Saffron as an antidepressant and antianxiety med?

Hi there, does anyone have experience with using saffron as an antidepressant? I have read that it can help, but am afraid it might have the same kind of side effects and withdrawals as antidepressants (it works on serotonin) or benzo's (it works on gaba). Any experiences?

I wanted to share my experience and review the saffron.

I have decided to start and try Saffron for a few times. I have tried it now for only 3 days. First in the evening and today for the first time in the morning. Besides the saffron I'm on 1mg of haldol.

I definitely noticed that it worked. I must say at first that I still suffer from severe withdrawals of meds that work on the same receptors as saffron, so it might have just lifted the withdrawal symptoms!

The last 2 months I was in an extremely deep, dark, low depression, with lots of anxiety, anhedonia, guilt and scary thoughts. I could not feel any love or joy. This was caused by withdrawal from Zyprexa (antipsychotic) and the use of haldol. Many days I couldn't even come out of my bed and eat. I was severely suicidal.

Taking saffron clearly helped. Within an hour or so (don't know the exact time) I noticed I was capable of starting up the day. I had a relatively good day. I was capable of doing some fun things with my son. We went into town, drank something in a coffee bar, played a game together. I was capable of enjoying his company and genuinely smiling at people. This all might sound normal, but it's something I haven't done for ages. I wasn't exactly euphoric, but I was content and even slightly happy. It also lifted my obsessive compulsive traits, that I had after quitting certain meds, and I had hardly any scary thoughts about suicide, hell, etcetera, which I normally have.

Now (about 12 hours later) I start to feel more depressed and scared again.

I have heard that saffron builds up like normal antidepressants and it's only after a couple of weeks you see the full effects. I think the saffron works rather strongly. There is not much that can lift my depression like this.

I would not recommend to take saffron easily...to me, to be honest, it's just another med. And not much is know about it's longterm effects, tolerance, withdrawal, etcetera.

In a depression I'd personally recommend to first look into ALL other options...exercise, diet, changing lifestyle, solving the cause of the problem, connecting with people, prayer/meditation, waiting until it lifts by itself (which is mostly the case after 12-16 weeks, or so they say), psychotherapy, neurofeedback...anything. Only then start meds or herbs.

If nothing else works and your only option is meds... for me personally finding a more natural solution is important... that's why I'm looking into the saffron.

Hope someone else has experiences with this spice... anyone?

Never tried it myself but i've researched a little since reading your post - seems to look like it could help a bit..
I'm wary of trying it as an anti-depressant since every other ''natural'' thing to cure depression that i've ever read up about can have adverse affects (just as bad as the ones from the chemical anti-depressants) - but from what i've read so far.. i have no serious warnings to hand out here.. just a simple be careful and keep an eye on your moods.. and make sure you check on any possible interaction issues if you're taking anything else..
Will update once i've done some more research but if it all looks positive i might start using saffron a little more in my cooking (though it is horribly expensive for a spice.. )

*wanders off to research how to grow it myself*

Thanks!

I use it now only for "emergencies". I don't want to get addicted to another drug. I agree with you that chemical or natural, it can still have adverse effects. And I prefer dealing with depression without drugs.

yep.. same here - i'm a bit meds phobic

and it would probably be a lot easier to deal with the c-ptsd stuff on meds really..

I've been researching growing saffron myself - looks pretty easy actually.. buy a few bulbs, plant them and then once you've picked the saffron, it can be stored for a year or more..
Going to scour the web for any addictive/withdrawal issues before i go getting carried away and buy some bulbs though..

What made you decide to try saffron out and have you got any links to studies at all? I've looked up a few bits but you've probably done more research than me so i you've got anything helpful then it would be very appreciated please (:

There are some studies showing their effectiveness in depression:
*mod edit -- commercial website removed*
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26165367
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25384672
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26468457

Here one that did not show a difference against placebo, both lifted depression:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26611571

And one that did not see any difference from treatment with fluoxetine (same effects, same side effects):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24289892

Considering the side effects, I've seen people at a forum report some mild numbing effect, but much less than on a regular antidepressant and some fogginess in the beginning of use. I have read some study that people reported less side effects than a normal antidepressivum.

Considering the withdrawal effects, I found nothing. No commentaries on fora and no scientific studies. I'm worried about that, because I've now read that saffron actually works on quite a lot of receptors/systems in the brain (serotonin, dopamine, gaba, opioid (!)). For me, I want to use it when I'm really really really not feeling okay (as in: suicidal, near-psychotic or not sleeping from depression). In these cases it immediately lifts my mood a bit, while antidepressants take weeks to work. I hope it enables me to withdraw from haldol, which is a much more horrible med.

I do feel there is some temptation to use it more often...and I don't know if that is psychological or physical...but it might be relevant.

Be careful with meds, even natural ones!

-- Tue Feb 09, 2016 2:36 pm --

And what made me try out saffron...

I am very depressed (bordering on psychosis) because of PTSD and zyprexa withdrawal. I don't want more meds and i was hoping to find something natural to lift my symptoms, like diet or herbs. That's when I found out about saffron on this alternative treatment site. I do realise it works sort of the same as the antidepressant meds...so I don't want to use it too often. But it's also a bit of a stubborn and principal thing in me. Meds have "destroyed" me and if I can avoid buying more meds from pharmaceutical companies I will.