Wormwood Thread (New '22)
Inspired by the recent post in the old thread, I thought it would be a good idea to start a new one and discuss the herb Wormwood.
Here is the last post in the old thread:
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Really appreciate this detailed feedback about your success! Wormwood is a fascinating herb :-)
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Originally Posted by
destineer
Sorry to resurrect a two-year-old thread, but the first post in this thread was the one that made me try wormwood for WBTB, so it made sense to follow up here. Using wormwood has brought me lucid dreams three times out of three attempts so far.
The first time I took wormwood for WBTB was about 2 weeks ago. I took one capsule of Oregon's Wild Harvest organic Wormwood, which contains 280 mg of wormwood herb aerial parts. I had a very brief lucid dream, but woke up almost immediately with my heart pounding. I made a note to try again with a much lower dosage. The recommended dosage on the bottle is 3 capsules (780 mg), which might be necessary for expelling intestinal worms, but the pounding heart tells me even one capsule is too much, at least for me.
The second time I tried wormwood for WBTB was about a week ago. I opened the capsule over my mouth and took the minimum amount I could get out. Even though it's bitter, I held it in my mouth for a while for sublingual absorption. It wasn't easy to get back to sleep, but when I did, I went right into a lucid dream, which lasted longer than the first, but was still fairly brief. No pounding heart on awakening this time.
The third time I tried wormwood for WBTB was last night. I tried the same minimal dose of wormwood, but this time I added a tiny amount (< 1mg) of 5-HTP to help with getting back to sleep quickly. This time I hit the jackpot, with at least 5 distinct lucid dreams interrupted by short periods of nearly waking up but directing attention to bringing the dream back, which worked several times in a row. I think the 5-HTP helped with staying asleep. I am strongly affected by 5-HTP, melatonin and just about everything else, so I only take tiny amounts, but someone who needs more will probably do better with more.
I believe there are two factors that helped me to bring the success rate of wormwood up this high. One is that I don't set an alarm to do WBTB, I wait for a night when I naturally wake up too early and take advantage of the fact that it's 2 or 3 am instead of worrying about it. The other is that try not to use any particular dream-aid supplement more than once a week. I've never found a supplement that worked its best two nights in a row, and most things that work well work better the longer I wait to try them again. A week is usually sufficient.
The intensity of the onset of my dreaming on wormwood calls immediate attention to it. The whole scene appears out of nowhere with no subtlety and I immediately suspect I'm dreaming. That is usually easy to for me to verify by having dream characters say words I am thinking. I think of an uncommon word, and if somebody else says it, I know for sure I'm dreaming. Lately I've also tried looking at my hands. It's fun to watch the number of fingers change, unquestionable evidence that a dream is in progress.
So, wormwood has been a great success for me.
I wanted to post because 6 months ago, I purchased some loose leaf Wormwood for tea. I have been very hesitant to try and it and feel guilty for buying it! So I would love to hear about more recent experiences with the herb that people may want to share.
Note: Make sure you research any supplements before taking, and consider talking to your doctor about it, especially if you have other health conditions.
I'm mostly just interested in occasional use as I realize this is a pretty potent herb with some potential side effects.
