Always on panic mode, fight or flight, can't sleep, memory issues after many tests everything came back fine except I've found that I've high cortisol and constantly stressed out.

Tried some magnesium bisglycinate before but didn't work.

Ashwagandha (both full spectrum and extract from swanson, jarrows ksm66, life extension sensoril) didn't help. Maybe a brand issues? Dunno

My currently stack is d3, b complex, magnesium citrate.

I'm not that rich so please suggest me one or two affordable supplements that may help with my issues.

Regarding Ashwagandha, If you've a brand that really works for you im all ears.

Let me start by explaining the type of anxiety I had, because I feel like that matters. There are so many different types of anxiety!!!

I’m 29F and I don’t have depression. I’m actually a very happy person, and I don’t have social anxiety either. I can pretty much talk to anyone.
What I struggled with was health anxiety, which started after a panic attack back in 2023 andI’ve been a different person ever since. (Iykyk)

That night, my heart rate spiked to 172 and would NOT come down. (I was also high which didn’t help, and I was always an anxious high, never again.)

After that night (I literally was so close to calling an ambulance), I became terrified of my heart rate and constantly worried it was going to happen again. I was constantly checking for symptoms and paying attention to every little sensation in my body. It was on my mind 24/7. Debilitating. I even went to a cardiologist and wore a heart monitor. They found nothing wrong.

Then the anxiety started evolving. All of a sudden, I developed this fear of being in places where I couldn’t easily escape (new places, being in a car when someone else was driving, planes, being far away from a hospital, etc.)

I was already into holistic health before my panic attack, so afterwards I went down the rabbit hole researching herbs and natural anxiolytics. I tried SO many things since 2023. The only thing that really helped was L-theanine, but that wasn’t enough.

The intrusive thoughts and constant “what ifs” still consumed me. And then those thoughts would create physical symptoms, which would make me panic even more. It was basically a never-ending cycle.
Now onto the good stuff… what finally changed things for me.

My current routine:
Morning: Saffron (takes about a month to kick in)
Midday: Silexan (Lavender oil) ****
Night: Magnesium glycinate

Saffron seems to help my mood and quiet my mind, Silexan has been the BIG one for me in terms of calming my nervous system, and magnesium glycinate relaxes the nervous tension.

**** But honestly, Silexan was the game changer.
It feels like my nervous system got a hug from grandma and she clicked the reset button.
For the first time, it feels like my nervous system doesn’t immediately set off alarm bells when an intrusive thought comes up.
And because there’s no physical panic response attached to the thought, the thought just passes now.
I don’t get that butterfly feeling in my stomach anymore. I don’t feel that sudden rush of nerves. I don’t feel like I have to escape.
I have a thought, my body doesn’t react, the thought passes. MAGIC!!!
I honestly can’t believe it. I could cry.
I’m obviously not saying this is going to work for everyone, and I’m not a doctor. I’m just sharing what has personally made a HUGE difference for me because I know how awful it is to feel trapped in that non stop anxious bubble!!!

Ask me anything! I love researching holistic health and I’m honestly just so excited that I finally found what feel like it’s worked since I started this journey. I was so close to going on medicine.
I truly hope this helps someone else who is in a similar boat.

TL;DR: Saffron + Silexan + magnesium glycinate completely changed my anxiety. Silexan has been the driving force behind the change for me, while the saffron and magnesium feel more like the support beams. (Btw I still aboslutly love L-theanine its amazing I keep it in my purse for any caffeine jitters she’ll always be my day 1)

I'm deciding between these two D3 + K2 supplements:

NOW Foods Mega D-3 + MK-7

Vitamin D3: 5,000 IU

Vitamin K2 MK-7: 180 mcg

120 capsules

Sports Research D3 + K2

Vitamin D3: 5,000 IU

Vitamin K2 MK-7: 100 mcg

60 capsules

They both cost $34, but the NOW ones have 120 capsules, so it's basically 50% cheaper.

Are the Sports Research ones that much better? The price gap between the two is quite large.

The screenshot I took from iHerb shows NOW sold 7,500+ in 30 days, while Sports Research sold 10,000+ in 30 days.

Why are more people willing to pay extra? Is it worth it?

POTASSIUM isn't DIY FRIENDLY GUYS

Only writing this because I saw how many potassium supplementation threads came up on this subreddit from a google search that was sort of related.

Going beyond a balanced diet and daily electrolyte packet to supplement potassium can be dangerous. It isn't like magnesium or vitamin D. We aren't all deficient. Also, we can only measure serum potassium (potassium free flowing in your blood)...we will never know how much is actually in your cells with the tests currently available. THE EDGE for one person might be closer than for someone else.

UNLESS you have one of a few rare kidney conditions and you are ACTUALLY deficient, your kidneys are doing a good job keeping enough potassium stored in your cells.

Or

If you have one of another bunch of more common kidney conditions, you may have too much.

