Rating the Herbs I've Used for ADHD

I love herbs and I talk about ADHD. What's a better topic than the herbs I've used to help my ADHD? Nothing, that's what. 

***THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. DO NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO YOUR ROUTINE WITHOUT SPEAKING TO A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL***

Four Sigmatic Coffee: https://us.foursigmatic.com/

Where I learn herbalism: https://commonwealthherbs.com/

How I make the infusion: 

Pour 1L boiling water over 4 tbsp nettle leaf. Let sit for 8+ hours. Pour and strain. Keep in the fridge.

Transcript

00:00:03:00 - 00:00:26:05
Arianna
Oh, What's up, suckers? It's me. I'm back, and we're going to talk about some fun stuff today. But before I do that, I just wanted to remind you that if this is your kind of thing, if learning to accept yourself with ADHD and learning to work with ADHD is what you're looking for, then please make sure that you like this video and subscribe to the channel.

00:00:26:17 - 00:00:50:08
Arianna
Helps cool people find me, helps me find cool people. And that is why I am sitting here doing this instead of lying in a pile of ice because it is so hot out today. Anyway, for those of you who have not been following, I have not been taking pharmaceutical ADHD medication now for about four or five months. Nothing against pharmaceuticals at all.

00:00:50:09 - 00:01:19:29
Arianna
I actually think that they totally and completely have a place. It's just that I was having my own hormonal issues and money issues and I just didn't feel it. The pharmaceutical route was for me anymore. So I decided to go ahead and check out the herbal route and it just really spoke to me. I love working with herbs I love learning about herbs, and I'm now working on becoming a clinical or registered herbalists eventually.

00:01:20:09 - 00:01:46:00
Arianna
And with ADHD, who the hell knows, right? That could wind up being something else down the road. But I love working with plants and figuring out how to make plants medicinal and how to kind of take control of your own health using plants when you can. And I thought, why not go ahead and talk about how I have been working with herbs in connection with ADHD.

00:01:46:04 - 00:02:08:26
Arianna
Since this is an ADHD journal, I have been playing around with them in connection with hormones, anxiety. But ADHD just seems the most apropos in this particular situation, don't you think? Before I start telling you anything though, I want to cover my ass by saying This is not medical advice. I am not a doctor, I'm not even close to a doctor.

00:02:08:26 - 00:02:30:04
Arianna
OK, so before you start listening to what some asshole on the internet has to say about your medical care, talk to your medical professional. Do not just listen to me, OK? What I'm telling you here could be something that's a good start for you to start learning about things that you're interested in and trying to see how you can take care of yourself in a different way.

00:02:30:16 - 00:02:54:21
Arianna
But definitely, definitely, definitely do not make any changes before you speak to someone who knows a whole lot more than me. All right. OK, so with that, we're just going to go ahead and start with the first herb that I ever actually had an experience with, and that's Lions Mane. Now, technically, Lions Mane is a mushroom, but I mean, it's still used in herbalism, so close enough, right?

00:02:55:28 - 00:03:20:07
Arianna
A little bit about Lions Mean, the common name for it is harvesting them arenas. Yes. I think it probably said that totally wrong. And there are people out there who probably want to throw something at me right now is a weird looking mushroom that is pretty wildly suggested in ADHD circles because it is known for helping out with focus.

00:03:20:19 - 00:03:49:28
Arianna
Now, that is not due to a lot of official research on the mushrooms effect. It's really spotty, mostly anecdotal there is a study in Malaysia that suggests that it might promote something called neurogenesis, which is essentially the rebuilding of brain cells and brain cells. Which I think means that it's also a chopper restorative. And restorative is a fancy word for an herb that nourishes the particular area that it is taking care of as well as AIDS.

00:03:49:28 - 00:04:13:03
Arianna
And so it doesn't just help it that it helps it rebuild. I mean, is that and also an adaptogen, which is another fancy word for an herb that helps you respond to stress better over time. It's a benefit that you don't get until you've been doing it for a while or taking it for a while. But it is known to also do that.

