it's definitely worth looking into. Just remember to always do your research before taking any mind altering substances. Socialanxietysupport.com and longecity.org are a couple good places to start.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com

I've been quite interested in Rhodiola Rosea. I find ginseng helps me, just cheapie dollar store ginseng pills. But yeah, diet and exercise in my experience is key for emotion regulation for me. I'm glad to hear Rhodiola Rosea works for you, I'm very interested in trying it.

Interestingly with Rhodiola Rosea, the Russian Olympic weightlifting teams supposedly would stack Rhodiola Rosea, Rhaponticum Carthiomides (Maral Root), and Siberian Ginseng, and supposedly it worked as good/better than steroids. Another adaptogen people like is cordyceps, too.

For me, though, best feel good is coffee. Coffee coffee coffee. However, if my nutrition's good, and I've gotten enough sleep, I only need one cup in the morning and I'm fine.

Thanks for the interesting info, but I'm already taking too many supplements. It's hard to swallow all those pills, so I really don't want to add more right now. Does anyone know of good liquid supplements?

Since you didn't specify it tasting like bubblegum, Rhodiola Rosea is more effective if you just get the raw roots and make tea. Pretty much everything is more effective that way, and cheaper. Just, it usually tastes unpleasant, and you can't get it quite as standardized of a dose, as you can brew it differently per time/etc.

I realize this is an old topic.

I am an Aspie, with high triggers for stress, and it gets a bit over the line when the trigger is due to a family members health risk (eg cancer etc). There is a line I cross where an internal meltdown begins to hit. There is no turning back when that happens.

Turn back ten years into this story, and I am working, doing well, but a target by coworkers due to my atypical wiring.
I was in danger multiple times a week, of having a meltdown that would go beyond the quiet inner fire, to tears that others may have seen. Enter Rhodiola. This is an amazing adaptogen that somehow just makes you feel that things are in perspective. Like the other person said, you feel like you imagine others without Aspergers/Autism must feel. Thinking becomes clearer. One person said he could tell when I was on it for I didn't seem tired/pale. You just have more energy. Feel healthier.

I had forgotten about those benefits, as I have been removed from that toxic workforce and thus stopped using that adaptogen. Now I am faced with life threatening health challenges for a family member, and though the person is calm and a matter of fact about it, I am a wreck. I will be going back on my Rhodiola, and looking forward to this taking the stress off my shoulders a bit. It's just enough to manager.

Just so you know in my experience... I found I had to use a 100 mg pill and shave a bit off the capsule contents. I am roughly best at 75mg of Rhodiola. One friend thought more was better, and did a 300 mg pill and regretted it... ha... I warned her. I may add some ashwagandha to that for evening, with just a bit, and working up higher (I use empty capsules to find the sweet spot for myself in regards to dosage).

Would be good to revive this topic, so I am bumping it up with my post, to see other people respond and give their experience with adaptogens.