# St. Johns Wort



## Guest (Jan 11, 2006)

I have been taking St. John's Wort for about 3 weeks, it doe's help me seem to be *a little bit* clamer about my situation. Has anyone else tried it, ir is taking it? I would love to hear your comments on it..


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## hd83 (Jan 10, 2006)

I took St. John's Wort for about 3 months and it made my condition a million times worse! I personally would not recommend taking that stuff at all if you have any other condition besides mild depression. It made my anxiety & depersonalization/derealization so bad. I would recommend an andidepressant - Cipralex is a new one that's supposed to be at least as effective, if not more than Effexor and is the best Anti-D out there (you can go to their web-site to check out the info on it and click on the link that says "Yes, I am a doctor" so you can actually read all the stats on it) - along with Lamictal. The London Research Group has found that the combination of an SSRI with Lamictal has found to be successful in treating depersonalization/derealization in over half of the people studied, and from reading the boards here, it is the most commonly stated successful treatment that people have used. Also, from looking at people's comments, I'd say the top medications and combinations to try are: Cipralex, Effexor, Paxil, Lamictal, and Klonopin. I would try Cipralex and Lamictal first b/c I think this would be the best combination. Hope this helps!


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## Universal (May 30, 2005)

i'm currently taking paxil. does that mean i should just add lamictacl, cook it and see whats up?


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## hd83 (Jan 10, 2006)

I don't know what you mean by "cook it," but I would talk to your doctor first, and make sure that they agree with the treatment, and let them know about the research that the Depersonalization Research Unit in London is doing (http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/iopweb/departm ... ntext=main), and the success that they have had. But in answer to your ?, yes, I would go ahead and look into adding Lamictal to your current dose of Paxil. I believe the dose for Lamictal is supposed to be 200 (which you'll gradually build up to).


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## livinginhell333 (Feb 19, 2005)

i bought some st.johns wort just in case i know you cannot take it with an ssri but i'm not taking an ssri. do you think it would be alright to take with lamictal, which is not an antidepressant but but is an anti-convulsant but does have some anti-depressant properties. i asked my doc if i could take st.johns wort but she doesn't believe in anything natural besides fish oils and vitamins.


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## hd83 (Jan 10, 2006)

I personally wouldn't recommend taking lamictal with st. john's wort b/c you don't know what the drug interaction will be. lamictal is an fda approved medication, but st. john's wort isn't and you never exactly know what you're getting with those type of herbal supplements. Also, I've never heard of anyone using that combination, so I'd look into taking an antidepressant and lamictal instead of st. john's wort. I'm on effexor-xr and that's helped my anxiety with no side effects at all. hope this helps!


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