If you suffer from anxiety or insomnia, you may want to try the herb passion flower to help you sleep through the night and help you feel calm and confident throughout the day. Passion flower supplements are available in tincture, liquid extract, tea and infusion form from online herbal retailers and health food stores. However, the use of passion flower may interfere with your medications or cause unpleasant side effects. Therefore, talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks of passion flower before you use it for medicinal purposes.
Identification
Passion flower, also called Passiflora incarnate, is indigenous to South America and now grows in Europe, also. The perennial climbing vine grows to about 32 feet tall and produces blue and magenta flowers and purple or yellow egg-shaped berries. Alternative health practitioners use passion flower's stems, leaves and flowers for medicinal purposes.
Uses
Passion flower is traditionally used to treat insomnia, anxiety, hysteria and seizures. However, it has also been used to treat ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, gastrointestinal disturbances, chronic pain, alcohol withdrawal and even cancer, says the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Methodology
Passion flower may work by increasing GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, in the brain, a substance that lowers brain cell activity and makes you more relaxed, states the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). However, since passion flower is usually combined with other calming herbs such as lemon balm and valerian root, scientists are not certain of its true medicinal methodology, says the UMMC.
Considerations
Although passion flower is generally considered a safe herb, the NIH says that it may cause nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, rapid heart rhythm and slowing of your mental facilities. Passion flower may also initiate liver damage or liver failure when taken in combination with the herb kava, warns the NIH.
Warning
Do not take passion flower with monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or MAOIs, such as Marplan, Parnate and Nardil, as passion flower may increase the MAOI side effects such as fatigue, drowsiness, sleep disturbances, low blood pressure, muscle twitching, lightheadedness, blurred vision, shakiness and weakness. Passion flower may also interact with blood thinning medications such as Plavix, states the UMMC, and make the effects of sedatives such as Valium, Xanax, Dilantin and Pamelor, stronger. Additionally, do not give passion flower to children except under a doctor's supervision and do not take the herb yourself if you are breast feeding or pregnant.
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