Recently my son agreed to take some herbal supplements. He's now taking Omega3, St. John's Wort, and Ginkgo Biloba, and appears to be doing well.

He was not happy with the "flat" feeling that his previous meds left him with. Once he turned 18 he refused his prescribed meds; Wellbutrin, Abilify, and Seroquel.

Together we're trying to keep him feeling stable, but not "flat". I think it may be working. Keeping my fingers crossed.

you know, I don't doubt the results of this test but treating a single symptom with a single herb is really no different than taking a drug...not to say there is necessarily anything wrong with it, but to truly treat holistically and get to the source of the problem it's necessary to deal with the whole body and mins not just a symptom...just to throw out the idea to those who are interested in cure and a real paradigm shift from the sick bind we find ourselves in.

Using St. John's Wort alone without healing the body and mind on more profound levels is just like taking an SSRI---perhaps sans all the atrocious side effects and so if that is all you want go for it...

But if you want to go deeper and heal more profoundly you have to get away from using herbs/and/or nutrients in an allopathic fashion. This is still within the realms of allopathy while simply using a non-pharmaceutical...

Alternative/holistic medicine is about living and eating differently.

Just something to chew on.

According to MedPage, the studies which gave those most positive results for St. John's Wort were all German. Maybe there is a bias in German research to favor St. John's Wort. I am curious what the non-German studies have to say.

yes but if SSRIs aren't any more effective than placebo, what precisely does this mean.

Even the NIMH have a page that states "There is some scientific evidence that St. John's wort is useful for treating mild to moderate depression."

I also like that it lists "side effects". You know those things that we get when we take a pill. Here is just the most common "side effects" from this "natural" cure:

The most common side effects of St. John's wort include dry mouth, dizziness, diarrhea, nausea, increased sensitivity to sunlight, and fatigue.

People have *gasp* died from taking this as well. Thsi is really no different than taking a pill. Still has side effects, someof which have been lethal. Is no different than just popping a pill with no other treatment. Not to mention the fact you have no idea of purity, strength and other factors that can vary from brand to brand and even from bottle to bottle in the same brand.

I really dont see it as any different than a pharma company other than they have even less restrictions on them.

St. Johns Wort is not regulated by the FDA and can cause serious liver and kidney problems if taken for a long period of time. My sister passed away at the age of 37 from complications. She was diabetic and the doctor suggested she try SJW instead of Prozac for her depression. When the autopsy was done, it was concluded that she had toxic levels of SJW in her blood stream that the liver was not filtering right. She was affectively poisoned. Herbs are never good to take more then a few weeks at a time. Until the FDA fixes the CODEX for herbs, we have no way to regulate the levels of 'stuff' that is in the herbs. At least pharmaceuticals are regulated. Germany and other European countries have more regulation for the herbal treatments they offer. Just be careful. It also can have more counteraction with meds you are already on.

I grow herbs, mainly culinary. I've sold my organic herbs wholesale and have learned quite a lot in my decades of gardening. I have respect for herbs as medicine and concern for the way people misuse them. I would never purchase any herbal medicine in a store, only grow my own and even then well, I really don't use them medicinally. I've thought of using my STW in tea but for some reason always held back.

My feeling is that a lot of herbal medicine is flat-out folklore, often born of desperation. What else am I to make of a plant called pleurisy root, used for lung ailments...because it has lung-shaped *leaves*??? Hey, if I were out living in the woods with no penicillin available I'd take a chance on it curing my pneumonia too. But I don't, so I don't.

BUT, some herbs (digitalis, SJW and others) DO have properties that one needs to respect the same as one needs to respect (and research) any other medicine. Let's face it, if an herb is strong enough to be effective in a positive way, then it's going to be strong enough to affect you in a negative way if you misuse it, don't understand it or buy it from someone who doesn't know what they're doing or is caving in to the pressures of commerce in their production methods.

Kriss, I'm really sorry for your loss.

MAOI's interact w/ so many foods & other meds so people have to be very, very careful when taking them. And as others mentioned, there is zero regulation of the "natural" meds - nobody really knows what or how much they're getting. No thanks.