00:04:13:07 - 00:04:34:04
Arianna
Now, I personally had not ever really worked with lions. I mean, before when I first found out about it, the only thing that I had actually kind of played with was somebody had suggested Ashwagandha for me when I was dealing with chronic fatigue. And that had helped to a degree. So I was much more open, I think at that point to herbal options.

00:04:34:04 - 00:05:11:29
Arianna
And I stumbled on a company. I am not affiliated with these people in any way called for Matic, and I will have their link in the description if you want to check them out. They specialize mostly in mushroom based coffee and they have a blend called the think blend that boasts coffee, chaga and lions mean mushroom. Now, I did what little research I could through Google, did some reading, asked around, and it seemed that there really wasn't much to lose in trying lines, meaning connection with my ADHD.

00:05:12:13 - 00:05:41:12
Arianna
So initially I actually was drinking this coffee and taking my ADHD medication and eventually I stopped taking the medication and just stuck with the coffee. I did not stick with the coffee. I did not stop taking the medication because of the coffee. But I did notice that my focus was much better. I did feel a lot more dialed in and that was great.

00:05:41:12 - 00:06:09:15
Arianna
No, but there were some things that kind of had me questioning for one maybe that focus was also due to the coffee, the caffeine. There's really no strong way of knowing or no real way of being sure here. And I also noticed that when I was going through my cycle, going through that time of the month, that it really just didn't help with anything.

00:06:09:15 - 00:06:42:06
Arianna
I wasn't able to focus. I wasn't able to feel motivated. It really wasn't doing much of anything. And to be fair, there is very little that works around that time of the month. But Lines Mean definitely wasn't doing the job either. And lastly, this is more of a me thing, but there are some of us out there who don't do well with mushrooms and in general, I guess, and one of them and over time, because I do want to make it clear, I actually for a while I was drinking this stuff solely.

00:06:42:06 - 00:07:05:06
Arianna
I was not drinking any other type of coffee note or nothing. And it was really doing a great job. But then I started getting diminishing returns overall after a while, I guess I'm not quite sure. I took a break from it. And then once I took that break, and I decided to have a cup, the very first cup of it that I had gave me some cramps and explosive diarrhea.

00:07:05:14 - 00:07:31:03
Arianna
And I found out that that happens with some people when they have lines mean I am not sure what changed. I'm not sure what happened. I just know that it stopped working for me very well, and it really wasn't blowing me out of the water to begin with. So four lines mean definitely. If you want to try it, I say, you know, as long as everything is copacetic with you and your doctor agrees, try it.

00:07:32:09 - 00:07:58:23
Arianna
But, you know, guard your ass and overall, because it did some good stuff in the beginning, I will give lions mean a five out of ten. Next step is McDonagh Pure and I never say that right. McDonough Prurience otherwise known as Velvet Bean. So this is one that is not very widely known by a lot of people unless they study herbalism have talked to an herbalist.

00:07:59:10 - 00:08:25:22
Arianna
It's just not very well-known, very popular. And there's a good reason for that. McKenna is kind of a heavy herb. It's a strong herb, and it blows my mind because some people actually like to use it as a pre-workout which just blows it just blows me away. It kills me. And let me explain why. So McEwan expert, I'm just going to call it an Cuda for now on what's just screw that last part.

00:08:25:25 - 00:08:45:21
Arianna
So first you have to kind of understand what Lacuna does and to understand that you kind of have to understand how dopamine is made. Now, obviously, I'm not a neurologist, so I'm not going to do an amazing explanation of this, but just kind of a dumbed down version because I'm dumbed down is that there are two precursors to dopamine.

