Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 7622

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Half-life of St. John's Wort?

Posted by anita on June 21, 1999, at 22:17:57

Does anybody know the half-life of St. John's Wort? I'm
wondering how long it has to be discontinued before an MAOI
can be started.

thanks,
anita

 

Re: Half-life of St. John's Wort?

Posted by JD on June 23, 1999, at 14:46:37

In reply to Half-life of St. John's Wort?, posted by anita on June 21, 1999, at 22:17:57

The half-life of SJW is very, very long--it's a bit complicated though, because there are so many different substances in it. I'd say it's overall around 5 days, similar to Prozac (which requires a long waiting period before starting an MAOI).
--JD

 

Re: Half-life of St. John's Wort?

Posted by anita on June 23, 1999, at 22:28:47

In reply to Re: Half-life of St. John's Wort?, posted by JD on June 23, 1999, at 14:46:37

Thanks, JD. Can you give me a reference for this, i.e. how
you found this out?

anita

 

Re: Half-life of St. John's Wort?

Posted by JD on June 25, 1999, at 14:17:06

In reply to Re: Half-life of St. John's Wort?, posted by anita on June 23, 1999, at 22:28:47

Anita,
I remember seeing an abstract on medline
(searchable via "PubMed" on the web) that discussed
the half-lives of the two major antidepressant
components of SJW, which I believe are hypericin
and pseudo-hypericin. Though they are of different
lengths, each is on the order of many days rather
than hours. My personal experience with SJW seems
to confirm this--it took a very long time, well
over a week, to feel like it was out of my system.
This is why I suggest that the best rule of thumb
might be to follow the washout guidelines for
starting an MAOI after Prozac treatment, as these
are necessarily pretty strict too.
Best,
JD

> Thanks, JD. Can you give me a reference for this, i.e. how
> you found this out?
>
> anita

 

Re: Half-life of SJW (clarification)

Posted by JD on June 25, 1999, at 14:23:20

In reply to Re: Half-life of St. John's Wort?, posted by JD on June 25, 1999, at 14:17:06

Just to clarify, the safe waiting period would
likely be much more than one week, perhaps up to 4
or more. (Unfortuanately, it's more than just
waiting to feel like it's mostly out of your
system!) But check out what the official
recommendation for Prozac is, which I don't know
offhand.
--JD

> Anita,
> I remember seeing an abstract on medline
> (searchable via "PubMed" on the web) that discussed
> the half-lives of the two major antidepressant
> components of SJW, which I believe are hypericin
> and pseudo-hypericin. Though they are of different
> lengths, each is on the order of many days rather
> than hours. My personal experience with SJW seems
> to confirm this--it took a very long time, well
> over a week, to feel like it was out of my system.
> This is why I suggest that the best rule of thumb
> might be to follow the washout guidelines for
> starting an MAOI after Prozac treatment, as these
> are necessarily pretty strict too.
> Best,
> JD
>
> > Thanks, JD. Can you give me a reference for this, i.e. how
> > you found this out?
> >
> > anita


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