I don’t think anyone could argue against getting good sleep, especially when healing or dealing with life trauma. Restless sleep, or sleepless nights can plague a stress filled life, and lying in bed with racing thoughts and worries can throw a wrench in the works.
Our family has had our share of exhaustion from not only illness, but the sleepless nights or just poor rest the comes with the chronic illness life. Well, lets make lemons out of lemonade and look into some things that we have successfully used to get better rest, and even reduce anxiety during the day. This has been especially helpful for our PANDA / PANS child (now a teen) so we have well over a decade of experience perfecting our list of preferred products.
I will start today with herbs. I get herbs at a couple of places. My first choice for Buhner herbs is Woodland Essence which has wonderful quality and great herbs to choose from. It is made in the Adirondack region and uses clean clear Adirondack water. I highly recommend them.
The other place I get my herbs and supplements from is Iherb. Unlike some places who we shall not name, they have fresh climate controlled product. Their website and app are well made and rarely have glitches. I have spent thousands of dollars there and even tend to buy dry goods there as the prices are much better than I find locally, and I don’t live in the city…so affordable shipping is a huge perk.
First off, if you are on antidepressant medications please do your own research and ask your doctor. I have had zero issues in our house, and the only ones that I personally know can interact with serotonin are 5-htp and possibly skullcap. I am, however, not your medical professional and this is not medical advice as stated at the bottom of every page of this website. So, do your own diligence and research and ask your qualified healthcare professional with any questions. OK, so that’s out of the way…lets get some rest.
Motherwort is a great herb that we have used for at least a decade in conjunction with skullcap (not baical) and passionflower. I personally no longer use passionflower, because it is not used for people who have been prone to nerve pain. That is a super tiny subset of people, but hey I’ve had tuleremia..so Im always that weird .00005% , or I used to be…not anymore baby…mindset is everything. Back to motherwort. Many herbalists consider this plant one of the best for “gladdening and strengthening the heart”. The herb has been used traditionally by many cultures, European, Native American, Chinese, and North American Herbalists for a variety of endocrine related issues. We use it in the evening before bed to soothe the nerves in tincture form. We add it to warm tea and wait a minute or so for the alcohol to evaporate, then enjoy. This is how we take all of our tinctures.
As far as skullcap (lateriflora), there aren’t as many options as there used to be. I only see a glycerite version on herb now, and I prefer alcohol tinctures. They seem to be more potent and, from my experience, evaporate the alcohol away leaving a pure herb. With that being said, this works just fine. Pills take longer to kick in, and why swallow a bunch of extra pills before bed if you don’t have to. Try these first in the evening, because they could make you drowsy.
Passionflower is also more difficult to find recently. Im not sure why, as you can grow it in your own garden. Maybe more stress and sleep issues with the recent state of affairs. I tend to use less of this than the motherwort, like one third of the amount. Always start with just a small amount, especially if you are very sensitive to new things, and increase a little each day until you have the desired effect. That is true with all herbs I discuss. I even titrate up like this with some supplements if I am not sure of their impact on our systems. Passionflower is utilized for its gentle calming properties. This vining plant has showy, intricate flowers, which caught the eye of Spanish missionaries who correlated the inflorescence with the Passion of the Christ, and thus dubbed the name passion flower.
This is the beginning of the journey, and in part 2 I will discuss supplements we use for better sleep, rest, and calmed nerves. I do get a few cents if you use the iHerb link. It goes toward what I buy there monthly. I do not earn any commission from Woodland Essence, they are just a good company but do not carry everything I use. So, we use a combination of both. Much love and hugs until next time, Anne