00:08:45:22 - 00:09:17:09
Arianna
There's El Tyrosine and L-dopa El Tyrosine. Me and Nicky Carr actually did an amazing conversation about this tyrosine is actually pretty simple to get from high protein foods, and it is a precursor, which is of mean. It usually eventually becomes L-dopa, which eventually becomes L-dopa, MI or sorry, dopamine, not all dopamine. Now, L-dopa is the direct precursor to dopamine and McDonagh has a high concentration of L-dopa.

00:09:17:26 - 00:09:38:27
Arianna
To give you an idea of how strong L-dopa is, there is a drug out there called Levadopa that is for people with Parkinson's, because what that does is it helps their body to make more dopamine, which helps the brain to connect with the nerves a little bit better to possibly stop the shaking. This is not shit you play with.

00:09:39:07 - 00:10:03:08
Arianna
OK, now if you don't have any issues with dopamine, or you take too much of this stuff, it can really cause issues. It's even to the point where no matter what it's actually suggested that you stop taking this stuff after about six weeks and give yourself a break unless you want your dopamine receptors to down, regulate and you're using this shit in a pre-workout.

00:10:03:08 - 00:10:38:01
Arianna
I don't understand. Anyway, so I wound up taking Acuna because I had realized that I was dealing with Anhedonia, which is the inability to feel joy. I was still trying to figure things out. I think I had just stopped my ADHD medication and I went to a clinical herbalist who suggested that to me and generally to give you an idea of how much I was taking, generally anybody is going to take somewhere from 200 to 500 milligrams a day.

00:10:38:19 - 00:11:06:18
Arianna
I was taking to grams of it and I gladly bought it. I used it was a powder you can very easily get it went ahead and I put it in my drink and within three days I did feel more energy, which was another problem. And it's a problem I've had for a very long time where my energy just doesn't stay constant so I was feeling much better and I got exactly one day of feeling much better.

00:11:06:18 - 00:11:33:07
Arianna
Before the second day I got a horrible migraine and I didn't want to believe that it was the Macarena because I was so excited to get a chance to take them quarter. So I took it again the next day and was in bed again with a horrible, horrible headache. I wound up looking it up, and it turns out that McDonagh can very easily wind up giving headaches and migraines and that usually is due to taking too high of a dosage.

00:11:33:20 - 00:11:59:08
Arianna
But taking a lower dosage didn't really do much and would still give me either minor headaches or sleep problems. So I wound up basically deciding that Mckinna was not for me. The lucky thing is, after I stopped taking it, I started you know, that was around the time that I really started eating a lot more protein and I was taking some other herbs instead, which I'll get into in a minute.

00:11:59:08 - 00:12:27:24
Arianna
And I got my ability to feel joy back, and so I was happy living it. I will say that I don't not ever. It's such an awkward sentence. Take it. I do every single one, every once in a while. Like if I really, really have something that I have to get done and I'm just not getting the energy up, I will take a small spoonful, which I think is about 200 milligrams, just to maybe help push a little bit.

00:12:28:09 - 00:12:50:12
Arianna
But I generally try to avoid it because even that small amount tends to screw with my sleep. Due to that, I have to give McKenna a two out of ten. I'm sure that there might be some people who would swear by it, but just with how specific it is and how you have to watch, how long you take it and how it can screw with your brain it's just really not worth it for me.

00:12:50:13 - 00:13:13:04
Arianna
Next up is ginseng, and a lot of people have heard of ginseng for different reasons. I mean, I've brought this up to non herbalist friends who are ginseng I, you know, take it for whatever and ginseng can be used for a lot of things. There are a couple of different types. There is panics or Korean ginseng, and then there is American ginseng.

00:13:13:04 - 00:13:43:27
Arianna
I take Pemex ginseng. I was still trying to look for something that would help me hormonally because I have what's called premenstrual dysmorphic disorder that affects, they think, an estimated 46% of people with ADHD. I am one of them. I'm not going to get strongly into PMDD this particular time, but I am going to let those of you who don't know what it is that it's kind of like PMS on steroids and it tends to affect people anywhere from 11 to 15 days out of the month.

