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St. John's Wort & anti-depressant

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Health & Wellbeing
I have just been reading that thing on depression here and saw a bit about St. Jhon's Wort and anti-depressants. I'm not taking anti-depressants just now but I am taking Saint John's Wort..Took last one about 6pm-ish I think. I was gonna start taking the anti-depressant's the Doc. gave me tommorrow to see how I feel in a few weeks. Should I leave a bit of a gap before takeing the pills? Maybe a few day's or a week? Or will be ok to take them tommorrow?

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The best thing to do is talk to your doctor about it. It's good that you're already aware that you shouldn't mix the two. A pharmacist at a big chemist's could also advise you.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have read numerous articles in journals which claim that St John's Wort can actually aid depression rather than make you better.

    It doesn't contain the same chemicals (or indeed any!) needed to give you an artifically created 'high' and so those who are susceptible to depression are likely to find SJW will have a negative effect on them.

    My doctor also told my mother the same thing.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    St Johns Wort works in a slightly wierd way, to my knowlege its part SSRI and part MOI, some people swear by it and say its the best thing for mild depression, others think its worthless.
    I have tried it for a 4 week period once, it seemed to work quite quickly (SSRIs take 2 weeks+) and did make me happier. But its always hard to know whether it was the stuff or not. It didnt seem to have any side effects other than it completely taking away my sex drive, I had none.

    To your original question, I dont think it would cause you too much problems, however I'd leave about a week between the two.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    plus, and i know this isn't really relevant for you, but it might be for other people who run a search on this in the future - you shouldn't mix SJW with the contraceptive pill. It makes it a lot less effective, not a lot of people know that, and New Woman were advocating the use of it with no warnings a couple of months ago. :mad:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm all for natural remedies personally, but like any drug, SJW might have side-effects for some people. Depression is caused chemically by a lack of seratonin and I think SJW stimulates the production of the chemical... But I haven't researched it.

    I'm cynical about anti-depressents as a whole, I believe that you have to target the source, so I'd say that they should be mixed with good therapy.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There is no doubt that for a lot of people anti-depressants do work really well and have helped a lot, however I'd have to agree they should be taken in conjunction with therapy.

    However I do think there are some people who are just naturaly depressed and all the talking isnt going to help by itself.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    you're right... but i dunno. Like, i was on anti-depressants for a while, and i knew why, i had just broken up with my l-t boyfriend, was anorexic, i had (and still have) M.E/C.F.S, and i was stressed out about my exams. I wasn't dealing with any of it well, so i went to the doctor, and we decided that the best course of action would be to put me on anti-depressants. There was nothing talking would have helped, it was just a period of my life that i needed help getting through, and i have now :) Sometimes therapy isn't necessarially the best option. Though of course, it should be avaliable to those people who need it, i was lucky... my doctor talked about all the options to me.
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