I wasn’t sure whether you were looking at American Valerian as a treatment for anxiety or eczema, as it can be used for both. So to be on the safe side, I went through the database files and got together a list for both.

American Valerian can be used, of course, but it involves growing the plant for 2 years, then digging it up in the Fall, so it would be a while before you had anything you could use.

*Eczema*
African Marigolds I give this 2 stars, as you use the flowers, and you can get them flowering for most of the summer if you deadhead
Valerian Another plant that needs to be dug up in Fall of the second year
Nettles The disadvantage being that you are likely to get stung when you harvest them
Salad Burnet This plant is used for Winter salads, so might be good at that time of year, when the African Marigolds are long gone
Great Burnet The roots of this plant, crushed and mixed with petroleum jelly, have been found to work well to treat eczema
Heartsease The wild pansy is a pretty plant, so you might grow this anyway
Vervain You can dry the leaves for use later in the year
American Valerian This is where we came in

*Anxiety*
Lemon Balm This has a lovely lemon scent, if you like the scent of lemon (which i don’t, lol)
Vervain See above
Betony Is another plant that can be dried for later use
Valerian See above
Lavender This great herb can be used as an infusion or you can throw handfuls in the bath, or use it to stuff pillows for soothing sleep
American Valerian See above

As well as being very interested in natural healing, I’m also gluten intolerant, so, being the type of person who sees research as fun (yeah, i know, but being geeky is normal for me), I’ve done a fair amount of research on that topic, and eczema is one of the conditions with a strong link to gluten.

Both gluten and casein are known to cause eczema in many cases. Gluten is the protein found in wheat, rye, barley, spelt and a few other closely related grains and casein is a protein found in milk. Unfortunately, almost all processed food contains either gluten, casein or both. So the natural diet you are following is great – but you may want to start to watch out for food that contains gluten or dairy products as well.

I realize that you already have a lot of things to watch out for, but as you have gone as far as you have already, I hope this will not be too much of a change – and there are plenty of gluten free and casein free specialist products available if a particular food is something you want to continue to include in the diet.

The gfcf (gluten free casein free) diet is known as “the autism diet” because it’s often used by parents of autistic children as a way to help their children, but autism isn’t the only condition that’s helped by it.

Hope this helps