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[rootlady1000]

A friend of mine bought a bottle of Rescue Remedy to help her calm down and took four drops under her tongue one night when she was anxious and trying to sleep. She told me that after she took it, she felt more anxious and has been afraid to use it since then.

I'm thinking there has to be some other explanation for why her anxiety increased. Granted, her anxiety could perhaps have been more directly targeted with another remedy, depending on the underlying emotions she was experiencing at that time, but I'm wondering if it is even possible for Rescue Remedy to produce anxiety, as is her fear. And if it couldn't have produced such a response, what might have caused that reaction? A fear of getting better?

I would appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on this topic. I think it was alluded to in another post by someone who was afraid that Rescue Remedy might cause a reaction. I certainly don't want my question to add to anyone's fears.

[marte]

It is hard to imagine that a flower essences formula designed to calm would cause anxiety - but in reading about Bach flower essences, I found that in severe cases, a person might feel worse before they felt better.

Depending upon the problem that your friend faced, it really is possible that she feared feeling better. And it's possible that she needed a specific one of the 38 essences that isn't contained in Rescue Remedy.

Another possibility is that your friend could have had a reaction to the grape alcohol used to produce the product. It's a minute amount, but all bodies are different.

I personally use Feel Bach! products - their Feel5ive is the same flower essences blend as Rescue Remedy, but is made with Brandy rather than grape alcohol. This company wants to provide the same formula that Dr. Bach used - and he used Brandy.

Feel5ive has gotten me through some tense situations in the past year, and I highly recommend it.

It sounds like your friend does need help, so I hope she'll try again. Maybe this time during the daytime hours.

[Tracy Gibbons]

Hi
I guess it depends why your friend was taking the remedy in the first place. If she wanted to feel calm maybe it was because she was feeling anxious anyway.

If that is the case taking Rescue Remedy was not the best option as
the remedies used for anxiety more specifically include Agrimony, Mimulus, Red Chestnut, Aspen and White Chestnut. None of these are included in the Rescue Remedy which is possibly why she did not feel better.

It really depends on WHY she needed to feel calmer.

If she looks at these remedies she may see they are more appropriate.
It could be that her anxiety was caused by something else too.

This is a good opportunity to listen and help her decide for herself more specifically which remedy is needed.

I hope this makes sense!
Kind regards
Tracy

[marte]

We humans are so complex, and have so many underlying reasons for our sometimes "out of control" emotions, that it is wise to look inside to find the reasons.

Not everyone has access to a Bach practitioner, but a book such as "Bach Flower Therapy" or the brochure available on request from Feel Bach! can help an individual choose which of the 38 essences will address their individual problems.

As with any treatment, one size does not necessarily fit all.

[Tracy Gibbons]

I agree with Marte, there are some great books available to help
with selecting remedies, and the Bach Centre web-site has more info' too.

Tracy

[rootlady1000]

Thanks for your helpful feedback. Since I posted the question, I have been able to work with her to put together a treatment bottle that addresses her anxiety as well as other issues.

She has a lot of issues, one of which is severe skepticism that anything will be able to help her. So I included an essence for that as well.

It's hard to tell if it's helping, although she seems better. I'll keep you posted if there are any remarkable changes.

[marte]

Helping someone who doesn't believe they can be helped requires an abundance of love and patience. I commend you.

Your friend also needs some lessons in positive thinking, law of attraction, etc. but I've learned that none of those sink in unless the person is willing to believe.

I'll be hoping to see a message here before long telling us that your friend has noticed the difference and is on the path to recovery...

Best success,
Marte

[Katy]

What happened to your friend, also happened to me. I was taking Star of Bethlehem, which is part of the Rescue Remedy, used to treat shock, and I had anxiety attacks for three or four days. It was awful! I found out that it was because I had experienced traumatic events in my life, and all of that negative energy had been stored in my body, and it had to be released. At that point in my life I hadn't been made aware that even if we have a difficult birth (when we are born), that energy can be stored as shock in our bodies and it can manifest and fester in other areas of our lives because it is part of the subconscious. When I started taking Star of Bethlehem, I guess what I went through was a 'healing crisis'. It was hellish at the time, but I am glad I went through it to heal. I feel much better now, and I also feel better knowing that all of that energy has been released.

