DOSE:

oral

Various

(tea)

BODY WEIGHT:

63 kg

I’d never had ironwort (Sideritis syriaca) before but a friend from Greece sent me some (there it’s used as a mild sleep aid, like coffee in reverse) so I gave it a try.

Some background: I don’t need drugs for any medical reasons (fingers crossed) and I don’t personally use recreational drugs, including ethanol. I’m also not affected by caffeine or chamomile, so aside from painkillers once, and sometimes the l-theanine (I guess) in tea, having my mood or energy affected at all by something I take in is a real novelty for me. I don’t even get runner’s highs.

I’d just finished a run on a spring evening and was sitting around chatting in my kitchen, and decided to try some ironwort. I’d forgotten that it was used as a sleep aid and I just wanted to drink it for the taste/novelty. My stomach was pretty empty except for some water I’d had just after running.

Ironwort is brewed like tea in hot water and I didn’t add anything to it. I drank around one teabag’s worth in maybe ¾ liter of water. The taste is kind of grassy, somewhat like chamomile.

It didn’t do anything for about fifteen minutes (and I wasn’t expecting it to do anything) and then I suddenly felt very calm and composed. It was weird because it felt really abrupt and also not an immediate outgrowth of my mood. I’m normally a bundle of nerves (not a disorder or anything, just a personality) but that went away, like the snow in a snowglobe settling out. It was the same feeling as listening to chill complex music or when I'm working on a complicated but not stressful project and it’s going great. Not happiness or a high, just steadiness. I wasn’t drowsy – if anything, I was slightly more energetic than before. I was still stone cold sober and would have felt totally fine driving, and when a minor household thing came up that needed some speedy reaction, I reacted fast, and with more social ease and less nerves than usual. I slept great and still felt a little calmer than usual in the morning.

I’ve had it a few times since then, and it hasn’t had quite that strong of an effect again. My guess is that being in a calm setting on the front end added to the effect.

Exp Year: 2022	ExpID: 116385
Gender: Not Specified
Age at time of experience: 30
Published: Nov 8, 2022	Views: 277
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Various (136) : First Times (2), Alone (16)