Has St John's Wort helped you?

[Natalia]

I've read that it can be good for mild to moderate depression, but not severe depression. Just wondering if it has helped anyone here to reduce depression or balance out moods?

[meat suit]

yes, 3 per day taken with each with a shot glass of Omega 3 oil... (omega 3-6-9 actually.. but 3 is the one good against depression)
got me out of it quite a few times... takes a few days to a week usually...
hope it works for you...

[Natalia]

yes, 3 per day taken with each with a shot glass of Omega 3 oil... (omega 3-6-9 actually.. but 3 is the one good against depression)
got me out of it quite a few times... takes a few days to a week usually...
hope it works for you...

Thanks, I'm going to try it.

[chocolate]

I like to combine St John's Wort with thyme, chamomile, spearmint, mint, lemon balm, linden blossom, oats. I almost never take pills, for the formulation of the active ingredients is totally different than what is found in nature. In some very rare cases when the herb is not available for some reason I might take a pill, but if I can choose, I prefer to go for what nature has designed.

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[Natalia]

Thanks Chocolate :) I will look into some of those things.

[Kryztian]

Several years ago I took it and it made me VERY spacey. My mind kept drifting from the situations I was in and into the world of daydreams.

For me, it was the wrong herb. I didn't have so much depression, but more anxiety and stress, and Kava Kava was the right herb.

I imagine St. John's Wort works differently on different people, and if given for the right situation, it may not have the bad side effects it did for me. My suggestion is that if you take it, monitor your thoughts and feelings closely for the first 30 days, because it can take that long for the negative effects to show up.

Chris

[chocolate]

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[angelfire]

St John's Wort worked wonders for pretty severe depression which I was stuck in some years ago. A friend advised me to buy capsules/tablets containing the optimum amount of hypericin - this article shoud help. Good luck!

http://hypericum.com/blog/how-to-use-st-johns-wort-part-5/

[TrumanCash]

I had severe "asthma" about twenty years ago. At least that is what the doctors called it. I eventually started taking St. John's Wort capsules and got pretty good results so I continued taking them. I later found out from a naturopath that St. John's Wort helps the liver to detoxify. This would explain why some people experience "side effects" from taking it. It's the toxins being released into the bloodstream and therefore they are temporarily being experienced until they are expelled from the body.

In my case it was the inhalers themselves that were causing my liver to be toxic. One of the stated side effects of one of the inhalers is, ironically, "difficulty breathing". This is because when the liver is toxic it can also adversely affect the lungs.

I eventually discovered Essiac tea which also can help depression because it detoxifies the liver and helps eliminate toxins from the body. (Of course, not all depression is the result of toxins/drugs.) I found that Essiac tea was significantly more effective than St. John's Wort, plus it has many other benefits as well. Truly a foundational tea. Here (http://www.healthfreedom.info/essiac_info.htm) is a website with the most information about it.

TLC

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Start with 5htp. pre curser to seratonin. The building blocks

[Natalia]

Marianne Williamson just posted this today on facebook (in responce to this one that she posted yesterday "Sadness is not a disease. We don't need pharmaceuticals to get through a dark night of the soul.")

"My comment yesterday struck quite a nerve.Those who were offended probably aren't reading this now, but I will try to make my point in a way that more people will understand.

I do not believe that all sadness is a mental illness. There is such a thing as mental illness, of course, the treatment of which by psychotherapeutic drugs is sometimes nothing short of life-saving. Certainly with conditions like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, this as true.

But the normal sadness of life -- once again, the "normal" sadness of life -- is not in that category. Our current cultural impulse to avoid sadness at all costs, casting some cheap yellow smiley face over everything lest we cast a tear or two, has led to an epidemic of CASUAL anti-depressant use. Hundreds of thousands of people simply mention to a health care provider once or twice that times have been rough, to then find themselves with a medical prescription in their hands. When it comes to anything at all involving our bodies, I thought we had long ago left behind the idea that we should do something just because a doctor says it. This is not a conversation we should simply leave to the "doctors and therapists;" if anything, we should be having it more. Personal suffering is not always a medical issue.

