Ashwagandha question - calling Buhner experts

hello, so I added ashwagandha to my daughter's buhner protocol, she is already on cat's claw, japanese knotweed, and Eleuthero

This is not working out well. The ashwagandah is making her sleepy in the middle of the next day. I don't know when to give it to her. I give it to her at night and the following day when she gets home from school, she is beyond exhausted.

Is this herb necessary to treat lyme or is it just for sleep probs? bc i know his herbs work synergistically.....

any advice?? thanks!!

btw i ordered his books, but haven't cracked them yet!!

Hi Chapelle, I take it ( as well as Avena Sativa ) every morning BEFORE breakfast - have been on it for over two years - to help balance my hormones and help with anxiety, but right AFTER breakfast I take Wild Yam tincture ( supposed to increase mental alertness and help balance hormones, too) so I have not experienced that sleepiness you speak of. I am constantly dog tired though.

she always has trouble sleeping, which is why i tried it, but believe me when i say, she is TIRED the next day and then some! it is definitely helping her fall asleep faster.....

yeah, maybe i will try it when she gets home and see what happenes - i am skipping it for tmrw and friday, i will try it saturday, she can't afford to be this tired during school days!!

i am up to giving her only a dropperful. maybe that is too much? she is turning 13 and 100 lbs.

thanks for your input!

Chapelle, I am 125lbs and take a 1/2 dropper full. That seems to work well for me although I may need to increase as I go along. Maybe friday try that earlier in the evening and see how she does on saturday? Poor kid, she shouldn't have to go through this.

Chapelle I took it once and it was not the herb for me. I have not taken it since and I am doing fine without it.

I think some of us do not need it.

ok, well since i stopped it, she is back to normal during the day, but is having trouble falling asleep again. she is in the school play this weekend, so i am not going to try anything new, but it sure was nice seeing her asleep by 10pm!

thanks cd!! yes, we do almost all of that. She comes off electronics by 8pm, sometimes 815. takes a shower (maybe i should switch to a bath), then reads or writes and chats with us til about 930/945. she usually takes over 45 minutes to fall asleep. and usually wakes up during the night to go to the bathroom and such - she is also very sensitive to noise, so if i drop something upstairs, she will wake up. Hence i usually stay downstairs once the kids are in bed. When she was on the A. she fell asleep within 20 minutes and slept in on the weekends til about 8ish. She NEVER sleeps in, and I think she could use the extra sleep!! My son sleeps til 8/830 on weekends, and my neice sleeps til like 930! teresa still wakes up at 645 like clockwork on sats and sundays - She gets up even before my youngest!!

we know she needs more sleep, bc when she does sleep more, her mood is way better. her mood has improved overall since we started the herbs, so that is definitely a good thing. I think i will put the A. aside for now, especially since it does have thyroid effects, that worries me - i dont want to give her something that messes with something that doesn't need to be messed with!!

I ordered the Houttuynia. i will start that after her school play is over this weekend, and see how she does. I will check in if i have any questions!! thanks for all of your help!!

when i had bloodwork done back in 2014 they checked her thyroid levels. no i never did the saliva test for her - i actually have it here bc i was supposed to do it and never did.

maybe- but i dont know what to consider. i dont want to go near melatonin bc its a hormone. she does drink chamomille tea at night......gotta do some research!

I think the tea may be too much liquid. This can interrupt her sleep by having to go the bathroom. You might want to check out a chamomile tincture. You can really judge the dose better than a tea and it won't be so much liquid before bed. Just a thought. It has to be hard being sick and having sick kids. I cannot even imagine.

I want to take a nap just thinking about it.

Oh how awesome! What a great idea of leaving something on this earth as tangible as your words. I admire authors. Here is hoping you MAKE that time.

Just received Ashwagandha and am taking 1 cap 500 mg in the morning and at lunch. I also ordered Eletheuro (sp?) . After reading and reading. Can I take these together. After only one day, I didn't that the Ashwagandha produces more of a relaxing effect but I have so much trouble sleeping sometimes I'm afraid to take it in the evening. The other herb, how much do I start with? I'm an herb newbie. Thank you!

Chapelle, hello. Ashwagandha, known in its latin name withania somnifera, where somnifera means "to induce sleep". You are expected to turn sleepy after taking it, thats how it works, and I drink it in tea together with valerian and they together really give me great sleep, or at least improved compared to usual. You should do research on each herb you use so you don't miss out what they are more generally used for other than treating Lyme which is the less known path.

Some people use it to assist in lucid dreaming even actually.