St Johns Wort anyone?
By maezee
@maezee (41985)
United States
May 16, 2019 1:48pm CST
I had a small Amazon gift card and I decided to buy a few bottles of St John’s Wort, an herbal medication that supposedly helps your mood elevate and lessens anxiety, and supposedly also an appetite suppressant. Mostly bought it for helping my moodiness, which I am never sure if is a result of internal or external factors. You know?
Bad news is that it interacts with some medications unfavorably, including oral contraceptive (makes it less effective!)
I took it for a couple days while simultaneously eating a very spicy tomato soup I made and had some gross stomach issues. Cannot say for certain if due to the St Johns Wort or that soup!
I haven’t taken it consistently enough yet to know if it will elevate my mood. Stay tuned.
Have you heard of this or ever taken it?
7 people like this
7 responses
@kobesbuddy (78833)
• East Tawas, Michigan
16 May 19
I took St. John's Wort for a very short length of time. My anxiety got worse!
3 people like this
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
16 May 19
Be careful. I'm all for herbs and natural remedies . . . but this happened to a friend. He took it for his depression - and he took it for a long time continuously. But he didn't know that he was supposed to take it for short periods of time and take breaks - which is the case with many medicinal herbs. Doctors think this may have triggered him getting Parkinsons 
.
.3 people like this
@andriaperry (118793)
• Anniston, Alabama
17 May 19
No, I don`t feel I need it. I try to stay away from most everything.
Hope your tummy is better now.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
17 May 19
I've certainly heard of it; St John's wort is a plant - in fact a group of related plants - that grow here. The one used to make the remedy is called Hypericum perforatum (perforated St John's wort) because if you hold a leaf up to the light you can see it has tiny holes in it!
I've never taken it though, I know more about the plant than about the effects of its extract on humans.
A recent large-scale analysis of clinical studies found that it is more effective than placebo and the same as standard antidepressants (albeit safer) for people with mild to moderate depression. Of course there are different preparations of this herbal medicine and it is unregulated so it is hard to know which is best to use.
However I can see that both the National Health Service here, and the mental health charity Mind, recommend its use after discussing the best preparations to use with your doctor.Hope it helps and the stomach trouble was down to something else!
