st johns wort - classic or dud

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i started taking this at the end of last year through to a month ago so (so about 3 months as recommended for a trial to gauge its effectiveness) but am off it now. initially i found it quite necessary, as my moods were a bit erratic and i was getting down quite frequently due to various things going on in my life but after taking it consistently for a while, i did start to feel that as good as SJW was at 'levelling' my moods etc, it was maybe making them a bit TOO consistent. it seemed to make me indifferent to a lot of things. maybe thats nothing to do with the tablet, just me, but ive been off it now for a few weeks and feel better. maybe thats just a psychological thing though, not sure. but i dont want to be reliant on the thing. has anyone else had similar experiences with it?

― titchyschneiderMk2, Saturday, 10 March 2007 11:09 (eighteen years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1917359.stm

The popular herbal supplement, St John's wort, is an ineffective treatment for depression, a major study has found.

The use of herb has grown massively in recent years as more people opt for so-called natural medicines.

Researchers have conducted the largest ever clinical trial into the impact of the herb on major depression - a moderately severe form of the condition.

The researchers, from Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, found it had no more impact than a dummy medicine.

Dr Jonathan Davidson, director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program at Duke, said: "Major depression is treatable. But this research suggests that major depression of at least moderate severity should not be treated with St. John's wort.

― and what, Saturday, 10 March 2007 13:25 (eighteen years ago)

doctors and a lot of medical people are bound to say that though - why should they endorse a herbal medicine as opposed to one they can prescribe?

― titchyschneiderMk2, Saturday, 10 March 2007 13:29 (eighteen years ago)

so you think there was a conspiracy at duke university to falsify the results of the experiment? no actual study has ever found it more effective than a placebo

― and what, Saturday, 10 March 2007 13:31 (eighteen years ago)

not a conspiracy, just more eagerness/willingness to dismiss it. that bbc link you posted said it wasnt a good treatment for major depression, but i dont think most people who take SJW do it cos they want to alleviate major depression. i doubt anyone would take it for something that serious.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Saturday, 10 March 2007 13:35 (eighteen years ago)

of course they have a willingness to dismiss it, they're scientists. as far as 'eagerness', the burden of proof is on the claimant

― and what, Saturday, 10 March 2007 13:38 (eighteen years ago)

so what dyou reckon about herbal remedies like SJW? are they just overpriced useless/smoke and mirrors over the counter remedies?

― titchyschneiderMk2, Saturday, 10 March 2007 13:39 (eighteen years ago)

in retrospect, i do think that half the time i was taking it, half of its effectiveness was all in my head - just the act of taking it made me think i shouldnt be down and should be positive etc etc etc. and that was useful in itself..

― titchyschneiderMk2, Saturday, 10 March 2007 13:42 (eighteen years ago)

i take melatonin in the winter, but i dont know if that actually works. basically i am in hibernation until shit starts melting this time of the year.

― artdamages, Saturday, 10 March 2007 14:09 (eighteen years ago)

Once when my back went into spasm I took SJW and Naproxen at the same time—so I'd stop freaking out over the injury. About five or ten minutes after taking them my palms and the soles of my feet started to itch like fury—that crazy itching that you get if you plunge them into warm water when they're chilled. It lasted a few minutes. I never took either thing again.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 10 March 2007 18:38 (eighteen years ago)

so you think there was a conspiracy at duke university to falsify the results of the experiment? no actual study has ever found it more effective than a placebo

both my med school pharmacology textbook and my pharmacopoeia claim that there are studies that show it to be as effective as tricyclic antidepressants for mild to moderate depression, without as many side effects, so I doubt this is true. no one study is ever gospel on these things.

st. john's wort interacts with/reduces the effectiveness of a lot of other drugs (including birth control pills), and is dangerous to use with other antidepressants (especially SSRIs and MAOIs). given that antidepressant therapy is so empirical anyway, i don't see why it wouldn't be worth a trial. obviously it won't work for everyone, but nothing does.

― theboyqueen, Saturday, 10 March 2007 19:09 (eighteen years ago)

Dud!

Glah, before I was aver on SSRIs I took SJW and it made me one insaniac mess. the label said "mood enhancer" and goddamn was it ever right. Where I would normally have been cranky, I was a screaming bitch, where I would have been sad I was crying all days, happy times were explosive blasts of extreme obnoxiousness to all my peers. My dad & I both tried it for a month and had the same reaction, which must have been insufferable for all else in the fams.

It takes a while to find the right antidepressant, but srsly I would rather have something FDA approved. I mean I don't think megapharms have the public's best interest in mind consistently, but neither do self-righteous nutty herbalists convinced doctors have a conspiracy to be pushers rather than helping their patients. I've had a lot of wonderful, helpful doctors and nurse practitioners who not only helped me meds-wise, but lots of reassurance and practical advice, which you are not going to find on the back of an SJW label.

― Abbott, Saturday, 10 March 2007 20:32 (eighteen years ago)

Wow, I want to make a movie of Abbott on Saint John's Wort!

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 11 March 2007 00:27 (eighteen years ago)

It should have my dad in it too for epic father-daughter emotional sparring, and all my HS teachers should star as themselves, esp. the one I got fired for calling me "a big dyke" in front of class.

― Abbott, Sunday, 11 March 2007 03:04 (eighteen years ago)

And a sweet kitty! And some of the shadow people they're always talking about on Coast to Coast AM. Art Bell should have a cameo. (He actually has a cameo in an upcoming Lindsay Lohan film called "I Know Who Killed Me." !!!)

― Abbott, Sunday, 11 March 2007 03:06 (eighteen years ago)

I tried SJW in ninth grade when I hit rock bottom and didn't notice any difference.

― Curt1s Stephens, Sunday, 11 March 2007 06:33 (eighteen years ago)

i take melatonin in the winter, but i dont know if that actually works.

you don't take it for depression though, right? it's for sleep. and it actually does work, or at least, in my experience, it does. I'm surprised it's even available without a prescription, it's so fucking weird. i have the most fucked up dreams when I take melatonin.

st. john's wort didn't do anything except ensure that I got sunburned.

― akm, Sunday, 11 March 2007 07:00 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

was thinking of giving this a go but this thread kinda confirms my suspicions hmm

― Annoying Display Name (blueski), Thursday, 2 October 2008 17:06 (seventeen years ago)

three years pass...

fuck i just bought some of this today

― spazzmatazz, Wednesday, 12 September 2012 16:34 (thirteen years ago)

valerian on the other hand works great, for anxiety tho

― spazzmatazz, Wednesday, 12 September 2012 16:34 (thirteen years ago)

i found 5htp amazingly helpful, st johns wort entirely valueless, though these were at different points in my life & the structural problems in the former case were (much) easier to resolve

― thomp, Wednesday, 12 September 2012 21:55 (thirteen years ago)

five years pass...

... .. .... ... ..... worted? etc

― under a mand'rin tsar (darraghmac), Tuesday, 26 June 2018 22:27 (seven years ago)

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