New OTC product for symptomatic relief of mild anxiety

Seremind is now available OTC in Australian pharmacies for patients with mild anxiety, nervous tension and disturbed sleep. It contains a specially prepared and patented lavender oil called silexan that has been clinically tested through five double-blinded and randomised controlled trials which found silexan to be efficacious in reducing anxiety scores. It has no known drug interactions and research shows it relieves mild anxiety without causing sedation, weight gain, or sexual dysfunction.

Emily Edwards, a pharmacist at Tugun Chempro Chemist in Queensland, said: “In pharmacy we’re often the first point of call for people who might not necessarily see it as something worthy of going to the doctor, and we’re the first people who can recognise these signs and symptoms. I think up till now we’ve been very limited in the options that we have to suggest to people. With anxiety, it depends on the patient, Seremind is more for the mild anxiety patient group, but making sure that we’re doing a full review and asking the right questions and going down the right avenues first. We could use it as a first-line therapy for people who show symptoms of mild anxiety, but if there are any more alarming signs we would suggest that they see a GP and know that they have that additional support.”

Dr Ginni Mansberg from Sydney said: “Mild anxiety is common and so many of my patients experience anxiety symptoms at some stage in their life. This can include finding it hard to stop worrying, difficulty concentrating, feeling irritable or disturbed sleep, as well as somatic complaints such as palpitations and light headedness.”