Hi peeps

I started using a natural AD remedy, St. John's Wort, to treat a state of depression I'm currently experiencing.
I want to describe my current experience which while I can feel benefits, I have a specific concern.
Before I took St. John's Wort, I remember perhaps feeling with low vitality. However, I could feel my heart, my source of emotions. I could feel more free in my heart. Not in the sense of positive emotions, but feeling intimacy within my heart.
I started taking the AD since Monday. I remember feeling irritated the first day, as if my heart is becoming trapped, beating with anger at times.
Days passed, and I feel like I feel my heart less and less, yet I feel my mind is being filled with vitality to be more productive. Today's work felt very productive, more than usual.

I'm not sure if I'm blocking my heart, or it's going more behind the scenes...
I remember having great attention and feeling of my heart before taking the AD. But now, probably with all the vitality running in my brain, I'm losing touch with my heart. I fear it will have an impact on relationships with people. I hate the fact that an AD changes how you feel about people, especially if it makes you feel nothing at all!

This is my concern.

Thanks for the help.

[shadow2000]

Hi,

It's unfortunate to hear that you've been noticing some negative effects from the St. John's Wort that you've been taking, even though you've been benefiting from taking the herb in other respects. From what I've read about the pharmacological actions of St. John's Wort, there's evidence to suggest that the herb is in some ways similar to many of the pharmaceutical drugs that are used to treat depression, at least in the sense that St. John's Wort has been shown to inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. At the same time, St. John's Wort seems to have central nervous system effects that pharmaceutical antidepressant drugs likely don't have, such as the ability to inhibit the reuptake of the amino-acid neurotransmitters GABA and glutamate (Nathan, 2001). Considering that the use of SSRI antidepressants and possibly some other pharmaceutical antidepressant drugs has been associated with emotional blunting and that St. John's Wort has some of the same pharmacological effects that SSRIs and other antidepressant drugs have, it might be the case that the negative effects ("loss of heart") that you've been noticing since you've started taking St. John's Wort aren't much different (or maybe not different at all) from the emotional blunting that those who take SSRI antidepressants commonly report.

I will say that even though the negative effects that you've been noticing since having started taking St. John's Wort might be effects that you'll continue to feel for as long as you keep taking the herb, it seems possible that the way that St. John's Wort will affect you in another few weeks (if you keep taking it for that long) might be different from how the herb is affecting you now. Then again, I think it's also possible that the way that St. John's Wort seems to be affecting how you feel about people might not diminish with time, even though the way the herb affects you might change in other ways the longer you keep taking it. So, I don't know how likely it is that the negative effects that you've been noticing since starting St. John's Wort will continue for you, but most definitely, if you find the effects that the herb is having on you to be very difficult to tolerate, I'd recommend getting in contact with your doctor soon.

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Nathan, P.J. (2001). Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort): A non-selective reuptake inhibitor? A review of the recent advances in its pharmacology. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 15, 47-54. Abstract: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11277608

Thing is I'm unsure what those feelings I've experienced mean.
I need more info on my feelings, preferably those who have experienced such feelings.

[shadow2000]

Originally Posted by Vibrating Obsidian

Thing is I'm unsure what those feelings I've experienced mean.
I need more info on my feelings, preferably those who have experienced such feelings.

I tried taking St. John's Wort somewhere between five and 10 years ago along with the Abilify that I was taking at the time. I remember the St. John's Wort affecting me in a way that was mostly negative (possibly in a way that's similar to how the herb is affecting you), but it's hard to recall the details because it was so long ago and because the negative effects that I think I noticed weren't particularly memorable. If I had to guess, I'd say that the St. John's Wort is probably affecting your biochemistry in a way (perhaps via the inhibition of the reuptake of serotonin and/or norepinephrine, or perhaps via some other mechanism) that's blunting your emotions, despite the fact that the herb sounds like it's boosting your energy and leading to increased productivity. Of course, there might be other ways of explaining the changes that you've noticed since starting St. John's Wort. I hope that you'll get more responses from others who might have experienced effects from St. John's Wort or perhaps chemical antidepressants that are (or were) similar to the effects that you've been experiencing, but if you have any more questions for me, feel free to ask.

I noticed something with the medicine. I should add that since Monday included, I've upped the dose to 500mg as part of the psychiatrist's instructions.
The thing I noticed is, I can feel my heart much later at night, feel more happy and less trapped, more restless hence I tend to feel too energized to sleep.
It's a matter of more or less 12 hours after taking the medicine.
Do you know what this means? Does it mean it has worn off? Does it indicate what I should feel as I continue to take the medicine, as the trapped feelings could be temporary?

[shadow2000]

Originally Posted by Vibrating Obsidian

I noticed something with the medicine. I should add that since Monday included, I've upped the dose to 500mg as part of the psychiatrist's instructions.
The thing I noticed is, I can feel my heart much later at night, feel more happy and less trapped, more restless hence I tend to feel too energized to sleep.
It's a matter of more or less 12 hours after taking the medicine.
Do you know what this means? Does it mean it has worn off? Does it indicate what I should feel as I continue to take the medicine, as the trapped feelings could be temporary?

It's hard to know for sure why you can feel your heart and feel less trapped much later at night, but it sounds like there's probably a good chance that the effects of the St. John's Wort are probably at their strongest within the first few hours of taking the herb and might diminish some later at night. As far as the question about whether or not the trapped feelings that you've been experiencing will be temporary is concerned, it would be hard for me to guess about this either way. If it was the case that you experienced the trapped feelings all of the time (including later at night) previously and have just recently started to not get the trapped feelings late at night, then I'd see this as a sign that you might possibly notice a reduction in the trapped feelings the longer you keep taking the St. John's Wort, but it's hard to be sure whether or not this will turn out to be the case.