| TO
WELCOME
TO CONTENTS |
Authors retain both copyright and responsibility for content |
| For
a full monograph on St John's Wort visit rxlist's "alternatives "site http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/alt/stjohn.htm
For a comprehensive science-based
description and critique of its use visit The Natural Pharmacy http://www.tnp.com/propages.asp?ID=38
(April 2001) Extract from a doubleblind controlled study sponsored by Pfizer, makers of Prozac - AND of St John's Wort extract http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v285n15/abs/joc02013.html Effectiveness of St John's Wort in Major Depression The number reaching remission of illness was significantly higher with St John's wort than with placebo (P = .02), but the rates were very low in the full intention-to-treat analysis (14/98 [14.3%] vs 5/102 [4.9%], respectively). St John's wort was safe and well tolerated. Headache was the only adverse event that occurred with greater frequency with St John's wort than placebo (39/95 [41%] vs 25/100 [25%], respectively). Conclusion: In this
study, St John's wort was not effective for treatment of major
depression.
The UK Committee on the Safety of Medicines has several pdf documents on Important interactions between St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) preparations and prescribed medicines at http://www.open.gov.uk/mca/csm/urgent.htm One of them is: FACT
SHEET FOR THE PUBLIC
For a more technical and complex presentation of the same material see http://www.open.gov.uk/mca/sjwcl.pdf |
| http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band31/b31-2.html
Quantitative Systematic Review of St John's Wort: The review sought studies which were randomised comparisons of Hypericum extracts against placebo or other antidepressants. They found 23. When judged against a validated quality scoring system, almost half scored 80% or more of the possible points available. The judgement of success was set by the reviewers as treatment responders. To be a responder, patients had to have a Hamilton depression score of less than 10, a reduction in Hamilton depression score of at least 50%, or be much improved or very much improved on a clinical global impressions index. Treatment or observation periods were usually four to eight weeks. Seven different preparations had been tested. Daily doses of extract varied considerably in the trials, and dose was not a criterion used to judge efficacy. Visit the URL above for details |
| Hypericum
extract improves depression and quality of life
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7224/0/d In the first comparative
three arm trial of Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort) over eight weeks,
Philipp et al (p
1534) showed that the standardised extract STEI 300 was a more effective
antidepressant than placebo and at least as effective as imipramine (100
mg daily) in a sample of 263 patients in Germany with moderate depression.
Quality of life was improved with the hypericum extract compared with placebo
in both mental and physical components of the SF-36. Phytomedicine is therefore
an important alternative to tricyclics in patients with moderate depression.
|
| I read
a critique about the "German" studies of St John's Wort for depression
in a recent Johns Hopkins Medical Journal which claimed it was compared
with sub-therapeutic dosages of common prescription anti-depressants and
therefore SJW came in equally "effective" for the treatment of depression
as common Rx products. This would be intentionally deceptive if true.
Joan First of all, the German studies on SJW exist - but I had a hard time tracing them, too. I indeed doubted they exist for a while. The reason for this lack of information could be that we Germans get our herbs from doctors and we trust them. No need to look for studies or a monograph from the Health Department. Judging from my research so far the studies available at http://www.hypericum.com are authentic. A meta-analysis was published in the British Medical Journal, 3. August 1996. Secondly some of the studies
did indeed compare SJW with sub-therapeutic dosages of anti-depressants
but the outcome is that SJW is equally effective only in the cases of *mild*
depression (the monograph says "depressive Verstimmungszustaende" which
sounds more like having the blues). I did get quite a lot of my material
on SJW from pharma companies (my doctor friend advised me how to express
myself in order to get more scientific information) and to my surprise
some of it is pretty neutral. In cases of moderate to severe depression
SJW is not at all recommended - even considered dangerous in case of suicidal
tendencies because of its only mild efficacy.
As I said, St. John's Wort affects individuals differently. The times I used it, I was having extreme depression, including suicidal thoughts. The St. John's Wort reduced that, eliminating the suicidal feelings. It didn't put me quite back to "normal" (getting my period did that) but the MINOR depression that remained was bearable. So, for me, St. John's Wort did help with suicidal thoughts. Lianne, I am not denying your personal experience but your quick and positive response to SJW is not the rule. SJW usually takes about 2-4 weeks before an effect can be noticed. Recommending it in case of suicidal thoughts (where its efficacy is severely questioned by the medical profession in my country by now anyway) could mean endangering a life. I attribute much of my own
catastrophe with depression and panic disorder to SJW because doctors blindly
believed in it at that time. The severity of my symptoms would have excluded
me from any study on SJW - yet that herb was all I ever got from my doctors
until I deteriorated to a point of total psychical and physical breakdown.
|
| My
doctor wants to put me on the birthcontrol pill to reg. my periods
I don't think that's right and I'm so depressed I can't even think--I don't
want to get up or go to sleep sometimes I just think about ending it.
Did you tell the doctor that you are so depressed? If you can't talk to the doctor about it maybe you could try some St. John's Wort pills. It takes about 3 months of taking it before you should notice results, but I have found it to be very effective for elevating my mood. It doesn't work well for severe depression but there have been clinical trials with it that prove it to be very effective for mild depression. Fiona Please be careful with the bc pill since you are already depressive. It can sometimes cause and aggravate depression. I think you need to get professional help quickly. Suicidal thoughts indicate severe depression and specifically St. John's Wort is INEFFECTIVE in this case. Sorry for the shouting but I know what I am talking about. Been there..done that. Please get help - you deserve
it. Sonja
I sympathize with you about having depression. I've had that a few times. My personal opinion is, that if other causes of depression have been ruled out, then probably the hormone changes going on in your body are the cause of the depression. However, feeling suicidal is definitely a danger sign, and you do need to get some help for that. (I don't know for sure if it's true, but I think I read, somewhere, that the depression of perimenopause tends to be acute like this -- including suicidal feelings.) So if this is lasting more than just a few days you should see a mental health clinic or your physician about it. If you want to take the risk
of self-treatment (which I don't recommend unless you research it carefully),
St. John's Wort is the most commonly suggested herbal remedy. Below
are some web links to information on Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort).
Since I doubt you'll have the energy to read the information on every link
I've posted, I tried to list the most helpful links at the top, and (approximately)
decreasing in usefulness or relativity as one goes down the list.
I got those URLs a few months ago by doing a search at http://www.altavista.digital.com/ using the following search string: St. John's Wort, hypericum -densiflorum -prolificum (There are several types of hypericum, and too many links to other, non-medical forms, show up unless you eliminate those by typing -densiflorum -prolificum) Here, also, is a link to information on depression http://www.MedicineNet.com/mni.asp?ag=Y&li=mni&ArticleKey=342 (Actually you're supposed to enter the site at this link below, and agree to the disclaimers listed, before accessing the information: http://www.MedicineNet.com/mni.asp?ag=&li=mni&ArticleKey=229 ) Many more links on depression can be found by doing a web search (such as at altavista, above). By the way, St. John's Wort,
as well as antidepressant drugs, will have a slightly different effect
on each individual. The two times I've used St. John's Wort, I noticed
a definite improvement of my depression within 24-36 hours after beginning
taking it. I never took it for longer than 1 week at a time, so I
don't know what its long-term effect would be for me.
|
| Botanical.com conducted
a survey of perceived effects of St John's Wort. The results are below
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/stjoh.html St John's Wort Results...
|
TO
WELCOME
Page updated April 21, 01