Posted by bleauberry on March 10, 2009, at 18:25:56
In reply to St. John's Wort: Kira vs. Perika, posted by Tomatheus on March 7, 2009, at 23:55:46
> To all:
>
> What have your experiences been with the Kira and Perkia brands of St. John's Wort? For those of you who've tried both brands, how do they compare?At sjwinfo.org you can roam through the archives of hundreds or thousands of sjw user posts to compare the two brands. Basically, Perika seems to be more activating, Kira more calming. To me, they were both very powerful. Kira was smoother for me, which allowed me to take it long enough to see it work. It was, by the way, the best antidepressant I've ever had, which includes all of them except effexor, parnate, nardil.
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> I've read some claims that St. John's Wort has an active ingredient in it that's an MAOI. Between the Kira and Perkia brands (and the other brands if you've tried them, too), which one feels the most like the MAOIs Nardil, Parnate, and Marplan?
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> TomatheusThe MAOI activity in sjw is very small if any at all. The claims of MAO activity were from earlier studies that have since been proven faulty. If there is any MAO activity, it is found in the stems and raw parts of the plant, not in extracts. If there is any MAO activity, it is too weak to explain clinical effects. Sjw works through a variety of mechanisms, all of which work in harmony. No one has ever gotten a hypertensive cheese reaction from SJW, so the idea of it having any significant MAO activity is doubtful.
Both brands are excellent choices. Don't waste time trying to figure out how sjw works. No one knows. It just does. At sjwinfo.org you will also see that some people respond well to cheap brands that have low hyperforin content and get worse on good brands that have high hyperforin content (Kira and Perika are both high, in the 3%-4% range). Other people get no benefit from the cheap low hyperforin brands but find high hyperforin brands very good.
Brands of sjw are almost as different from one another as ssris are from one another.
Actually the best response I ever got from sjw was from a cheap 150mg capsule Rite-Aid brand, and the WalMart 150mg capsule Spring Valley brand. The Whole Foods Market house brand was also fairly good. But if you want the same stuff in clinical studies, then Kira or Perika. Just keep in mind, if it doesn't work, don't throw out the idea of sjw, instead, switch brands.
poster:bleauberry
thread:884342
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20090204/msgs/884767.html