[SunReach]

I took a valerian yesterday evening, only 400mg and it had a very strange effect....
I miss valium so badly

[mgran]

Gave me hallucinations and a terrible headache.

Valium was great occasionally, but I never got hooked on it, thank God. I used to pinch someone else's prescription, and take them for a couple of nights when things got really bad. They gave me a bit of a headache as well.

[SunReach]

Originally Posted by mgran

Gave me hallucinations and a terrible headache.

Valium was great occasionally, but I never got hooked on it, thank God. I used to pinch someone else's prescription, and take them for a couple of nights when things got really bad. They gave me a bit of a headache as well.

Not just me then...I slept for 5 hrs, really heavy but not deep at all, I thought I got sleep paralysis, which has happened before on anti-ps. Then I was wide awake for a couple of hours with a bad headache, and then I'm not sure what heppened - fell asleep again? passed out? And I think that I was dreaming that I was hallucinating, I was in such a state I'm not sure if I was awake or not. And that I was shouting at the people I was seeing - two friends of mine. They wouldn't move though and I was just shouting, 'I know you're not really there but you may as well talk to me!' 'You freak me out, come closer and just talk, I don't care if you're real or not'
and I'd open and close my eyes and when I'd have the strenght to take a proper look they would have come closer but I wouldn't see them moving, just ever so slightly and then I just wanted them to go away
and kept shouting but in a whisper (not sure how that worked) go away go away, leave me alone, I want to wake up
and I was thinking that I knew it was a dream because when I looked at sth, looked away, and then looked back at it, it hadn't remained exactly the same
and then I thought people were walking through the flat
I was feeling my throat sore from shouting but I'm not sure if I was actually shouting or not, and my flatmate is abroad..
and the most disturbing bit......
along with the 'friends'
there was a figure I didn't recognise
and I couldn't see, man or woman
but I could sort of 'read' or just 'know' their intentions....
...that were to rape me
and I was shouting
you can't do that
you have no substance
you're a hallucination
and then I'd feel someone slithering under the blanket from the other end of the sofa
and started feeling their way around
and I was trying to shout but couldn't
and then it was all a swirl
and I thought people were walking all around me again - probably people moving on other floors in reality...
And I don't remember properly waking up, the next thing I recollect with clarity is eating porridge, watching FRIENDS and getting in a chatroom to distract myself....

Sorry for the lenght of this, I hadn't realised how much I wanted to get it out......I got a bit addicted to valium last year, I had it once again on Tuesday but no more left in my hands, thank God...

[yagalada]

I used to make a valerian tincture that was quite strong. The loose herb smells like the dirtiest feet on earth though. When I first started doing it I thought there was rotting garbage somewhere in the house, it was just the smell of the valerian sitting out.

[reader71]

Yagalada, your post made me laugh! Valerian root really does stink. It helped me sleep, though.....

[(JD)]

Yes I often use valerian to help me sleep. I take about 650 mg an hour before bed and then perhaps another at bedtime. It's a great herb for relaxing as well, and maybe taken in smaller doses can help you with that during the day.

[mgran]

Gosh, Sadrobot... that sounds so much like my experience of valerian... I had dreams of family members, and when my Dad came to see what was wrong with me, the first thing I said to him was, "are you really there," and when he held my hand I said, "thank God you're really there." I was in such a state I couldn't tell dreams from reality.

Regarding the fear of the rapist... remember when this happened I was unmedicated, but I remember quite clearly a person in my room, neither male nor female, floating above me, attached to me by an umbilical cord, grinning, or should I say leering. I knew that "it" was a demon, succubus or incubus, and that "it" was going to get me. I don't want to say anymore other than the nightmare was so awful it did feel like an assault.

It sounds like we both had a very similar response to valerian. I know I wouldn't take it again... the nausea and headache were the least of my symptoms. Sorry you had to put up with the side effects. They're bloody awful.

[SunReach]

I'm so sorry you had such a reaction as well....But at least now I know it was (almost certainly) the valerian that brought it on, even though it is herbal and seemingly harmless. Maybe we have hyperactive imagination - this demon "it" isn't new to me, I've had similar dream-terrors (nightmares is too meagre a word) with antipsychotics and I've had fairly crazy dreams since I was a kid.

Anyway, I think I preferred a lot more my 4 hrs sleep last night than the valerian effect!

[racee]

valerian tea is hwat i used to use....as well as a cocktail valerian tea.....it never put me out made me sleepy or effected me in a strong way it just made me ohhh like after a meditation sessioni was just there and i existed.thats how valerian root should hit you...ya know..... i am a big believer in teas and oils more so than pills hits me differently

[OneRiffTooMany]

uh huh just took two blackmores valerian forte which is equiv to 4000mg.
ive never experienced anything untoward tho ?

[trixielou]

they didnt do anything for me would rather have valium of course maybe if u actually get the real thing & not some sugar pill they would work never know what ur gettin in this place