LONGECITY

I'm talking about that initial feel good, no anxiety feeling you get right before the Ambien kicks in. Is there a drug that does the same thing without making you sleepy? I was thinking Xanax but does it operate on the mechanism as Ambien?

Well, I'm sick as a dog and I just chugged half a 3 fl. oz. bottle of GAIA Herbs Nighttime Black Elderberry Syrup and 20 minutes later felt pretty damn good. I believe it was the lemon balm in the formulation that gave me the uplifted relaxed feeling. I am also wondering if elderberry's potential anti-inflammatory effects had something to do with my body feeling so much better than it usually does when I'm not sick, hmmm.

Any benzodiazipine might do the trick (xanax,klonopin, ativan, etc). You may have to try a few to find one that doesn't have many side effects for you, but they're generally pretty well tolerated.

Can't be popping them often though or you'll get addicted. (max maybe 3 days a week)

Slightly differing mechanism from ambien, but quite similar.

Benzodiazepines are great until you stop taking them. Take my word it. I haven't taken "Benzos" in over 10 years. Never again.

Bacopa is pretty nice imho.

The effect is from agonism/modulation of GABA-A receptors. Benzos act on the same receptors, with varying degrees of sedation based on the receptor subunits they affect. You may want to try something like lemon balm for a more easily-obtainable and less-risky option.

Theanine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theanine

theanine serene with relora has helped me.

Well, I'm sick as a dog and I just chugged half a 3 fl. oz. bottle of GAIA Herbs Nighttime Black Elderberry Syrup and 20 minutes later felt pretty damn good. I believe it was the lemon balm in the formulation that gave me the uplifted relaxed feeling. I am also wondering if elderberry's potential anti-inflammatory effects had something to do with my body feeling so much better than it usually does when I'm not sick, hmmm.

Hmm, that's pretty interesting. I get a similar, relaxed feeling from ingestion of turmeric, I wonder if that has anything to do with anti-inflammatory properties, the sutures definitely act up, especially when I'm sick.

Well, I'm sick as a dog and I just chugged half a 3 fl. oz. bottle of GAIA Herbs Nighttime Black Elderberry Syrup and 20 minutes later felt pretty damn good. I believe it was the lemon balm in the formulation that gave me the uplifted relaxed feeling. I am also wondering if elderberry's potential anti-inflammatory effects had something to do with my body feeling so much better than it usually does when I'm not sick, hmmm.

Hmm, that's pretty interesting. I get a similar, relaxed feeling from ingestion of turmeric, I wonder if that has anything to do with anti-inflammatory properties, the sutures definitely act up, especially when I'm sick.

How long are you going to have those sutures in? I can't believe your dealing with all that shit at your age. It really fucking sucks. I tore my ACL in my right knee and it was removed when I was 11, then I broke and dislocated my right hip when I was 21-they had to put 2 screws in it. So, I can related some to what your going through. I fortunately healed fast and didn't really feel any lasting effects until 15 years later.
Edited by morganator, 30 September 2010 - 03:36 AM.

Well, I'm sick as a dog and I just chugged half a 3 fl. oz. bottle of GAIA Herbs Nighttime Black Elderberry Syrup and 20 minutes later felt pretty damn good. I believe it was the lemon balm in the formulation that gave me the uplifted relaxed feeling. I am also wondering if elderberry's potential anti-inflammatory effects had something to do with my body feeling so much better than it usually does when I'm not sick, hmmm.

Hmm, that's pretty interesting. I get a similar, relaxed feeling from ingestion of turmeric, I wonder if that has anything to do with anti-inflammatory properties, the sutures definitely act up, especially when I'm sick.

How long are you going to have those sutures in? I can't believe your dealing with all that shit at your age. It really fucking sucks. I tore my ACL in my right knee and it was removed when I was 11, then I broke and dislocated my right hip when I was 21-they had to put 2 screws in it. So, I can related some to what your going through. I fortunately healed fast and didn't really feel any lasting effects until 15 years later.

Well I thought about having them removed, but right now I'm seeing how I do with them in. There are few studies on it, but it seems possible that the sutures, especially with the huge number I have, will provide some good reinforcment for the labrum that is left, and some frame for more labrum to grow in, especially since my body is vested in encapsulating and later incorporating them into the rest of the tissue. Taking them out would mean more surgery, and there's always a chance they'll "discover" something new. The other option is a labral transplant, but unfortunately those have low success rates. I think the best option at this point is growth hormone injections, which few doctors do but I'm looking into. The anti-inflammatory bit is interesting though. The studies I've read on some polyphenolic antiinflamatories is that they actually act more like steroids in some ways. For instance, applying ginseng to a healing wound mimics application of basic growth factor, similar story for gotu kola, and most impressively,curcumin. Curcumin is weird in that it actually upregulates, during healing, some of the factors downregulated under normal, homeostatic conditions (NF-KB comes to mind). Regardless of the mechanism, the end result, at certain doses is something like 50% more tensile strength, half the healing time, much more DNA & hydroxyproline, more collagen, and far more ordered fibres, with far more even dispersal of the non-inert cells (like keratinocytes, since most of these studies are done in skin). There doesn't seem to be any reason that a labrum couldn't fully regrow, or even thicken beyond normal levels with the right stimulation and/or application of growth factor ligands.

I have never taken Ambien, but I have taken lorazepam for dental surgery... (people say there is some similarity between Ambien and benzos). I would say kava is the closest thing to benzos I've taken, only a bit more pleasant. Kind of spacey, able to become very engrossed in whatever I was doing (nothing complicated, mind you!) I find benzos to be kind of blah/humorless/dead, whereas kava makes me a bit giggly/cheerful. There is a weird glaze to the eyes that happens... you really notice its effects. I drank a cup during the day to curb some anxiety and I was pretty useless in terms of getting my work done for the day (I work from home). This is more of a bed time thing, or if you were have some bad anxiety.

I use the kava Yogi tea and steep it for 10 minutes or longer. I imagine it's easier to digest when it's in a warm fluid, though this is purely conjecture.

Anyways, there is a lot of info out there about kava... there are some issues with hepatoxicity, but even Dr. Weil says it's alright. People in the Pacific drink it socially...

I take ambien every now and then if I really need it, its a very weird drug. In the sense that you don't actually realised how messed up and dis inhibited you are. Basically don't try to stay awake or talk to people, or even surf the internet after you've taken ambien, you'll wake up wondering what the fuck have you done. Its the only drug i've taken where you are completely unaware or unable to be aware of how you're not remembering anything you're doing even at low dosages. At least thats me anyways, as I have relatively unpunished gaba receptors compared to most people since I don't really drink.

I would love to test its powerful and undetectable disinhibition effect outside of home, unfortunately that can go either way lol. Besides whats the point of relaxing, if you are not going to remember any of it?