st. john's wort?

Has anyone tried St. John's wort for depression?
does it work? My dr. keeps upping my AD's and I am tempted to switch to herbal. Scared though - I have been VERY down lately...

No, I haven't tried it.
I read on a government website that it is not recommended for actual major depression. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. nccam.nih.gov
This is a US government web site. I can't remember much else on the site. However, I would deffinately suggest that you talk to your doctor about St John's wart. It might be effective. I really don't know.

Tried it by itself and with other herbal things. Never had any luck.

SJW is indicated for mild to moderate depression. However, I started taking it after hitting rock bottom and being severely depressed for at least 2 months (was already on the upswing of it though). It worked. I didn't remember ever not being depressed, and I actually felt decent for a change. Then I tripled or quadrupled the recommended dosage, and got manic. Keep it around 900 mg per day if you try it.

SJW works the same way that prescription meds do, but it's less concentrated. It is documented that it is effective, and in Europe they prescribe SJW for depression.

It didn't have any side-effects that bothered me. I was having a problem with insomnia too, and it fixed that. If combined with other herbs that have sedative properties, it will knock you out (well, it did me). It can also interfere with birth control and increase light sensitivity.

After 2 years I tried going off of it. Starting back up again now. I obviously still need it.

Good luck,
Rap

It didn't work for me!

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
ouch said:
Has anyone tried St. John's wort for depression?
does it work? My dr. keeps upping my AD's and I am tempted to switch to herbal. Scared though - I have been VERY down lately...

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

I personally like 5-HTP better than SJW for depression.... Have YOU tried it?

LoVe,
Rhapsody -

It did not work for me as well. It also did something with the clotting of my blood and also I had nose bleeds because it did thin it out so much.

There aren't many studies on it because the drug companies won't fund them... Though the drug companies have funded the studies that say one shouldn't take st johns wort at the same time as taking an antidepressant because they have similar effects and their interaction could be harmful.

So... If you wanted to try it then you would need to come off your current med. If your current med isn't really working then I guess there is no loss...

It is important to get quality tablets where there is good dosage control. Some brands are careful about each tablet having the same dosage and other brands don't have such quality restrictions (thus the actual dosage found in different tablets can vary considerably). I don't know much more about that, or about what brands in particular, but it would be worth checking google and finding out... Same goes for what dosage...

I've known some people to really swear by it.
While others don't.
Just like any other med really...

My pdoc put me on St. John's Wort when all of the other AD's he tried caused horrible side effects. It didn't have any side effects, but didn't help my depression either. It was just another one on my doesn't work list.

Debbie

Did nothing for me but aggrivate my Graves disease.

That is one of the many reasons I get leerie of some of the claims to fame with OTC stuff.
But I do believe for some people the stuff can work, just need to check with our docs first.
Like prescription meds. there can be side effects too.
Hope you are doing better.

I took it for about two years because I didn't want to take prescription meds. It helped for awhile but once I got MS it was like it stopped working. Plus it made me VERY sun sensitive. I am already very fair skinned and easily freckle, so that was a downer. If it works for you, awesome! Just don't be too proud to admit it if after some time passes it isn't working. I let myself get in really bad shape before I admitted to myself that I needed something else.

RainbowFaerie
:-)

Yes ouch,

At one point I used SJW in liquid form from the herbal store and it helped immensely, until the pdoc told me it would interfer with my Depakote. I myself want to look into 5-HTP cuz depression is on-going.

Best of luck and Mahalo,

Leilee

**

For me it worked about as well as Effexor but without any side effects. I had severe depression when I began.

I had severe depression before I tried it too, but to be honest, I was on the upswing. I also had been diagnosed with dysthymic disorder, and had no memory of ever not being depressed. I did feel a lot better after starting SJW, and I keep taking it now, though not always consistently. I can't say that it's absolutely related to taking or not taking SJW (maybe I stop taking it when I feel like giving up for a while), but I have small relapses when I stop taking it.