I have recently bought some valerian root tea, which I have yet to try out. I was reading somewhere that if consumed in large enough quantities, it can act as a psychedelic? It was compared somewhat to shrooms, with stuff looking as if it "breathed". The person had taken 8grams of the root.
Does anyone have experiences with this? I would love to hear from someone who has tried these large of doses. thanks

This is the first time I've heard this one. Although I haven't tried it in high doses personally, it's highly unlikely that this has psychedelic properties. Being that it has mild activity at GABA-A receptors and an inverse agonist at the adenosine sites. It's even sometimes used as an alternative to benzodiazepines (Schmitz, Jäckel 1998 ). Based on the pharmacology, I don't see this as anything other than a sedative. Although it has been shown to have stimulating properties on persons undergoing fatigue (Hass, Levin 2006).

References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9757514
http://www.worldcat.org/...l-medicine/oclc/62755545
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih....d/10767649?dopt=Abstract

probably more of a hypnotic than a psychedelic.

Yeah, as long as you dose upwards of 5 grams you can have a pretty groovy trip, but the key is to mix in about a gram of cayenne pepper. It's like DMT slowed down, so you can stay in hyperspace for much longer, and you basically have super powers. Just be sure to administer it rectally.

I pity the person who takes this seriously.

I remember reading reports of valerian root allegedly working as a dream enhancer when combined with other herbs, such as kava.

But other than that, it seems to have sedative, hypnotic properties and that's all.

Cats love the (rather unpleasant) smell of valerian root, though. Anyone ever tried to infuse catnip with valerian root for some cat changa?

i have also heard of valerian root giving you crazy dreams. I think i read it on a blog somewhere once where the person was going from doses starting at 1 gram up to about 3 gram gradually upping the dose over a week (but still making tea) and in the end he wrote he had very lucid dreams and it even after stopping the lucid dreams kept on going for another week or so.

and lol with the cayenne pepper. I do not envy whoever shove a gram of cayenne pepper up their bum. I think taking half a teaspoon in your mouth is already quite optimistic..