St John's Wort to Treat Depression and Anxiety

ScarletBegonias

ScarletBegonias

Dagobah Resident
I have problems with depression and anxiety and have tried Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, Zoloft, Xanax, 5-HTP and various other drugs and supplements over the years. I have also worked to improve my health through diet, exercise, EE, etc.

Recently I started seeing a psychologist who mentioned I could take St John's Wort as an alternative to the Prozac that I'm currently being prescribed. However, she told me I'd need to take a lot of them each day to equal the amount of Prozac I've been getting.

Well, I quit Prozac on my own in 2007 and was able to stay away from it for over three years. Today I decided to quit the drug again. I don't mean for this to be a neurotic "all or nothing" act. I just want this drug out of my system so I've decided to order St. John's Wort and plan to take it as soon as it arrives.

I'm curious to know if other members have tried this supplement and if so, what the results were. In any case, I plan to update this thread with my responses to the supplement.
 
I don't blame you for wanting to get off Prozac, but it's best to do it gradually. I was briefly on Prozac in 1994 and had to stop because I could no longer afford it. A friend of mine suggested St. John's Wort as a cheaper alternative. It took a couple of weeks to kick in, but it worked for me. I didn't have any bad side effects because I was taking St. John's I as reduced the Prozac. I don't know if this is the recommended way to do it but probably the best thing is to discuss it with your psychologist.
 
Hi Scarlet

I can understand your desire to come off prozac but are you sure it's wise to just stop taking this so suddenly? I'm not medically qualified but I know it's always recommended to cut down SSRI's slowly in order to avoid withdrawal and other side effects and you may find just going 'cold turkey' doing you more harm then good.

FWIW I used St Johns wort years ago when I was having significant depression and took it together with something called Rhodiola rosea or rhodiola arctic root as it's sometimes called. This combination certainly lifted my mood significantly at the time although I only used them for a short period. Having said that, everyone's situation is different and whether this supplement works for you depends on many variables unique to your current life situation.

As Teresa says, best to seek qualified advice I think.
 
Thanks Teresa and Pai! I don't know of anyone who takes St. John's Wort so this feedback is appreciated. I already read up about it on some other sites and on here and I can't find any reason not to try it so I'm going to give it a go.

I have discussed this with my doctor and she agrees that coming down gradually off of the Prozac is the best way to go. She recommends a 25% reduction in the amount I am taking per week over three weeks, but these are capsules and therefore cannot be split. :/
 
Personally I never had luck with St John's Wort. I used it singly for about 6 months several years ago (actually, right before I came into contact with C's stuff. There's a therapy for ya!) but really did not feel a huge effect. On occasion it made me feel spacey, or wanting to engage in unhealthy behavior like wanting to drink. Not good. I understand it has helped many though.

For me the two biggest things that helped me in depression were using 5HTP and GABA, and shifting to a better diet. Once I started eating meat regularly (I was veggie, mostly vegan for 14 yrs) this really seemed to get things back. I had to supplement with a lot of other vitamins during the transition period but now I don't feel the need for it. And I guess two more things were CBT (sounds like you are doing therapy already though if you have meds?) and starting to do what I want with my life and being around less negative people/situations.

Either way, yeah, you want to be careful getting off the meds. I second the consideration of weaning yourself off more slowly, it seems to have helped a lot of people.
 
Hi Scarlet,

It's good to hear you're stopping Prozac! I've taken John's Wort for some time, and I didn't have any problems with it. I didn't take it for depressions, though, so I didn't really pay attention to 'feeling good'.
Hope it works out for you!

In my case, what makes me happy, is vitamin C and recently, EE sessions. I hope that the diet changes and EE will aid you in this process. Take care!
 
St John's Wort is a serotonin booster. It is often used when 5 HTP didn't worked, which usually happens when the thyroid gland is sluggish due to lectins or a gluten diet.
 
Hi Scarlet, just to let you know that I used St. Johns Wart several years ago for quite severe depression and it's effect kicked in in a matter of days. The andtidepressants the doctor gave me made me 'numb' like a zombie so I replaced them after afew weeks with SJW. I think they were 60mg doses which I took 1x3 per day. Gradually I cut down by 1 a day over 3 weeks until I didn't take them any more. That was about the time I started looking into alternative therapies, diets, meditations etc.

A couple of years ago my sister in law also used SJW when she contracted psoriasis which her doctor said was stress based.After afew weeks the problem cleared up and she was certainly much calmer than she had been for a long time.