00:13:43:27 - 00:14:08:02
Arianna
It's pretty bad and I was kind of tired of it. And I was trying to look for something that might help. And we were in a nearby town. I was looking around for something, a specific herb actually that does not grow down here. And I happened by this pharmaceutical stand and I was like, I'm just going to ask what they have for hormones.

00:14:08:02 - 00:14:44:10
Arianna
And they brought me this blend of Mocha Negra and pancakes, ginseng, as well as some B vitamins, zinc and magnesium and I was ready to go for just about anything at this point. You know, kind of how the kids still say yellow these days. I don't know. I'ma say it anyway. And so I was ready to go and I took it and my life changed so well, the mocha mocha is used more for hormonal issues, so I don't really think the Mocha had anything to do with it.

00:14:45:08 - 00:15:21:12
Arianna
The studies on Marker are also kind of spotty, but a lot of people tend to take it for libido issues and issues in pre menopause perimenopause. So there were things that were going well on that front. But just sticking with the ADHD portion, ginseng has had a couple small studies that have shown that it seems to improve focus and other ADHD symptoms, and my ADHD did get much better once I started taking the ginseng and it has become my main herb for going on about a year now.

00:15:21:17 - 00:15:45:11
Arianna
Now to be fair, this mixture, like I said, has zinc and magnesium and a ton of other things in it that ADHD brains also have shown to be missing. So that could also be helping. What I will say just in argument to that though is that I have been taking magnesium every day. I have been making sure they eat a high protein diet that's got a lot of omega threes and things like that.

00:15:45:21 - 00:16:12:25
Arianna
And it wasn't doing as well as this was. So I do feel that the ginseng at least had to be doing some of the heavy lifting I will also be fair here and say that I did find some place and some said that you should not be taking ginseng for longer than three months at a time. I could never really find why, and I'm not sure if it's because ginseng is also a triple restorative.

00:16:12:25 - 00:16:34:19
Arianna
It's an endocrine restorative and so maybe they don't want you to overdo it. I don't know if it's just that they don't want your system to get too used to it. I'm still not clear, but just to be safe, I do stop every three months for a month and then continue. And I will say that the month that I am not taking the ginseng, my focus is not as good.

00:16:34:21 - 00:16:58:28
Arianna
My motivation is not as good. I'm definitely not doing as well considering my ADHD symptoms as I am when I actually take the ginseng every day. So if I'm going to be real with you, I'm so incredibly impressed by what ginseng does. I love it. I give it a nine out of ten definitely a great, great herb for me anyway.

00:16:59:04 - 00:17:19:18
Arianna
And that brings us to the last herb, and that is Stinging Nettle, otherwise known as Vertica D.O.A. probably didn't get it right, but whatevs. There are a bunch of different types of metal, so you want to make sure that you are looking for a stinging nettle by that name. Now it's stinging nettle has a ton of studies about it.

00:17:19:18 - 00:17:48:26
Arianna
Actually, it is used for a number of things, including arthritis, urinary problems, so on and so forth. And it's an herb that I first heard about during one of my classes with Commonwealth Holistic Herbalism. Do I have a link in the description for as well, in case you want to start learning with them? They're amazing. But one of the teachers there swears by Nettle to the point where she doesn't even drink coffee anymore.

00:17:48:26 - 00:18:16:02
Arianna
She makes something called not coffee. And Stinging Nettle is one of the things that is included in that not coffee. Despite all that, I was still not too blown away. At first. I was like, OK, I don't really see why this is important, mainly because I have been tested before for iron deficiency and one of the things that they touch steaming, stinging nettle for a lot is anemia.

00:18:16:13 - 00:18:44:23
Arianna
I'm not anemic, so I was kind of just ignoring it and pushing it to the side. But then I started noticing that it had a number of like a lot of minerals and vitamins in it that I already need and that it is also used just for general fatigue, which really intrigued me. So I decided that on a whim I was going to go ahead and get some and I was going to try it.

