st johns wart

[Lainey73]

i am currenty taking st johns wart for anxiety for just over a week. how long before it works?

[anxious_athlete]

"Naturopathic" not Naturopathetic, oops!!! The slip might have been subconscious due to the amount of pathetic doctors I have dealt with over the years!!

[anxious_athlete]

You should see a naturopathetic doctor or md with intergrative med experience before you go the herbal and supplement route. I commend you on this because ultimately I want to go this route. The problemn is that for moderate to severe anxiety,  herbs and supplements have to dosed appropriately and in many instances a combination of them with need to be used to combat this problem. Many times the best results come from a combination of traditional and intergrative medicine, BUT this can only be done under the supervision of a physician who has experience in intergrative med because there are some serious drug interactions between alternative and traditional meds. The dose recommendations on the bottle will do nothing for a moderate to severe cases, this comes directly from the mouth of a intergrative medical doctor affiliated with a great Boston hospital. Hope this helps and let me know how you progress.

[Jikan]

Namaste,

Studies suggest that St. John's wort is of minimal benefit in treating major depression. A study cofunded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) found that St. John's wort was no more effective than placebo in treating major depression of moderate severity. There is some scientific evidence that St. John's wort is useful for milder forms of depression.

St. John's wort interacts with certain drugs, and these interactions can limit the effectiveness of some prescription medicines.

Please be cognizant that St. Johns' Wort is not always useful and successfully used by all individuals. As with all herbs and homeopathic medicines the amount of time to have some effect on an individual will vary.

If you are insistent on using this herb, give it 3-4 weeks to take effect. If you do not see any difference by then and your symptoms are overly bothersome, I would contact a mental health provider who can conduct a thorough history and evaluation and suggest alternative therapies.

Let us know how you make out and take care !!

Michael