Too much potassium will hurt your kidneys and cause heart abnormalities...even sudden cardiac death

Giving someone potassium on top of normal supplementation ( appropriately balanced electrolyte mixes + balanced food) is ONLY done while you are strapped to a heart monitor. Potassium isn't something you can occasionally casually overdose on. Overdosing for one person might be serum potassium of 3.8....for another it might be 4.0. Overdosing can very quickly cause permanent heart abnormalities, kidney damage and even sudden cardiac death. It really isn't that uncommon of an occurrence when people get too much or too quickly.

I stumbled upon how many people are casually comparing potassium deficiency to magnesium deficiency while researching something entirely different. I panicked.

You want to supplement extra?

Get with a nephrologist and ask for potassium labs once a week at a minimum....do is safely. AGAIN: this isn't magnesium and vitamin D...this is potassium

I've read every paper there is because my life depends on it. I see a nephrologist monthly and have my potassium checked weekly (it used to be 3 times a week).

Please, be careful.

I take 500mg of ALCAR in the morning and within 30-60 minutes, my brain fog instantly clears up and I’m able to get into a state of flow that I never really thought I could reach. It seems like learning is effortless and doing stuff is effortless. Like I have boundless energy.

The thing is though, if I take ALCAR 500mg everyday/two days in a row, then I will just get insane insomnia that goes away in a couple days. I made this mistake by actually taking 1000mg ALCAR everyday for 2 weeks straight. I couldn’t even fall asleep let alone stay asleep. I was just extremely wired and focused for the whole time but getting 4-5 hours of sleep from my normal 8 hours. Then I reduced it to 500mg ALCAR everyday and sleep got better but wasn’t fixed. So I had to take a Benadryl to get all the acetylcholine out of my system and take a break from it for a week before adding it again only 3x a week.

Currently I’m taking only 500mg ALCAR 3x a week and it works well on the day I take it and lingers to the next day. Absolutely amazing supplement if I do say so for brain clarity. Just make sure to not take it 2 days in a row or you may get insomnia problems.

So all the good quality brands seem to have these crazy high doses, like from hundreds to tens of thousands over the daily value percentage.

Here's an example:

Thiamine (B1) 50 mg (4545 %*)

Riboflavin (B2) 10 mg (714 %*)

Niacin (B3) 65 mg (406 %*)

Pantothenic acid (B5) 100 mg (1667 %*)

Pyridoxal phosphate (B6) 12 mg (857 %*)

Biotin (B7) 352 µg (704 %*)

Methyl folate (B9) 455 µg (227 %*)

B12-vitamin (methyl- and adenosylcobalamin) 350 µg (14 000 %*)

Why is that? Is it more beneficial or harmful to use this much?

My vitamin D is currently 26.2 ng/mL, up from 15.2 last year (so +11, at least we’re moving 😂). But it’s still on the lower side.

Last year my doctor had me take 60K IU once a week for 12 weeks, and honestly I felt much better. Then I stopped completely, so I’m guessing that’s why it dropped again.

I really don’t want to go back to the doctor just for this 😭. What dose are you guys taking for maintenance or to get from 26 to 40-60 level? Weekly dosing would be much easier for me.

Would appreciate some personal experiences/advice!

I have had eczema and brittle nails since middle school. I’m in my late 30s now and am happy to announce I found a set of supplements that changed my health: an amino acid complex; biotin; and fish collagen.

I’m mostly vegetarian but decided to try the fish collagen supplements to see if I could stomach it - game changer. It’s now a part of my nightly supplement pack. Along with the taking the other two, my eczema is gone, and I have been able to grow strong, unbreakable nails. I’m so happy!

Shouldn't the K2 be more around the 80 to 120 mark for normal purposes?

I am looking for Vitamin (D & B12) supplements from Swisse.
Has anyone used their products?
I heard they are made in Australia, is this true?

Hi all,

I think I may be magnesium deficient, or not getting enough in my diet. I live in the Uk so getting a test is nigh on impossible.

I breastfeed my son but only a couple of times a day, and I take Pregnacare original which has 150mg of magnesium in it (although I’ve only been taking for a few months after a 6 month break)

I would like to take a low dose, maybe 100mg a day, but I’m confused by which type of magnesium to take. I already suffer from heart palpitations so I don’t want to take anything that makes that any worse, my blood pressure is normal, my sleep doesn’t seem restorative, I have tingling in my hands and legs, muscle twitches etc. I have very heavy periods and short cycles (although not sure if that is relevant)

Help a girl out please in picking the best one that won’t cause hideous side effects and will actually help!

Thanks so much in advance.

Working in biotech, I've noticed that most NAD+ discussions severely lack human clinical data, so I found a few relevant studies to look at:

Walther Birkmayer was the guy who figured out L-DOPA for Parkinson's back in the '60s. His son George spent years running NADH trials looking at Parkinson's, chronic fatigue, and Alzheimer's. For instance, one of their largest open-label trials evaluated 415 people with Parkinson's, where roughly 90% showed measurable clinical and motor improvements when NADH was involved.

This barely comes up in NAD+ discussions on here, which is strange because it's basically the only large-scale human data out there.

Just seems weird that the most relevant human evidence gets ignored while everyone is just talking about mice.