00:18:45:04 - 00:19:12:29
Arianna
Generally, it is apparently best used either in like a vinegar as a sauce or as a cold infusion. I chose the cold infusion Holy shit, my mind is blown. I have been drinking this cold needle infusion three cups a day for only about a week. And the difference between how I feel now versus how I felt before I drink it is night and day.

00:19:13:04 - 00:19:38:29
Arianna
I do not know how else to explain it and believe it or not, as much of a wise ass as I am. I don't do hyperbole. So when I say that I am just floored by how amazing this herb is, I'm not kidding. Now, Nettle is not suggested specifically as an ADHD or it is great for a number of different things, but it's really not a brain herb.

00:19:39:20 - 00:20:06:25
Arianna
That being said, just because it is not specifically an herb that targets the nervous system, it still does amazing things for other parts of the body that have something to do with your nervous system, for example. It is incredible for the liver. It's an antioxidant and like I said, it has a number of vitamins in it that you actually need vitamins a, k, c, magnesium, calcium, potassium.

00:20:06:29 - 00:20:33:01
Arianna
It has so much in it that's actually quite helpful to the body. And so it helping to give you more of the nutrients you need can in itself help your body feel a lot better. And since I've been taking it since I've been drinking this stuff, by the way, if you look at a cup of it, it's going to look kind of gross, like it kind of looks like swamp water.

00:20:33:01 - 00:21:01:08
Arianna
But to me, it actually tastes like a nice green tea. I especially love how it tastes when I'm really hot and sweaty. It's so refreshing. I love it. But going back to how it helps out, I feel healthier, I feel stronger. And because I feel healthier, stronger, and I do feel that I have more energy. It does seem to help my brain focus better.

00:21:01:17 - 00:21:27:21
Arianna
There is something to feeling brain fog, to feeling sleepy that does also not help our brain focus. It doesn't help our brain to focus or to feel motivated. So there is something to that. And I feel like the stronger I have been feeling, the more awake that I've been feeling, the readier that I've been feeling. In terms of just energy and the way that my body feels.

00:21:27:21 - 00:21:50:15
Arianna
It makes me feel more motivated to do things. So that has been playing a huge role and there are things that are going on with it too that I'm going to mention. But they are purely anecdotal. I can not find anything on this besides other people kind of backing me up on it. For example, I don't crave caffeine anymore.

00:21:50:22 - 00:22:15:26
Arianna
Like I am not a huge coffee drinker, but I do usually have a glass of tea or, or coffee, something like that. Some caffeine every single day. And if I missed it, I get a headache. Since I have started drinking this, that does not happen anymore. If I don't have caffeine, I'm fine, which is incredible. And I don't even want it.

00:22:15:27 - 00:22:38:20
Arianna
Like it doesn't actually sound good to me sometimes. I also just finish having a much simpler cycle. And again, I have found a lot about metal root helping with the menstrual cycle, not so much about a leaf. So I don't know how much the metal leaf has been helping, but it also, again, just could be the amount of nutrients in this plant.

00:22:39:02 - 00:23:07:19
Arianna
So I'm just I'm blown away. It's incredible. Like I said, I do about three glasses a day. You can actually look up online multiple ways to make it. It's really simple. I'll put how I make mine and the description is really easy. And I'm not going to say that Nettle Leaf is doing it all by itself, but you can tell is doing a lot of the heavy lifting because I need so much less to feel like I can make it through the day now.

00:23:08:00 - 00:23:28:16
Arianna
So I give nettle leaf at ten out of ten and I total and completely think that if you can get it ethically and safely, that you're total and completely shut. All right, so hopefully that helped. If you guys want to learn more about more herbs if you want to hear more, please let me know. I know I'm going to be testing more in the future, so I'd be happy to share more.

00:23:28:24 - 00:23:35:13
Arianna
I could talk about this stuff for ages. Thank you very much for watching drink water, take care of yourself and I'll see you in the next video.