St. Johns Wort

tmac

St. Johns Wort

tmac

Hi there,

Anyway ever use St. Johns Wort for mild depression?  I'm reading up on it and it says there could be interference w/cyclosporine (med taken re:transplanted organs).  It got me wondering if I was given anything during or after surgery in the hosp. bc my PS used alloderm, which is donated human tissue.  I can get the answer from my PS, but I'm more curious if anyone has tried the herb for mild depression.  I'd love any feedback.   

Thanks,

Teresa

lisa39

Hi,

I would run it by the oncologist before starting to take it.  A lot of herbs interact negatively with pharmaceuticals.  

tmac

Thanks for the post.  I'm finished w/tx. (my tx. was my surgery), so I really only need to clear it w/my BS & PS, who both okayed it.  I have a friend who is a psychiatrist, thinking I will give her a call.

althea

I tried it years ago.  I think it helped for a while, but after a while I didn't like it as much.  Trying to remember why.  ...  I seem to recall feeling anxious, like my pulse was racing perhaps.  As I did more research on it, I decided to discontinue it. 

One thing I learned in the hormone therapy section was St Johns Wort is not recommended if you take tamoxifen.  They both use the same enzyme to metabolize into our systems, and several pharmaceutical antidepressants do the same.  It's not advisable to take two things that depend on the same enzyme to metabolize.  

<> Also, SJW can interfere with the effectiveness of birth control pills, which probably isn't something people here are taking, but it's definitely important information, so I thought I'd mention it.  I don't recall the source of my information.  Back in those days I wasn't as cognizant about who wrote or who funded informational literature as I am now.  

<> Do you have a transplanted organ?

AnnNYC

Teresa,

People are not given cyclosporin or any other anti-organ-rejection drugs just because Alloderm was used.  Alloderm is not a skin graft -- all cells (including all cells that could trigger rejection) have been removed from skin in order to make Alloderm, which is a "matrix" or framework of collagen fibers only.

But one more precaution about St John's Wort (in addition to those mentioned above): stay out of the sun!  It really heightens sensitivity to sun, and can result in blistering burns -- even in animals that graze on the plant in the wild!