Posted by KaraS on July 24, 2004, at 20:42:04
In reply to Re: Various forms of SJW - that 4 month thingie » KaraS, posted by Larry Hoover on July 20, 2004, at 8:10:54
> > It's a general rule with herbs that you should take them for 4 months, stop for one month and then start again in order to prevent tolerance/poop-out. Maybe SJW is different. I'll do some research or maybe I'll just be lazy and ask Larry!
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Kara
>
> Not lazy. It was me that raised the issue.
>
> I hope I'm not changing what I said, but I recall saying that the Russian practice with adaptogen herbs (e.g. Rhodiola) was to do a four month on, one month off, cycle. (The whole concept of adaptogen is Russian, they did the research to demonstrate efficacy, and that's how they do it, over there.) I believe I was responding to a question about how long to take Rhodiola, so I answered as best I could.
>
> With respect to SJW, I do not believe the same time limit is sensible. I see no reason to discontinue an antidepressant that is working and still might be needed. I've personally used SJW for an 18 month stretch, had no side effects, and no withdrawal of any sort. I would use it again for an extended period, without hesitation. Only if some adverse event arose, that I could link to SJW, would I have any concern at all.
>
> Lar
I had heard of the 4 month rule myself. In fact I thought that with most herbs it is recommended that you take breaks - for some it's more often than others i.e. echinacea where it's recommended that you take it for 4-6 weeks and then go off of it for that same amount of time. At any rate, I'm VERY GLAD it doesn't apply to SJW!
poster:KaraS
thread:355675
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040718/msgs/370107.html