Earlier this year I spoke to my mum and we discussed the medication her doctor was givig her and she said she was not herself any more. She was happy to try something else. So we decided to try the St. Johns Wart. She is still taking 180mg/day but says she feels better than she has in years. She is 73 yo. and is trying to follow the paleo diet with afew slip ups now and then because she 'misses' her favourites. But for her age she is doing really well.

Hope these experiences may have helped somewhat. Good luck, Scarlet.
 
Psyche said:
St John's Wort is a serotonin booster. It is often used when 5 HTP didn't worked, which usually happens when the thyroid gland is sluggish due to lectins or a gluten diet.
Click to expand...

So how is your diet Scarlet ?
 
Hi, Scarlet:

I took SJW for a number of years and it did seem to lift my mood. I found that different brands varied widely in their effectiveness. Some seemed to be very little help. Solaray's 2 a Day worked the best for me.

I had problems with depressed mood for a long time. Since I've been adopting the Paleodiet and daily EE I don't feel the need for herbal mood lifters. (Never tried SSRIs)

Getting supplements right takes alot of experimenting. But is well worth when better combinations are found.
Take it slow, study, try things. Be the scientist.

Best to You. :flowers:

Mac
 
Scarlet said:
I have discussed this with my doctor and she agrees that coming down gradually off of the Prozac is the best way to go. She recommends a 25% reduction in the amount I am taking per week over three weeks, but these are capsules and therefore cannot be split. :/
Click to expand...

Capsules can be divided, I do it some of my supplements. Health food stores should have empty capsules. So you can open the capsules and divide as needed. It's a bit tedious but doing this has really helped me get the exact dosage I need. My doctor advised iron supplements to get my blood iron levels up. The capsules I use have 15 mg. I found this is way too much of daily dose. Gives me upset stomach and I don't feel good. I break them into thirds. This gets my iron levels where they need to be and is easier on my body.

Of course, ask your doctor about this.

Caplets, the hard ones can be divided as well. If they don't break easily with you fingers they make caplet breaking devises possibly also available at health food stores.

Mac
 
Mac said:
Scarlet said:
I have discussed this with my doctor and she agrees that coming down gradually off of the Prozac is the best way to go. She recommends a 25% reduction in the amount I am taking per week over three weeks, but these are capsules and therefore cannot be split. :/
Click to expand...

Capsules can be divided, I do it some of my supplements. Health food stores should have empty capsules. So you can open the capsules and divide as needed. It's a bit tedious but doing this has really helped me get the exact dosage I need. My doctor advised iron supplements to get my blood iron levels up. The capsules I use have 15 mg. I found this is way too much of daily dose. Gives me upset stomach and I don't feel good. I break them into thirds. This gets my iron levels where they need to be and is easier on my body.

Of course, ask your doctor about this.

Caplets, the hard ones can be divided as well. If they don't break easily with you fingers they make caplet breaking devises possibly also available at health food stores.

Mac
Click to expand...

I'd be careful with dividing pills. Many of them are time-released and if you cut them open you can get too much of the drug at one time, even if you are taking more than half.
 
Had a Dr. tell me once that St. Johns Wort can have some serious interactions with other drugs (don't know if Prozac is one), serious as in death. My wife was taking about a handful of different prescriptions at the time and he told her to ABSOLUTLEY do not take St. Johns Wort with what she was taking. ...Prozac was one of the things she was taking.

I've taken it and like it, but it is very short lasting for me.

Just please check it out.
 
SilverJeep said:
Had a Dr. tell me once that St. Johns Wort can have some serious interactions with other drugs (don't know if Prozac is one), serious as in death. My wife was taking about a handful of different prescriptions at the time and he told her to ABSOLUTLEY do not take St. Johns Wort with what she was taking. ...Prozac was one of the things she was taking.

I've taken it and like it, but it is very short lasting for me.

Just please check it out.
Click to expand...

If my memory serves, it is not to be taken with MAO inhibitors. I don't think Prozac is a MAO inhibitor, but I could be mistaken on that.
 
Scarlet said:
I have discussed this with my doctor and she agrees that coming down gradually off of the Prozac is the best way to go. She recommends a 25% reduction in the amount I am taking per week over three weeks, but these are capsules and therefore cannot be split.
Click to expand...

When dividing isn't an option, you could faze out 25% by skipping some days. For instance, over a 12 day period you would be taking your capsule 3 days in a row and then skip one day and continue accordingly. So in 12 days you swallow 9 capsules in stead of 12 which amounts to 25% less.
 
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