# St. John's Wort and Seeming Success



## kenc127 (Aug 10, 2004)

Hi all

I just wanted to post this here, as it may be encouraging to some. The past 2 weeks I have been using St. John's Wort for my depression.
What I have noticed is a significant reduction in the severity of my DPDR.
My mood has had a noticeable lift in the positive direction, and my symptoms and obsessing have subsided.

I'm not saying the SJW has cured the problem, but what it has done is it has relaxed me and put me in a mental place so that I can make the necessary behavioral adjustments in my thoughts and actions to allow the DP to fade.

I highly recommend this. It has helped a GREAT deal with the obsessive focus and anxiety it produces. My guess has always been that DPDR begins with depression, progresses to an anxious state, then if left untreated becomes a chronic state of self awareness and self torture known as DPDR. I feel if we could somehow reduce our depressive/anxious episodes, our anxiety would mellow out, and the DP would fade. Good luck and I hope this is of some encouragement.

And to all of you anti-med folks, I too am very anti med, but this stuff has not one side effect and no noticeable withdrawal syndrome. I hate meds, but this is worth a try. Please post any successes or failures you may have if you try this approach.

On another note, I was discussing with my doctor about what exactly serotonin is and what it does. The analogy he gave me is that it is our "care" meter and it provides our brain with the ability to 'filter out' things. In other words, if serotonin is too low, the result is that we start to care about things we would normally disregard, i.e. those crazy thoughts/fears of death and insanity. If it is turned up too high, then we don't really care about anything. The goal is to be right in the middle.

Also, I notice many posts in which some members describe their difficulty with 'focusing outward'. SJW seems to make that MUCH easier.

...Ken


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## Inflammed (Aug 10, 2004)

kenc127 said:


> St. John's Wort


What`s that ?


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## kenc127 (Aug 10, 2004)

Hey Inflammed

It's an herbal supplement with proven anti-depressant qualities. Some say it akes a few weeks to work, but I noticed immediate effects. Try doing an internet search on SJW recommendations. The benefits seem to highly outweigh the downsides. In fact, there aren't many downsides at all. You can pick up a bottle from Trader Joe's for like 8 bucks. I'm not sure if you have Trader Joe's market in Canada, but you can buy SJW at any place that carries supplements. It's worth a try.

Ken


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## sleepingbeauty (Aug 18, 2004)

Medsafe Patient Information Leaflets
Safety Alert: St. John's wort and Prescribed Medicines
April 2000

Read this information if you are taking St John?s wort together with any medicine prescribed for you by your doctor. If you are taking St John?s wort and are not taking any prescribed medicines there is no need to stop taking St John?s wort or see your doctor.

Preparations containing St John?s wort (Hypericum perforatum) are used for a variety of conditions including the symptoms of depression. Taken at the recommended dose, St John?s wort has few adverse effects (for example nausea, rash). However, it can interfere with the action of some other medicines making them less effective. It does this by causing enzymes in the liver and gut to breakdown some medicines faster than usual.

Contact your doctor immediately if you are taking St John?s wort and notice signs or symptoms indicating that your medicine is less effective than usual, for example, less control of seizures with antiepilepsy medication.

Your doctor may decide that you should stop St John?s wort, or that the effectiveness of the prescribed medicine should be monitored, or that it is unlikely that St John?s wort will be interfering. If you are advised to stop St John?s wort discuss other alternative treatment options with your doctor.

Do not stop St John?s wort without consulting your doctor, because your prescribed medicine may become too potent, and the dose may need to be adjusted.

When discussing treatment options, always tell your healthcare professional if you are taking any other medicines (including any that you buy without a prescription from a pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop) or complementary healthcare product.


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## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

Yeah, it can cause major probs from what I've heard. Well worth reading the above if you're thinking about taking it.

However, I tried it once and found it really good. And Kava Kava. I kind of od'd on the St Johns Wort and then went on holiday in a hot country. BIG MISTAKE. It plays havoc with your nerve endings and photosensitivity. I couldn't distinguish hot from cold, dry from wet etc and I stubbed my toe on the bottom of the pool and cried for an hour the pain was so extreme. As soon as I stopped taking it, it went back to normal. Thankfully! At that time, it wasn't known about its interference with other meds and I was on the pill. Was ok though, am without child.

There's a massive debate over it all. The drug companies make so much dosh from our meds that if these herbs were found to be as effective all hell would break lose. My mother-in-law (well, not yet, but Im trying) runs a health food store and is really into petitioning against government policy trying to regulate the situation bcos the drug companies weald such power over them. Or something like that...I'm sure you can read about it Nexus or similar conspiracy mags

Anyway, I might give St Johns Wort a go again someday. Once Im off all the other crap...

One thing I will say, just cos its herb, doesn't mean it isnt as powerful, and to treat it with the same 'respect' as all drugs. afterall, smoking a joint is lovely and natural but look at the mess that got some of us into...


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2004)

yer ive been taking it for about a month and i feel soooo much better, it realy helps u sleep aswell!


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## kenc127 (Aug 10, 2004)

gfunk, I'm sorry to hear about your run in with it. Perhaps there was a bad interaction with the pill. That's the hard part with herbs, much of it is trial and error ecause there lacks funding to research them.

Will6, I'm glad to hear it's helping. I too had crazy problems with sleep, waking up with panic attacks and having crazy dreams when I could sleep. SJW has allowed me to sleep like a baby, and my anxiety is history.

Ken


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## JasonFar (Aug 13, 2004)

Ken,

I just wanted to personally thank you for this post. After reading it, I went out and picked some up. I've been eating near 100% raw foods for a good four months, and didn't want to succumb to taking any hard herbs or supps, but the fact is I knew that SJW was at a time one of the only things that gave me relief. I'm very happy I just caved by reading your post, and have been on SJW for four days now, and already the effects are similar to those posted by yourself, mostly in regards to mood and emotions (and obsessive thinking, of many sorts; I don't have identity/DP related thoughts anymore, far beyond that, but I still am very obsessive about experiences, angers, etc etc.)

Just wanted to thank you, and you might as well update your status with the supplement, because others can probably benefit from it. It's a good alternative, and again, had you not made that post, I wouldn't have made the decision to go get myself a bottle. So again, thank you.

~Jason


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## kenc127 (Aug 10, 2004)

Hey Jason

I'm glad to hear it's providing some relief. I was going to wait for about another week or so before posting an update just to make sure I'm not indulging in the placebo effect. It still seems to be working in helping me to keep my focus away from myself. My anxiety is still present, but it's much more manageable.

And thank you too for your post a few weeks ago. You had mentioned some successes that you had with it in the past, and that made me want to go buy some. Anyway, good luck.

Ken


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## Guest (Dec 27, 2004)

I am very very intrigued after reading this post. I think I might try this crazy overthecounter pill and see if I can make some progress, which I am obviously not at this point (read worst christmas ever thread).


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## kenc127 (Aug 10, 2004)

Zig

Let us know how it goes.

Ken


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## Guest (Dec 27, 2004)

everytime u start to feel negative thoughts take a st. johns wort it will suppress those thoughts from popping up and eventually u wont need them anymore


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