Posted by barbaracat on July 7, 2004, at 14:27:52
In reply to Various forms of SJW, posted by Emme on June 11, 2004, at 9:12:09
Hi Emme,
I've recently done a bit of research on this subject before deciding to go on SJW. I was surprised at the differences in brands and effects. It's a real science and all SJW brands are definitely not the same.Perika and Kira are the pharmaceutical brands used in the German studies. The active extract is hyperforin, although some studies used hypericin only and got similar results. No one really knows how SJW works for sure, but at this point a brand with hyperforin standardized to 3-4% is what's being recommended. Hyperforin degrades pretty quickly, so a brand that has a stabilizer is recommended.
All hyperforin extracts are not the same, however. Like Larry Hoover, I found the Perika brand a little too activating, although many people with lethargic depressions swear by it.
The best one I've found at the best price is by HBC Protocols:
www.hbcstore.com
It uses a pharmaceutical grade hyperforin 4% extract made by Indena, which supplied the extract for the American studies that reported very favorable results. I also supplement it with Flora Oil Extract SJW which I get at www.iherb.com. The flowers are steeped in olive oil and then encapsulated. I want to cover all bases since no one is really sure what's going on with SJW and I want to get as much of the whole plant as possible while still getting a strong dose of the pharmaceutical agent. This applies to your extract question. My feeling is that it's OK to use a liquid extract to supplement, but not as the sole remedy. As Larry said, it's hard to standardize a liquid extract (like HerbPharm) and you don't know what or how much you're getting.
I take one HBC and one Flora twice a day. I've found this is working well for me. It took about 4 weeks to notice that it was definitely helping my mood. But I found out the hard way (yet again) that I also must take lithium in order to not spin into a BP-II state that's always lurking. - BarbCat
>
> I'm curious about what kinds of differences anyone might have noticed between kinds of SJW. Specifically, do the brands high in hyperforin (e.g. Perika) feel different from the ordinary 0.3% hypericum-standardized formulations?
>
> Has anyone got any sense of how these might compare to tincture?
>
> Thanks,
> Emme
poster:barbaracat
thread:355675
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040613/msgs/363772.html