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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Maniz on November 29, 2000, at 17:15:10
Hi,
I would like to know if anyone had good results with St. Johns Wort.
I took 2 tabs x 300mg/day for 5 weeks with no clear results. Sometimes it seems it is sedating, but no anti-depressive effect.
Should I continue?. I will complete two months and see.
Maybe I should try adrafinil (and forget the idea of a more "gentle" and easily available substance). Although I can not have liver tests.
Thanks for any comment.
Posted by jb on November 29, 2000, at 17:34:34
In reply to any success with St. John´s Wort?, posted by Maniz on November 29, 2000, at 17:15:10
I tried SJW, but did not have any noticeable effects. You might want to get on PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
and look what some of the research suggests. The last time I looked, there were a few compounds which had high levels of hyperforin, which, according to those articles, is the more active ingredient. Hypericin had been thought to be the more important ingredient. If you try SJW, be sure to advise your physician, as well as avoid too much exposure to the sun.
Good Luck.
JB
Posted by JohnL on November 30, 2000, at 4:49:08
In reply to any success with St. John´s Wort?, posted by Maniz on November 29, 2000, at 17:15:10
There are plenty of scientific studies supporting SJW. But in real life it seems a little harder to find those good results. I think these are important things to keep in mind:
1) A brand with high hyperforin content is very important. These include Kira, Movana, or Nature's Way Perika. Hyperforin--not hypericin--is the heavy weight workhorse in SJW. You want a brand that has 3% to 5% hyperforin. The three mentioned brands do. Forget about hypericin. They all have that. It's not important. Hyperforin is.
2) Though usual doses are 3 X 300mg per day, the more impressive clinical studies used higher doses...all the way up to 9 X 300mg per day. The current dose of 2 X 300mg is probably too low to be of much good, especially if it isn't a brand with high hyperforin content. Might as well take parsley instead. :-) You could consider going up to 3 tabs a day minimum, but try 5 or 6 per day too.If it's sedating, take your doses later in the day. For example, you could take one tab with lunch, two tabs with dinner, and another tab or two before bed. The brand New Chapter has a version of SJW that has high hyperforin content and is dosed just once a day. You get the full 900mg in one capsule. That could be taken at dinner time, maybe followed up with scattered tabs of another brand during the day.
In any case, your current dose is likely too low, and if it is not a high-hyperforin brand it is probably not much better than lettuce.
John
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