st johns wort?

[whitecat78]

has anyone had any good results with st johns wort? i am thinking of trying it.

[Paxiled]

As per SassyLassie's post, remember that St. John's Wort is for depression, not primarily for anxiety.  Any antidepressant can make someone anxious because they're dealing with a condition of understimulation, whereas anxiety is a condition of overstimulation.  St. John's Wort didn't help me personally when I tried it, but I have both chronic depression and chronic anxiety.  You might want to look into a combination of remedies, however, as it tends to work better on the system overall than one remedy.  Perhaps if you tell us why you're taking it we can help better.  5-HTP tends to be more for both depression and anxiety, though as we're all individuals, any substance can have a paradoxical or unwanted reaction.

[peggy64]

I take it, and have had good results with it. I think it is something that every person has to try and see if it will work for them. Our body chemistry's are different so we don't know for sure if a supplement will or will not be of benefit to us, until we actually take it. And remember, it takes natural supplements longer to see the results than western medicine, so if you do decide to give it a go, give it a good month or two to see if it will work for you.

I hope it helps you. If not, don't give up, there are other natural products that help with this issue.
Peggy

[SassyLassie]

I tried it once, and unfortunately for me, it had the opposite affect, I was very nervous and could not sleep at all. However, I am prone to having opposite reactions like that, so don't go by me, I have a lot of good on it. If you have an alternative minded doctor, you could discuss this with him, or even a good health food store. Sadly, however, they are not allowed to share much info anymore, too many laws and such forbid it. Geesh.

[M4Y0U]

I never tried it but the results are scientifically valid. It is not fully understood how it is acting but it is very likely that it is affecting you serotonin reuptake (along with more complex phytochemical reactions) just like another SSRI like Prozac. I mean, we didn't invent chemistry and nature do have a lot to teach us and it taught us.

''An analysis of twenty-nine clinical trials with more than five thousand patients was conducted by Cochrane Collaboration. The review concluded that extracts of St. John's wort were superior to placebo in patients with major depression. St. John's wort had similar efficacy to standard antidepressants. The rate of side effects was twice lower than for newer SSRI antidepressants and five times lower than for older tricyclic antidepressants.[6]  However, this review also noted that studies more favourably supporting the effects of St. John's wort as an antidepressant, were predominantly from German-speaking countries. The authors could not rule out the possibility that some smaller studies from those countries were flawed and reported overoptimistic results.''
-wikipedia

Do not mix any other antidepressant with SJW.

M4