St John's Wort

Does it work????

Been depressed for a long while, since my delsuions and conspiracies started to take over my mind and chased away all my friends...

The doc has never said I am depressed but I know I am, severley. However, I refuse meds point balnk, I refuse to have my mind dampened and my personality taken away, I beleive this is what they want to do.

My family reckon I should try taking St John's Wort, has anyone had any positive results from it???

The delusions are one thing but the depression fuels them... If I was happier, maybe they'd not be so much of an issue and maybe I wouldn't spend half my life building the conspiracy against, maybe I'd spend half my life building thoughts on ways to make my life better???

Cheers

There is research suggesting that St. John's wort works. At least for some people. Didn't for me or my X.

What worked for me when I was younger was upping my B complex intake, especially if I consumed high quality brewer's yeast flakes, purchased in a health foods store, mixed in juice. For a while I was taking this whole concoction of stuff made up in a blender, back in the 70s. Don't have the recipe anymore. It helped a lot -- but how much of an icky drink can one stand to feel better. Eventually, I took it less and less, moved to places where I couldn't get the ingredients, etc.

Good luck with the St. John's wort. It's worth a try, isn't it?

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Does it work????

Been depressed for a long while, since my delsuions and conspiracies started to take over my mind and chased away all my friends...

The doc has never said I am depressed but I know I am, severley. However, I refuse meds point balnk, I refuse to have my mind dampened and my personality taken away, I beleive this is what they want to do.

My family reckon I should try taking St John's Wort, has anyone had any positive results from it???

The delusions are one thing but the depression fuels them... If I was happier, maybe they'd not be so much of an issue and maybe I wouldn't spend half my life building the conspiracy against, maybe I'd spend half my life building thoughts on ways to make my life better???

Cheers

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

Hi giri,

I chose to take the non-meds route myself.

St John's Wort maybe helped a little, but self help has been best for me. By that I mean relaxation, meditation groups, being around calm and strong people - and Psych Central.

You mentioned the delusions and conspiracies.

Depression (like old age) never comes alone. I believe that depression talks to us, and we have to work to ignore it. For me, there were some people around me who were not helping, and a big job was to move towards more supportive and reliable people in 3d, and to trust them.

I have three solid friendships now, with people of the same age, gender and background as me. We have all been through illness and survived. We know the stories, and we don't need to talk about it, or prove anything to each other. We can take time out, or meet up, without any pressure.

It's not easy, and sometimes I get a stab of paranoia, but I know when it's happening and I can put it to one side and move on past it. From reading your post it sounds like you are fully aware of the situation and that's a really positive thing IMHO.

I want you to know that we can put our lives back together, just slowly, one step at a time. It can be done.

Cheers, Myzen.

You know I've been taking St. John's Wort, and 5-HTP too, for about two months. I really didn't think it was working. I was feeling better but things were going better in general. I ran out of SJW 4 days ago and lately I've been battling intense feelings of despair and urges to kill myself (as I was before starting it). Maybe it was doing more than I thought.

Thanks for that report, John. I feel that way abot the Effexor. I'll feel that life is "in general" going better. Then I'll start forgetting the afternoon dose, bec. I'm busy instead of moping and focused on my pain. And before I know, I'm sliding back down that slippery slope . . .

I think the purity of the SJWort pills has something to do with it, too. Herbs are unregulated substances in the US, and my understanding is that quality can vary widely among products that claim to have the same mg content.

When my depression was mild, I took SJW for about a year and a half and it helped.

You have to get the right kind, a "standardized" extract with .3% Hypericin AND 3 to 4 % Hyperforin.

Hyperforin is now seen as the most active antidepressant part of the plant.

You have to take it for at least four weeks to really notice the benefits. That varies because some can notice in a matter of days but that's not very common.

Just a word of caution -
SJW can interfere with birth control pills and it should never be taken with any pescription ADs or sedatives.

Hope this helps.

It's been two weeks since I started taking SJW, I don't really have any comment at this stage about the way I feel: But thank-you all for your feedback.

Some good news is that I have been offered a new Job, so I really need strength and to cheer up, I am really happy about it (Usually even the things I should be happy about to not cheer me up). Hopefully with this new start and SJW things will change for me. This is not relevant to the discussion but I really hope that my delusions do not interfere with this chance to change things.

I will keep you all posted and let you know what the wort is doing for me...

Take care

G