Rhadiola

[Tolley]

Has anyone tried this herb?

I bought some in the health food shop yesterday on recommendation from the shop assistant who said he was getting good feedback from people using it for relieving stress, improving endurance and mental clarity.

[weary]

I have tried rhodiola rosea, and I have a circle of friends who have tried it as well.

It does have effects beyond placebo, without a doubt. Some herbal supplements I've taken don't seem to have any obvious effect, but this one does, although it may take a week or so before you notice. Depending on your unique body chemistry, you may need to be a little careful with dosage, be conservative at first and if after a week you have not noticed effects, increase the dose a little. Both I and a friend of mine have experienced some sleeping difficulties and mild anxiety when taking too high a dose, or when we took it in the afternoon - for me, it was only two nights, but for him, the insomnia lasted for 6 days after completely discontinuing rhodiola. He has Addison's though, so those pronounced side effects may be unique to him.

Based on the very small sample of people I know who have tried it, the stress reducing effect seems to be more pronounced in women, and it also goes well with caffeine. While I did experience an effect from it, it is not my favourite herb. The herb that has worked best for me so far is ginkgo biloba with fish oil for a cognitive boost in the afternoon. Other things that work well for me are green tea and ashwagandha (both appear to induce a pleasant, clear-headed calm).

But everyone is unique, so give it a whirl, you may respond well to rhodiola rosea even though I didn't.

I've tried bacopa monnieri and gotu kola as well. Neither bacopa nor gotu kola seemed optimal for my neurochemistry, but gotu kola did appear to rejuvenate my skin after about a month's usage. In a rat study, gotu kola was demonstrated to induce the formation of new dendrites (the branch-like offshoots from neurons), but no such studies have been performed in humans at this stage. I still sometimes buy freshly made gotu kola juice from the market, but I don't take it daily anymore. One side effect I noticed in me was that gotu kola and espresso do not seem to agree with each other, and I like a small caffeine boost now and then...

Bacopa monnieri does not have a strong effect on me (I took it twice daily for 5 weeks and noticed no pronounced effects). If anything it seems to make me a little drowsy. There is one Australian study

[Tolley]

I am taking 800mg in the morning but I am also taking tresos b and tribulus forte so not 100 percent sure how well it is working but I seem to be a bit livelier.