Sometimes sadness comes bearing some important information, and grist for the mill of personal transformation. It doesn't stigmatize people with mental illness to point out that not every person going through a rough time is mentally ill. While I don't judge anyone for taking medication, I stand by my belief that we're an overmedicated society and that the phenomenon should be deeply examined. ~ Marianne Williamson

[Ellisa]

Be very careful with St John's wort as it interacts with many other medications quite seriously.

[nenosema]

Go over to your local groovy herb shop and buy a couple oz of Motherwort.. This tea has eaffects on the heart physically and metaphysically, very powerful. If you were to smell the two, St John's wort & Motherwort they do contain something similar .. I am not sure what .. if it's the same uplifting ingredient, but I've noticed it's in a couple other plants I'm fond of aswell.. less popular ones tho.

I had the same reaction to st John's as Kryztian did a few years ago. It just didn't seem to be my cup of tea, or it wasn't what I needed help with at the time.. Maybe if I gave it a bit more time to work it's magic? I've seen it work out for many people online.

Motherwort & Mugwort will always have a special place in my heart. Motherwort is a beautiful tea to have with you wherever you are in this. It's also good and quite grounding take or to search for the plants that you bond with or are trying to find, at anytime. These teas can be a bit bitter and better without any sweetener in my experience, 'sometimes' (it doesn't mask the taste much at all anyway) (the bitter-er the better chemically) it's easier to drink and even kind of pleasant once you let it cool for a while. Try Lemon Balm too ! it is amazing! :] (something you must take a few times tho


Also Kryztian, Kava Kava would have be something I liked too at the time. Have you ever tried tea of Wild Dagga or Lion's tail? (Leonotis leonurus) It's very very subtle, but once you notice the feelings of "normal" anxiety or nervousness are gone ! you may just smile one of those crazy smiles..:biggrin:it is definitely something I need to probably start taking daily.. Oh! carefull if you smoke the stuff! it is HARSH on the lungs - good in tea, flowers especially.

There are tons of plants out there, look around and experiment is all I can recommend, try different combinations. Verbena flower I hear is good, have only tried leaf, it's okay.. Gotu Kola . Ohh & don't forget Chocolate, cacao :wub:. HeavenlyProducts is a good online . Erowid is a place where people try all sorts of substances /things and write up reports, very interesting to read..

Good luck Amethyst :) I know you will find the right plants
here are some links
https://www.heavenly-products.com/
https://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp_list.shtml

loose leaf is always always best + absorb better than capsules IMO. and you are aware of Distilled waters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_msWtSljFQw) being incredibly positive?

Make green smoothies everyday!!!!


& totally agree with the above post. It is always true that these powerful plant medicines will likely have some negative reaction if taken with prescription medications. if anyone would like to try adding natural herbs safely to their day they should stop taking those medications for a week and even safer up to two weeks in advance, thank you::

[blknwhite]

I have found st johns wort very helpful. I only use standardized capsules (standardized to .03% hypericin) as I found the tea, or tincture I made caused me to feel spacey. I take one to two, one to two times per day if I am feeling depressed. For general mood or sleep help I usually take one or two per day (sometimes 2 twice a day). Taken a couple hours before bed it can help with sleep. 5 htp is another supplement that can help with mood and depression (also sugar cravings). With 5 htp, start with 50 mgs, if you don't notice improvement then try 100mgs once to twice daily. The dosage range is 50 to 200 mgs. Taken in the evening it can help sleep but doesn't cause drowsiness if taken during the day. Although 200 mgs makes me drowsy if I take it during the day so I usually take 50 to 100mgs during the day and 150mgs works for me for sleep better at night. They both work for sleep because they increase serotonin levels and at night serotonin is converted to melatonin, the sleep hormone. If one doesn't work for you, the other probably will. If one is taking prescription anti depressants, then both st johns and 5 htp are contraindicated. This is because you would wind up with too much serotonin, which can cause deeper depression. Too little serotonin or too much can cause depression. I like to use st johns in the winter because it has anti viral properties and nourishes the nervous system.