r/AshwagandhaSyndrome

Hello, I’m new to this page, but thankful I came across it after doing some research. A couple days ago I took a 300mg KSM-66 for the first time. The next morning I had a panic attack at work (out of no where) and my anxiety has been heightened over the last 48 hours. I just feel on edge/jittery and my resting heart rate seems to be elevated (according to my Oura ring). I’m hoping since I only took one pill that these symptoms will subside after a couple of days. I know others have had similar reactions, but has anyone returned to their baseline after a couple days (assuming you only tried once vs long term use)?

I’ve been taking ashwagandha every day since June 19: one 525 mg KSM-66 capsule every night. So far, I haven’t experienced any negative side effects, but I also haven’t noticed any positive effects. It honestly feels like I haven’t taken anything at all.

Should I stop taking it? I’ve seen a lot of people here talking about side effects, and it’s made me a little worried.

Just want to share my story.

Started taking 600mg KSM-66 last year in april. After like 2 Weeks I felt really, really good. I was running regularly. My VO2Max got up by 3 points in a very short time, crazy.

Recovery from my running and Calisthenics Workouts was out of this world. Im not the youngest anymore and I felt like I was half my age recovery wise. Really, really good.

I also felt less stressed. Even zen. I was in public on a local ferry over the river and I was looking around me and I was in absolute peace.

Thats when Ashwa went downhill for me. After already about 6 weeks of taking I noticed that my recovery couldnt keep up. I did many hard workouts and my body could only do so much. My HRV went into the cellar.

But the absolutely WORST THING was another one. One that makes me not want to touch Ashwa ever again, even though it gave me crazy benefits: Anhedonia. I felt empty. Like a robot. It was so scary. I couldnt feel happyness anymore and I didnt know if I ever would again or if I fucked up. And the worst thing was that my wife was expecting our child and I seriously started to fear I couldnt even be happy about the birth of my daughter.

Thats when I stopped taking Ashwa. Thankfully, my mood normalized over 3 weeks of Anhedonia + raised levels of aggressiveness (nothing bad since im a chill guy, but it felt super weird). So after a few weeks I was back to normal.

Sometimes I wonder if the dosage was just too high for me. Why not only take 300mg a day and cycle off after a few weeks before anything bad happens? Might even work. I dont know. Im too scared to try because Ashwa gave me 3 weeks of being in a way I dont ever want to be again.