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Re: You Must Use Caution With St. Johns Wort

Posted by bleauberry on November 3, 2009, at 18:52:05

In reply to You Must Use Caution With St. Johns Wort, posted by bulldog2 on November 2, 2009, at 18:55:47


> DO NOT ever take St. John's Wort IT IS DANGEROUS

ANY substance that impacts the nervous system carries risk and danger. If you read the fine print of the potential horrible side effects (I call them direct effects) of SSRIs, SNRIs, anticonvulsants, and antipsychotics, I think you'll see any risk of SJW is miniscule in comparison.

What happened with you is undeniable. But was it really the SJW, or something else?

Cherrypicking one or several studies to form an opinion on anything is worthless. One needs to study every possible one they can find, and then visit the forums that discuss those things, and google a ton of searches. One must have a very well rounded picture to know the whole scoop. If you had done that with SJW, you would have seen at sjwinfo.org that maybe 1 in 100 in the archives did have some kind of bizarre side neurological side effect. It doesn't mean SJW is dangerous. It does mean it has power. You would have also seen that with people like us a pbabble, SJW has been a miracle for people who have been on dozens of psych meds. You would have seen everything you see here...it worked fast, it worked slow, it worked sort-of, it worked great, it didn't work, it pooped out, it had side effects...all of it.

Germany is a world leader is herbal medicine and they have an organization similar to our FDA who's expertise and focus is herbs. SJW happens to be a prescription medication and is prescribed far more often than Prozac. That would not be happening if it was dangerous or if it didn't work. Simple as that.

Back to you. What happened? Two things came to mind, both of which most people are not aware of.

SJW is a potent antimicrobial against many bacteria, viruses, and fungi. When we kill a bunch of those things too fast, we experience a flood of their dying toxins and debris that basically poisons our nerves. It is called a Herxheimer reaction. A serious Herx can do nervous system damage. It isn't the anitmicrobial's fault, it is the fault of going too far too fast. Too high of a starting dose. Incorrect diagnosis.

If you have hidden infectious agents (gee, hmmm ever consider maybe, just maybe, that might be where the psych symptoms are coming from?), SJW can induce a serious die-off effect.

With any med or herb, I feel it is wise to start at ridiculously low doses...75mg SJW, 2.5mg Lexapro, 12.5mg Zoloft, etc. These meds and herbs are indeed powerful, and there is much we don't know about them, despite we liking to think we are experts on them, we aren't. We are all living experiments at the hands of the pharm companies.

Another thing SJW tends to do is lower the cortisol response. If you have hypoadrenalism, or low cortisol, SJW is probably going to worsen that, at least in the short term. If your psych symptoms are due to low cortisol (do not underestimate the power of cortisol on your neurotransmitters), SJW can potentially make you feel a lot worse real fast.

SJW was my first AD many years ago and was a miracle. Actually, nothing ever worked as good. I've been on every drug, none were as good or as fast. It's only side effect for me was light sleep.

Now is different. It makes me really depressed really fast. Like I said, things are different. Now I have documented low cortisol, and now I have documented infectious pathogens. No wonder SJW is rough on me. It would probably be good for me in the long run, but would require probably a year to titrate up on it, begining with perhaps a drop tincture 3 times per day, working up to full dose over a year, controlling the Herx along the way and allowing adrenals to gently heal.

If you are going to say SJW is dangerous, then you have to also say that every prescription medicine and every other herb is also dangerous. Because they are. They are all quite potent.

How about someone with Celiac disease who doesn't know they have it. Guess what is really dangerous to them? Pizza. Tuna sandwich. Big Mac. Pretzels.

I am very sorry you had a bad reaction. I am just saying there is probably more going on here than you are seeing, and that SJW is not the one to point the finger at.
>


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Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:bleauberry thread:924178
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091029/msgs/924338.html