Kalms.

There is nothing in them that can possibly help anxiety. They might help you get off to sleep, but you will wake up with a muzzy head and probably have weird dreams. Getting physically tired during the day is much better for that.

The only things that can help anxiety are doctor prescribed.

Don't waste your money.

There are different tablets in the Kalms range, some specifically for nights.

I took them for a while to help with interview nerves. If you put Kalms reviews into google there is a lot of feedback from Amazon reviews, ciaohealth etc.

jings I think that's way too dogmatic a statement. I don't know what's in them but I suspect it will include Valerian and other calming herbs. Plus let's not forget the placebo effect. I use Kalms Nights occasionally and no fuzzy head.

Valerian, gentian & hops Grannyknot

Perhaps eating vast quantities of lettuce might help, it did for Peter Rabbit!

Golfing friends use Bach Flower rescue remedy for pre match nerves and they say it help - I tried it and it didn't but then I'm an old cynic and if its not traditional medicine I don't have faith in it so I didn't even benefit from the placebo effect. They sell lots of it so I wouldn't rule it out- helps a lot of people.

Went to the Pharmacist today and asked her opinion. She said it did have the effect of making a person slightly sleepy. It has hops in it and I saw or read something about hops making the hop pickers in Kent sleep well at night.

My son who is bi polar and suffers from fybrolmyalgia says that the placebo effect should never be ruled out. If the person thinks something will work then it probably will. He goes to a Homeopath and gets a lot of benefit from being in a pleasant environment and having time to talk - you don't get that often from the GP.

Going to give the Kalms a go anyway - nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Don't assume, just because they are plant extracts, that they are safe to take. If you are on prescription drugs they could interact with them. My thoughts are that big companies make money out of people with anxiety and reinforce the need to take something to deal with it.

The main ingredient Kalms is valerian - which Hitler was addicted to!

The side effects of valerian are listed on www.drugs.com/sfx/valerian-root-side-effects.html

The "strange dreams" , "feeling excited or uneasy" and "thinking problems" do sound rather like Hitler.

Like all things vaguely medicinal caution is needed, They are worth a try. I have had benefit from them. Whether it was just a placebo response or not I don't much care.

I used Kalms for quite a long time during stress, so did my work colleagues. Nobody said they felt sleepy just soothed. There are night time ones which are to relax you so that you can go off to sleep easier. I don't think they would give you a 'fuzzy' head.

I found them very good ans never without them.

There is no way they lessen anxiety. You might feel a bit dopey and 'out of it' but the anxiety will still come through.

Not dogmatic Grannyknot. Just fact.

You need a good supply of seratonin sloshing about in your brain to help with anxiety. Fluoxetine and cipalopram will do the trick.

I don't mean both at the same time!!! (not that your doctor would prescribe that )

...and it's serOtonin.

I treated myself to some coffee beans at Christmas. I usually stick to decaffeinated tea and coffee throughout the day but found myself having a cup of strong coffee in the evening and was still awake by 5 the next morning sometimes. I was suprised at how long the effect of the caffeine lasted [maybe more so because I drink so little of it]. Trouble is I started to look forward to my coffee and am having trouble not having a cup now [although about to run out of it soon and won't replace it]. We spoke to a young guy at a wedding last summer who said that one cup of coffee would keep him awake for 24 hours and he had to avoid it. Of course,caffeine is in some medication isn't it [headache tablets for instance].

Anyone any experience of taking Nytol?

I take Nytol (not the herbal ones) just every now and then and I certainly sleep better when I do but they are not for regular use.

The herbal one is the same sort of stuff. There is a a Nytol with a drug in it. It's an antihistamine. The old sort that makes you sleepy.

I used to take a Piriton at bedtime - chlorphenamine - but it was on that list of drugs that came out that can knock a couple of years off your life. So I stopped. Better to go to bed really late. IMO.

Oh no; I give my dog Piriton !

I take Piriton too if I wake at night and can't get back to sleep. Daughter has bought me some ?Nytol tablets but I haven't tried them yet.

I use Nytol if I end up in a hotel on a busy road or a wedding going on. They work, but I only take one as two is a bit much and makes me feel dopey the next morning.

What happens is that once you get to sleep, you stay that way. Even if you need the loo in the night, you drop straight back off. Two sends you off better than one. The herbal ones seem slightly less potent and I feel less muzzy in the morning, but I keep both just in case I end up somewhere really bad, in which case I will go for non-herbal.

Herbal are also great if you have a bad cough at night. You still cough - but sleep through it.

Herbal remedies do need a little investigation, it is true. For example St Johns Wort, which is a good anti depressant, can seriously interfere with prescription drugs, such as Tamoxifen and statins to name but two. Valerian can react with anti depressants, statins and anti histamines, and increase their effects.

(I checked a lot of these out when I found out about SJW and Tamoxifen..)

Thanks for that. I found Night Nurse helped me sleep when I had a bad cold, but I admit to a little swig now and then if I can't get to sleep even though the cold has gone.

Didn't think I should be doing this so looking for a better solution.

I'm not on any prescription medication.