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Who am I?

I am an obscure great-great-grandson of Oscar Adolphe Barcelo & Eugenie Beaudry of Montréal.

And I am an equally obscure great-grandson of George Henry Leandre Barcelo & Sarah Anne Bird of Winnipeg (Manitoba) and Langdon (North Dakota).

Wednesday, 6 March 2019

Catnip (Nepeta Cataria) ─ Sleep Aid and Many Other Benefits │ Would You Take Psilocybin to Treat Depression?


It was an especially late night of T.V.-viewing last night. 

My younger brother is responsible for us sitting up until into the midnight hour, but it was my fault that we ended up finding ourselves watching something that took us to at least 1:00 a.m.

As any regular reader of this blog ought to be aware, my younger brother and I watch our T.V. via a T9 Android 8.1 TV Box. With the 'apps' downloaded into it, we are able to scour the Web for episodes of T.V. shows instead of relying on them to become available on commercial T.V.

So last evening by approximately 11:30 p.m. we had watched the final remaining episode of The Bletchley Circle, a series we started watching after watching its more recent successor The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco.  

I was curious about another British crime-style series I had seen mentioned called Vera that is still running after debuting back in 2011.

So I sought the original first season and summoned up what was supposed to be the premier episode.

Well, little did I know that it was going to run for 1½ hours ─ without, of course, any commercials whatsoever.

And dang it! I have just now attempted to locate a write-up of that very episode and discovered that not only was it NOT the very first or premiere episode of the entire series ─ but it was in fact the season premiere of season six!

Did I stupidly start watching the series at season six instead of season one?

Well, I have in fact just returned to the T.V. and used our Android TV Box to call up the series once more, and I see that I did not make a selection error. Instead, the link I happened to select in the array of link source offerings for that original episode was misfiled ─ it should never have been in there.

So how was I to know, not having ever seen the series before?

I had wondered last night why there was no backstory to the rather odd Vera character. Nothing explained how she came to be a DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) there in some rural police force and apparently in full charge.

This omission made me wonder how the series could be so popular when nothing at all was revealed concerning Vera's background or personal life.

Well, now I know! 

Anyway, by the time I was into bed, I think that it may have been around 1:30 a.m.

And I feel that I slept well until I eventually became aware enough to be wondering on the time ─ a check revealed it to be 4:58 a.m.

Time to rise! As usual, I had the day's content assignment to confront at the post I have in development at one of my six hosted websites.

I held fast to that task, and I think that it may have been nigh 8:30 a.m. before I was able to return to bed. Anecdotally, my eldest stepson had never bothered rising to go to work.

A nap ensued; and my next time check was a few minutes ahead of 10:00 a.m. That was good enough, so I rose and was soon downstairs with my day's second hot caffeinated beverage and watching T.V. with my younger brother who was already so involved.

He has no expertise with the Android TV Box, so I employed it until he was set to have his bedrest into the noon-hour. Apparently this was to be one of those days in which he would be busing off to a more remote location to hook up with one or two of his drinking buddies.

I used his return to his bedroom as my opportunity to have some exercising out in the backyard tool-shed, and I did quite well. But it was unexpectedly cold.

We had enjoyed a run of several days of sunshine that had almost made it seem warm outside during the day, and the blanket of old snow was shrinking noticeably each day.

Today was overcast, but unaccountably chilly.

Once I had completed my exercising, I fixed up a most substantial and nutritious meal that weighed me down so much, I was left with no sensible option but to seek another nap.

It was nearly 2:30 p.m. by then (my brother had left), and his earlier words spoken while we were watching T.V. were proving prophetic ─ it was indeed cold enough to snow, for it was starting to do so.

I benefitted from yet a second nap today, but I was not abed much over an hour. The new snow was starting to whiten those areas of ground that had enjoyed the melt of the shrinking blanket of older snow, but the flakes are not very large.

The cul-de-sac we live in is remaining wet ─ the snow is not yet able to start whitening the pavement as I type these words at 4:56 p.m. In truth, it looks as if there may be rain mixed with the falling snow.

But if things get colder with the arrival of darkness, perhaps snow will prevail. We shall see.

It was good having today's two naps after my short night's sleep.

I often wish that I was not limited to my retirement pension income, for I am finding that there are so many plants that have health properties I would love to be able to embrace ─ but I just cannot afford them all.

You undoubtedly are at least a little familiar with catnip (Nepeta cataria) and how it is supposed to have an almost astounding effect upon some cats. 

Apparently it can also affect us, and is touted as an aid for easy and sound sleep:

HSIonline.com

Naturally, we should always research claims like those presented in the article, for it was hardly comprehensive.

For instance, catnip has other beneficial properties, but maybe not all of them are what you might care to be experiencing right after enjoying a lot of catnip tea just before bedtime.

Sure, it may indeed make you drowsy; but one of its many other properties is that it is something of a diuretic ─ finding yourself suddenly awake and uncomfortable in bed at night because you need to use the toilet can prove sufficiently disruptive of sleep that sleep may be difficult to find again anytime soon.

That tends to be my problem if I have to get up for any reason at all.

So here are a few other articles about catnip's many properties ─ just in case you are thinking of giving catnip a try:
Thanks to my wife a few years back, we have some mint plants spreading about in one small garden patch, but I would love to have something similar happening with catnip.

And as the Amazon search reveals that I did at the top of this post using the botanical name Nepeta cataria, catnip seeds are very inexpensive.

