I've tried Chameleon and Valyrian root tea blends before thinking they might make good sleep aids, but I've never had any luck with them. A lot people say they find those very relaxing, but I wasn't even catching a placebo effect.
So for a while I just assumed all this herbal tea bullshit I see in stores and pharmacies must be just a step above homeopathic products. They're probably pretty good if you like the taste of the herbal blends and find sipping a warm beverage relaxing in itself, but otherwise a waste of time. Clearly if they really worked they wouldn't be sold in large supermarket chains. Instead they'd be relegated to the weird, near grey market status that Kratom seems to exist in, right?
Today at the store I just happened to notice something very alarming. A box of Kava blend tea was the absolute one and only herbal tea variety on the shelf to include a warning asking you to consult your doctor before use, and stating that minors and pregnant women should not consume this product.
Well, that warning instantaneously lit up the junkie addict center of my brain like a Christmas tree, and I impulse bought two boxes. This might have major negative health consequences? Wow, must be the fucking good stuff. I got home and brewed six of them into a single mug of tea, and yep, this shit is psychoactive all right. Subtle, but definitely not placebo subtle. It quite honestly feels similar to a moderate dose of Gabapentin, and it's making me sleepy.
I sure wish I knew this before I most likely took 15 years off the lifespan of my kidneys by using 200mg of Diphenhydramine every night for years just to have a fighting chance at falling asleep more often than every two days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kava
Kava Kava extract is the one thing I found to moderate extreme highs and lows. It is a natural neuro-inhibitor. Helps keep me level. Only a particular brand for me cultivated in Vanuatu. It's somewhat difficult to find so I buy in bulk when I can. A 1 oz bottle is good for a month or two and used as needed.
It is from a pepper plant and has been used for thousands of years in Polynesia / Pacific Islanders. They used it before negotiation meetings and such to maintain peace.
The reason there is a warning on all things Kava is because being a plant, a very small fraction of people are incompatible with it. As in it shuts down their liver, which blind sighted, obviously made some famlies upset. So they lobbied to outlaw it, and Big Pharma doesn't like affordable natural solutions so it became outlawed in areas and sitgmatized. Vast majority of people it's perfectly fine in reasonable quantities.
Is there a way to test if you're one of those people without shutting down your liver?
Ah nvm I read more