I'm the idiot who always decides to taper down his SSRI dose immediately after daylight savings. I mean hey, what better time to mess with your serotonin than the time of year when the sun sets at 5:00?Anyhow, anyone else who's gotten sick of that overly-placid, zombified-but-happy SSRI state-of-mind has probably tried to do the same... only to be confronted with crippling, skin-crawling anxiety as a result. Moodiness. The panic attacks come back, and seemingly at random. Your anxiety feels somehow WORSE than it did in the months and years BEFORE you went on the SSRI... did I break my brain with pharmaceuticals, you wonder? Do I just say screw it and re-up my SSRI dose?Screw that. CalmAid to the rescue every time. You'll have to take more than one a day to nip bad anxiety in the bud, but good lord these work... especially if you have gut-centric anxiety (SIBO, etc). Within a half hour it's sending a lavender-flavored signal up your vagus nerve to your brain, calmly telling it hey... let's give this guy some GABA for god's sake. And lo and behold, the brain obeys.Will you burp lavender? Oh yeah. Big time. Every now and then I'll blow one in my wife's face and she'll laugh because it literally smells like I swallowed a reed diffuser. Worth the price of admission right there. So assuming your wife is as cool as mine, you're definitely going to get a few laughs and a closer marital bond in addition to the anxiety relief. Read more

I have tried a plethora of non-pharmaceutical anxiolytics, and I can say that CalmAid is by far the most effective. For me, the effects are comparable to a low dose of Ativan, but without the drugged feeling. Here are the main things I notice:-Relaxed heartbeat. My heartbeat is usually very pronounced, but when I take lavender, it calms down dramatically.-Quieter thoughts. I don't know how to describe this except to say that the "volume" of my thoughts is turned way down on lavender.-Tremendous sense of calm. It's very hard to get upset or agitated or anxious while under lavender's influence.-Improved sleep. I've suffered from horrible insomnia for a long time, and lavender is one of the only remedies that's had a noticeable effect. It doesn't make me drowsy per se, but it makes me so calm and relaxed that sleeping is easier.However, there are some "side effects" (I use the term loosely) to be aware of when using this:-Reduced energy. I suspect this is just the lavender calming my stress response and revealing fatigue that's already present to some degree, but it's worth noting. As I mentioned, lavender doesn't make me tired, but it makes me just want to kick back and chill rather than doing anything very active or exciting.-Reduced motivation. Tying into the above, when using lavender I would often rather relax and watch a movie or read instead of getting work done. This is, I suspect, the dark side to being incredibly calm, whether it's lavender or something else making you that way. When you're calm, nothing seems to matter that much, including work. Ergo, you have less motivation. I think a certain amount of anxiety is healthy for optimal motivation, and lavender does away with that.-For these reasons, I don't consider lavender an optimal anxiolytic for social anxiety, because energy and motivation are so important in social situations. I suffer from social anxiety, and have used lavender to deal with this at times, and though it does make me less anxious, it also makes me less social. I'd recommend something more like phenibut for social situations.Despite these limitations, I still consider this an essential component in my anti-anxiety toolkit. I just try not to use it too often. Also, it's worth noting that human studies on lavender are somewhat lacking, and without more data, we don't know what the long-term effects of using it are. As with any drug (and I do consider this a drug), I think it should be used as little as possible. I would, however, much rather use this than a pharmaceutical anxiety medication.A final note, on when to take it: I've found the best time to be 30 minutes before bed, on an empty stomach. The effects are more dramatic when taken well away from food, and if you take it before bed, you get the sleep-enhancing effects immediately, and the anxiolytic effects all throughout the next day (it lasts a looong time). Read more

Please read if you’re a troubled soul like I am...I saw how others reviewed it and compared it to Xanax and ativan which I have been on both plus many others. At first I called bllsht... how can this be compared to legit benzos.I have been dealing with alcoholism for years, manic depression, diagnosed with IED (intermittent explosive disorder) and in and out of rehabs... ativan only helps temporarily for a few hours. Xanax makes you feel drugged. I was even popping Benadryl just to get rid of my racing thoughts and anger. I am an extremely negative person, I hate the world, I always find the bad in every situation... These little calm pills came a few days ago and I’ve been taking 3 a day in replacement of my ativan..When I say I sent a text this morning telling someone how happy I am that I’m seeing positive in things and I’m excited to go back to a stressful job (construction &manual labor) and I said I’m glad I had an accident with my car last week because now I can get a new one.. I had to stop myself and reread what I just wrote because I have NEVER had this many positive outlooks on life, my scatter brain and racing thoughts are tamed more, I haven’t been road raging, I haven’t exploded at anyone. Before I wrote this I cried a bit out of joy because I feel like I can finally live a happy life. But I still can’t get myself to believe these pills are doing this.. I can’t wrap my head around it it’s crazy. Please, if you are like me, you need this. Yes you will burp lavender and it’s gross but if we could live happy like we deserve to I would burp vomit for that trade off. Read more

Very effective in restlessness and inability to sleep. I suffer from bipolar disorder and use it at night when I am particularly restless, and it does the job with no drowsiness and no side effect. However, it may make you feel more tired. Watch out for that. Read more