Herbs for Nerves

When people say, “My nerves are shot,” they usually mean they’re tense, anxious, irritable, exhausted—or lying awake at 2 a.m.

Chinese medicine has been treating this sort of thing for literally millennia.

The important thing is that Traditional Chinese Medicine does not treat every case of nervousness the same way. Anxiety, irritability, insomnia and nervous exhaustion can come from very different underlying patterns.

Wired and Tense

Some people feel wound up, impatient, restless and easily irritated. Their minds keep racing even when their bodies are tired.

Chinese medicine may associate this pattern with constrained Liver Qi or excessive internal Heat.

A classic formula such as Xiao Yao San (Free and Easy Wanderer) is often considered when stress and irritability occur along with digestive or menstrual complaints.

Anxious and Exhausted

Other people aren't especially agitated. They're simply worn out.

They may worry easily, have trouble concentrating, experience occasional palpitations or sleep lightly and wake feeling exhausted.

Chinese medicine may associate these symptoms with deficiencies of Heart Blood, Spleen Qi or Yin.

Formulas such as Gui Pi Tang or Suan Zao Ren Tang may be appropriate for certain patterns, but they are not interchangeable. Trust your practitioner to make that distinction rather than trying to diagnose yourself.

What About Nerve Pain?

“Nerves” can also mean burning, tingling, numbness, shooting pain or hypersensitivity caused by irritated or damaged nerves.

Chinese medicine approaches these problems differently from emotional anxiety or stress. Treatment may focus on circulation, obstruction, deficiency or other underlying patterns.

Persistent numbness, weakness, burning or nerve pain should also be medically evaluated, since diabetes, shingles, spinal problems, medications and vitamin deficiencies can all cause nerve symptoms.

Why Not Just Take a Tranquilizing Herb?

People sometimes look for a Chinese herb that works like a tranquilizer or sleeping pill.

But that's not really how TCM works.

Two people can both have anxiety and insomnia and need completely different formulas.

Instead of simply asking:

“What herb will calm me down?”

Chinese medicine asks:

Why aren't you calm? Why can't you sleep? Why are you worried or irritable?

Once we understand the cause, we can choose a formula that better matches the person.

The Bottom Line

There really are herbs for nerves.

There just isn't one herb for nerves.

Chinese medicine treats the tense person differently from the exhausted person, the sleepless person differently from the angry person, and nerve pain differently from emotional stress.

Sometimes your nerves need calming.

Sometimes they need nourishing.

And sometimes they're trying to tell you something.