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Ashwagandha for Adrenal Fatigue

Ashwagandha can help with Anxiety
Be careful not to overuse it

Ashwagandha can be a helpful herb for adrenal fatigue.

A common and troubling symptom of adrenal fatigue is anxiety. Anxiety can strike for no apparent reason, and can be almost impossible to control. Ashwagandha can help with anxiety.

Page Contents:

Affect on Nervous System

Mimics GABA

Comments from Users

Caution / Withdrawal

What is it compensating for?

There are many herbs that in theory are supposed to help with stress, but often make those with adrenal fatigue worse in the long run. Provided that it is not overused, Ashwagandha does not seem to have this affect.

Ashwagandha is not a stimulant. So unlike herbs like Maca, it doesn't have the risk of giving you a short boost of energy, but ultimately making you worse.

This article covers the effect it has on the nervous system (calming), how Ashwagandha calms the nervous system, some quotes from users with Adrenal Fatigue, and some cautions related to tolerance/withdrawal.

Finally.... we'll ask the question ..... What is it compensating for?

Affect on Nervous System

Ashwagandha is helpful for adrenal fatigue since it can calm your nervous system, which often seems like an impossible task.

mWS (AShwagandha) contains compounds with sedative effects on the central nervous system⁸

Ashwagandha root extract exhibited a significant reduction in scores on all the stress-assessment scales on Day 60, relative to the placebo group¹

Ashwagandha has also been shown to be very effective at lowering the stress hormone cortisol.

The serum cortisol levels were substantially reduced in the Ashwagandha group, relative to the placebo group.¹

So .... Ashwagandha can put you in a calm state. But how does it do it?

Ashwagandha and GABA

GABA is one of your neurotransmitters (like the more well known Dopamine and Serotonin).

GABA is one of the most widely accepted mediators of anxiety disorder.¹²

In fact, a class of drugs (Benzodiazepine), work by enhancing the effect of GABA at the GABA receptor¹³. These include drugs such as Xanax, Clonazepam, Valium, Ativan. These drugs are usually used for anxiety, insomnia and panic disorder¹³, which of course happen to be some of the most troublesome symptoms of adrenal fatigue.

Well .... Ashwagandha has been shown to mimic GABA⁵. When Ashwagandha interacts with GABA receptors, it binds to the receptors and produces the intended response⁶.

We also demonstrate for first time that aqWS (Ashwagandha) is a potent agonist of GABA receptors.⁶

Ashwagandha seems to work in a similar manner as drugs that target GABA receptors.

Comments from Users

To back up some of the studies noted above, here are quotes from a couple of forums.

The following quote is from a long-time member of the adrenal fatigue forum on curezone.com.

It makes me feel much calmer and more balanced.⁹

The next quote is from a forum on Longcity.org.

I've been taking ashwagandha for the past 10 months without any long breaks. It reduces my anxiety, boosts confidence and stops panic. It works perfect and I never felt tolerance. My dose is the same as the first day I took it, 500-750 mg per day (250 mg before sleep). I'm not planing to stop because this herb changed my life. ¹¹

You might have noticed that this person stated that they have not experienced tolerance. Tolerance can be an issue.

Tolerance & Withdrawal from Ashwagandha?

Consider taking regular breaks
Don't keep increasing your dosage

Tolerance is when a person experiences a reduced response to a drug.

So they need to take more in order to get the same effect. Essentially what happens is that receptors become desensitized to the drug¹⁴.

Withdrawal occurs when someone stops taking a drug. It takes a while to get used to the absence of the drug.

Drugs such as Clonazepam (Benzodiazepine) are very difficult to stop taking. Withdrawal symptoms are very rough ^15,16.

Ashwaganda can produce a mild version of tolerance and withdrawal. From reading various forums:

Not everyone experiences withdrawal and tolerance
Withdrawal is generally short lived compared to Benzodiazepines

On the Longcity.org forum, they conducted a survey of Ashwagandha users.

18% experienced tolerance
14% experienced withdrawal.

Granted, it was a very small sample size (40 people).

Many people suggest taking regular breaks from Ashwagandha to prevent your receptors from becoming desensitized. Breaks such as 5 days on, 2 days off.

Here are a few quotes from people that have experienced withdrawal, generally mild and short lived:

I also definitely feel it if I lower or skip my ashwagandha dose. It does feel kind of like a benzo comedown to me¹⁰

No... I just feel more irritable & anxious the next day⁹ .

For what it's worth, my sleep returned to normal after 5-6 days. I'm kind of scared to start using it again, but perhaps I'll take your advice and try taking regular breaks after reintroducing it. ¹¹

When I took lots of extract and stopped cold turkey the symptoms where there maybe for 3-5 days (stiff neck and so on) ¹¹

I am experiencing some very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms after being on an Ashwagandha Root tincture for ~6 months and stopping for the past 2 days. Since stopping, I have been unable to fall asleep. I lay awake for hours with a fast heart-rate, and I go through periods where I feel very warm and have to kick off all the covers. I also feel very agitated, but that could very well just be the lack of sleep.¹¹

The following person used Ashwagandha for an extended period without taking breaks.

I've been using ashwaganda for 3 years with no breaks. I haven't noticed tolerance so far. I started with one dropper full of tincture (at one point I figured it out to be around 470mg) and then I switched to capsules (Solaray 1.5% withanolides, 470mg/capsule) and increased until I no longer felt a benefit in adding. That put me at 6 capsules/day.⁴

What is Ashwagandha Compensating for?

If Ashwagandha helps with anxiety because it simulates the calming neurotransmitter GABA, you would think that GABA would be lower than normal with adrenal fatigue. But it isn't.

GABA is usually high with adrenal fatigue, before using supplements. See the article GABA & Adrenal Fatigue for more information.

And if your GABA levels are high with adrenal fatigue, why do you have anxiety?

The reason might be that copper toxicity, which is common with adrenal fatigue. And copper blocks GABA receptors. See the article: Copper & Anxiety for more info.

Summary

Ashwagandha is a useful herb for adrenal fatigue. It can make you feel more calm and reduce anxiety.

If you try it, you should consider taking regular breaks to ensure tolerance doesn't develop.

If you find that your old dose is not working anymore ... you are experiencing tolerance. Time to take breaks!

Consider learning about the connection between Copper and Adrenal Fatigue. I have not experienced anxiety for several years. It stopped after working on copper detox.

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