Posted by blueberry on November 9, 2005, at 16:57:22 [reposted on November 9, 2005, at 20:33:58 | original URL]
In reply to Effexor XR and Herbal Supplements, posted by jojobird on November 9, 2005, at 10:30:07
Generally speaking, herbs are not safe to take with psychiatric medications, mainly because not enough is none about how they affect the plasma levels of meds. Most are probably safe, but the main problem is that many of them affect the metabolism of other drugs, either increasing the blood levels of ongoing meds or decreasing the levels. There isn't enough research done on them to really know what an herb will do to an ongoing medication.
That being said, I took st johns wort along with low dose prozac and low dose zyprexa. But it definitely screwed with the meds. And when I stopped the sjw, I went through some horrific scary withdrawals, somehow related to interaction with the other meds.
As far as safety goes, I think they are all fairly safe, with careful dosing, go low and slow. I'm sure many people have mixed herbs and meds. It's just that you are in uncharted waters, and you can't predict what might happen, either good or bad.
poster:blueberry
thread:577258
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20051025/msgs/577259.html