I also didn't know that even if we experience a 'small' shock, it can still be registered in our body as a 'huge' shock. This was all news to me.

Maybe if your friend has some stored shock, perhaps she was reacting to that, and perhaps it was just coming to the surface?

Thank you.

[marte]

I think root lady's friend must have a deeper anxiety - rooted in a past shock as you suggest.

I use Feel5ive from FeelBach! which is the same blend of flower essences as Rescue Remedy, and it always works to reduce anxiety. Most recently we had to travel on a day when the snow was coming down hard and the roads were glare ice. I took Feel5ive about an hour before leaving home, again on the road, and again before we started home.

Where in the past I would have been a complete basket case I was able to complete the drive without fear.

I also gave some to my husband that day, because he turns into a bundle of nerves when he has to deal with traffic, and it worked for him as well.

I'd love to see an update on how that friend is doing now!

[rootlady1000]

Update on my friend: I think you may be correct that my friend has some traumatic event memories in her past (childhood) that began to emerge when she started taking the Rescue Remedy. As I wrote in a later response, I made up a treatment bottle that specifically dealt with other issues she shared with me.

Did the subsequent treatment work? Truthfully, I don't know. I have asked her a number of times over the past months since I gave her the treatment bottle, but have not received a clear answer. She is a woman with a LOT of problems that, I have been told by others, began in early childhood from, shall I say, grossly "inappropriate" parenting. I don't want to be pushy and too inquisitive (I also work with her), so I await the day when she comes to me on her own for help. She does acknowledge that the treatment bottle I made up for her son when he was a baby helped him overcome his fear of men with beards and also helped "control" (and I use that word with hesitation) his continual crying.

It's unfortunate that she resists help. Her emotional condition has affected her physical health in many areas, and she is "sick" a lot. But until she is ready to "peel the onion" and look deeper into herself, I doubt that I'll be able to do much for her other than provide Bach bandaids, so to speak. For some people it is just too painful and scary to look inside and is to be avoided at all costs.

This is a question for Stefan: For people with such deeply-rooted problems that they are afraid to even acknowledge them, can Bach essences help them find the courage to do so? And if they're afraid to take the essences because of what might happen when they do, how does one even get to first base to get them to try the treatment?

[martegcliff]

I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt that anything will help a person who resists help.

I once asked Idan at Feel Bach! about giving Bach Flower essences to an adult without their knowledge, and he said that it would do no good. Why you can give it to babies and pets without their knowledge, I don't know. But perhaps it has to do with the resistance - adults have it and babies and pets do not.

Hopefully, your friend will come to a point in life where she truly wants to feel better, and then you can help.

Wishing you well,
Marte

[Stefan Ball]

This is a question for Stefan: For people with such deeply-rooted problems that they are afraid to even acknowledge them, can Bach essences help them find the courage to do so? And if they're afraid to take the essences because of what might happen when they do, how does one even get to first base to get them to try the treatment?

We always treat from the level the person is at now, so if fear of taking remedies or fear of acknowledging one's feelings is what is most apparent, that's where we would start, and it sounds like that would be a case for Mimulus.

If the person is so fearful that they won't try the remedies, that does make it difficult to get started. We would try to reassure that the remedies are gentle and won't cause some overwhelming crisis, but it may be that we would have to look elsewhere and find a form of help for that fear that the person is willing to try - perhaps a gentle form of counselling, for example. Then we could come back to the remedies when the person has got over that initial fear.

---

Just to pick up on a couple of earlier comments, 'grape alcohol' is a descriptive term for brandy. Brandy is alcohol made from wine, which comes from grapes, hence....

Also, on giving remedies to people without their knowledge, this will work.... but we advise professional practitioners not to do it. Dr Bach's is a self-help system and that means that people should be in charge of their own health and of the remedies they do or don't decide to take.