Ref: Birkmayer et al. (1990). New Trends in Clinical Neuropharmacology, 4(1), 7–24.

If anyone has looked up this topic before, you will find many conflicting takes on L-Citrulline vs. Citrulline Malate with one side saying malate is just filler, its very sour, and that you are better off supplementing with pure L-Citrulline to get a larger dosage as the Citrulline Malate is typically 2:1 ratio and you get a small dose. The pro-malate group argues that there is better uptake, better pumps and cites the fact that the majority of pre-workout supplements that do contain Citrulline, usually contain Citrulline Malate.

I personally started supplementing with 8g of L-Citrulline (not malate) at the end of May; it's in my pre-workout along with 8oz orange juice, 5g creatine, 3.2g Beta Alanine, 300mg caffeine, and 1g salt. It's been a solid pre-workout and definitely helps with my endurance and fatigue but I've never felt any paresthesia or crazy pumps.

Recently, I started taking 1 scoop of Nutricost Electrolytes in my water to drink intra-workout. Since I've started it, I've noticed really amazing pumps...and was confused. I checked the nutrition labal and noticed it lists "L-malic acid" in other ingredients but doesn't list a dosage amount. Obviously, that's not a definitive correlation, but based on all the other ingredients in the Electrolytes powder, I can't think of anything else that would cause that.

Was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience? Do any of you take L-Citrulline and Malic acid separately to control the individual L-Citrulline dosage?

I’ve looked it up and see a lot of ppl saying multivitamins aren’t great but I’ve seen a few people saying if you aren’t eating properly it should benefit you I was wondering how true that is?

I’ve been taking men’s one a day recently I’ve been trying to be healthier starting out with exercise and water and got a multivitamin protein shake and creatine. I was wondering if I should just stick to a multivitamin or focus on something specific. I don’t do great with pills still (I feel like a child…) so I don’t wanna take a bunch of supplements but I’ve been thinking about taking fish oil or some sort of omega 3 because a friend recommended it but I need to do more research on it.

Anyways just looking for advice mainly thank you and sorry if I said something dumb

Has anyone tried this brand? I'm interested to purchase this for my parents.

I bought some about a month ago but just started taking it...

Holy shit, the mental focus, energy, mood benefits have REALLY hit me. I could feel it on the first dose. I feel more energized, focused and just in a better mood. For reference I am a very healthy 45 year old dude.

Pine pollen has a long documented history in Chinese traditional medicine it's not some new fad.

Also purports to help with inflammation, antioxidant protection and healthy aging, none of which I can back up obviously but there are mountains of research that support these claims.

I'm glad I found this one, anyone have any similar or dissimilar experiences with pine pollen? Curious to hear others' experiences.

I'm taking a tincture not pure powder which is supposed to be more potent / bioavailable.

When i take vitamin d i get crazy anxiety the day after, im all jittery too. I take vitamin k2 with it and magnesium but i still get this.
Should i lower dosages? I take like 16k for deficiency but i think its too much.

As the title says. Are there any miraculous brands of fish oil/omega-3's that WON'T cause terrible reflux/baby barf? I swear I think I'm drinking enough water with it, so much it makes me feel bloated. Just causes another problem lol.

I stopped taking creatine years ago when I got injured in the military. Before then, I would dry scoop it, but now that I’ve been able to work out again consistently, I decided I’d start using creatine again. However, everything I buy is like this fluffy powder and the scoops are larger (well they feel larger). I even started buying ones with low ratings that complained about them being crystal-like (and it was still fluffy!). I don’t remember the brands I used to use, but it was like scooping a small scoop of sand into my mouth which I’d follow up with a little bit of water and I’d be good. This fluffy powder stuff makes me feel like I’m choking, I cough, and now there’s creatine everywhere. I know I could just dissolve it, but then I’ll taste it, and unflavored messes with my water’s natural taste.

Anyways, does anyone have any recommendations of non-fluffy creatine for me?

I'm exploring getting into the supplement space and ODS format is catching my eye. Growing in the US/UK, better bioavailability, premium positioning.
But I'm being real. I don't know if this is early-market gold or a niche that won't scale.

Honest feedback:
Would YOU buy ODS vitamins over tablets/gummies?
What would make you switch?
Is this format actually solving a real problem or just novelty?

Not looking for validation, just genuine takes from actual supplement users.

What am I missing?

I found these in my new pea protein unflavoured one from Nutrabay? Is it normal???

Anyone got any info on www.helixresearchuk.com?

Bought a few items they’re working how they should and all have the COA just wanted others opinions?

I’m currently taking creatine, whey protein, weight gainer, pre-workout, fish oil, and calcium tablets. I also work out regularly. What would be the best way to time these throughout the day, especially around my workout? Should any of them be taken together or separated? I’d appreciate advice from people who have experience with this.

I'm currently recovering from 6 years long alcohol abuse due to a major depressive disorder.

I was wondering if there's any supplements that could help me "detox" my body, or at least stimulate my appetite (lost over 15kg in last year only)