I think I'll bite this bullet and see about getting some ─ it may be darned cold outside, but Spring is just over two weeks away.

A second plant I want to spotlight today is one most of us are never going to experience because of the banned substance it yields that is known as psilocybin. 

I have never been a fan of dope or psychedelics of any kind ─ booze (alcohol) is the only drug of interest to me.

Nevertheless, depression can be a killer ─ as can be the medications that the medical profession prescribes to supposedly manage the condition.

If something like natural psilocybin can work the near miracle the following article claims it seems able to do, then I would turn to psilocybin long before I would ever touch an antidepressant.

Note that this article ─ sent to me via E-mail on February 27 ─ has not been published at its HSIonline.com source, so I am reproducing it here in full:

These crazy mushrooms can RESET your brain... if the feds REVERSE their 50-year BAN!


When depression has got you in its clutches, it can feel darn near impossible to break free.

You can't THINK your way out of it... and you can't TALK yourself into becoming cured.

The drugs they'll give you can take all the joy out of life and make you feel NOTHING AT ALL.

For some folks, antidepressants can make you feel dangerously MORE depressed.

We've already found something that can RESET your brain... and give you the fresh start you've been PRAYING for.

Even if you've got an EXTREME case of depression.

It's natural... and safe in small amounts...

But it's been so STIGMATIZED for the last 50 years that your doc is FORBIDDEN from giving it to you!

Baby steps

Ancient cave paintings show that our prehistoric ancestors used "magic mushrooms" more than 10,000 years ago.

But in modern times, "shrooms" have gotten a bad rap for their psychoactive and hallucinogenic effects.

Over 100 mushrooms in the genus Psilocybe contain a natural compound known as psilocybin that can literally change the way you think!

The feds have considered it a dangerous drug FOR DECADES... and they've PROHIBITED any study that would convince them otherwise.

That is, until now...

In 2018, researchers from Johns Hopkins University right here in Baltimore suggested that psilocybin may have therapeutic value.

Their argument is that we'll never know for sure unless the FDA reclassifies it and lowers the restrictions on it so it can be studied.

But we ALREADY know that it can work.

In the 1960s, a Swiss pharmaceutical company marketed a drug based on a synthesized version of psilocybin from the Central American mushroom Psilocybe mexicana, called Indocybin.

Psychiatrists right here in the U.S. used it safely on their patients with depression and other mood disorders.

But in "the Sixties"... and the backlash against psychedelia was so HUGE that psilocybin was OSTRACIZED from the mainstream.

According to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, "Schedule I" drugs are supposed to have NO medicinal value.

That's just not true of psilocybin.

We have real-world data that it can be used to REVERSE depression... even the kind that's otherwise RESISTED all other treatment.

And its effects can last for WEEKS.

One clinical trial on cancer patients found that A SINGLE DOSE can erase depression and anxiety for as long as SIX MONTHS.

Schedule I drugs are also supposed to carry a high risk of abuse and addiction.

But we already know that psychedelics like psilocybin -- called "5-HT2A agonists" -- probably WON'T get you HOOKED!

In the decades before psilocybin was BANNED, plenty of studies looked it its abuse potential.

And it came up short in more ways than one.

In fact, it's practically IMPOSSIBLE to overdose on it.

The feds have relented a little and granted "breakthrough" status to the psychedelic... and that is an upgrade.

But for now, it's still illegal to grow, distribute, possess, or ingest ANYTHING that contains psilocybin.

Here's the ray of hope...

If psilocybin DOES get decriminalized, scientists can figure out what the PERFECT dosage is for your level of depression.

That will take the fear out of using it... and will practically ELIMINATE any danger.

Now here's the bad news...

Once Big Pharma gets its hands on this ancient, natural way to hit the reset button on your malfunctioning mood, you can be sure that the dangers -- and the price -- will SKYROCKET.

Our best chance at tapping into the REAL and SAFE potential of this compound is to get it as NATURAL and UNADULTERATED as possible.
As you can see in the Amazon search that I did beneath this post, the term "psilocybin" does not bring up 'the real deal' for sale. It's illegal.

Mostly, my results just brought up various books talking about the substance and the mushrooms that yield it.

Naturally, there are books supposedly describing how to grow your own magic mushrooms ─ which doesn't seem to me to be very realistic.

After all, how does one manage to find the authentic mushroom spores?

And how many people ─ common laymen ─ are conversant enough with the botany to know if a mushroom is the desired 'magic' variety and not something utterly deadly?

And finally, even if you or I were able to manage somehow to grow the correct mushrooms, how would we know how potent they were and how much to risk taking?

No, this isn't an area I care to dabble in. I'll stick with booze.

I will back away from psilocybin now by linking to the following randomly selected articles concerning it:
Well, Google Photos has once more created a commemorative image ─ it did so today to celebrate the same day (March 6) back in 2013.

A single photo was selected from an old Google Photos album where I have the photos stored that were taken and brought back following a trip my wife had made to Thailand to visit her mother, other family members, and old friends. 

This is the commemoration that Google Photos created today:


The chap in the image is Daisha, a Gay friend my wife has had since their schooldays back in their village where Daisha still lives ─ his home is just a short stroll from my wife's family home where my wife's mother still lives.

This is the original photo:


I haven't been to Thailand since 2005, but I did meet Daisha several times then and in one or both of my previous trips, and I very much like the guy.

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