St john's wort tea

tmbg1

Does anyone have any experience drinking st john's wort tea during pms or to help with depression? (Or taking the supplements) Is it effective on an as needed basis or do you have to drink it everyday? Seems like a better alternative to stress-eating if it works.

sugaraddict4321

Like many herbal supplements, St John's Wort can interfere or interact with prescription medications in a negative way. Please take care when supplementing and if in doubt, ask your pharmacist for more information.

Here's a link to a Mayo Clinic article:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-st-johns-wort/art-20362212

_runnerbean_

It works in a similar way to Prozac so you would get the most benefit from taking St. John’s worth every day, rather than just occasionally. I’d be unsure how much is actually supplied by the tea, you’d be better taking a good quality supplement or speaking to your GP first. As the above poster said, St Johns wort can interact with many prescribed medicines, including the contraceptive pill, so ask a pharmacist before taking it.

Iwantahealthierme30

I have never taken it because I'm on a benzo and abilify and it counteracts.

westrich20940

There is little data to support the use of St. John's Wort for depression long-term.

There is evidence that it can be effective to help with symptoms of mild/moderate depression; however, there are LOTS of drug interactions with St. John's Wort as well as negative side effects of long-term use (like increased blood pressure and anxiety - and for people who may have bipolar disorder, it can bring on manic symptoms too).

You should speak to a medical professional about using this supplement to treat something like depression. I don't know much about how it does with PMS symptoms. But, overall, using 'supplements' that are not FDA approved is a crap shoot b/c even if it has evidence that it's good for something, it can also be bad for something else....and there's no way to really know what's in the supplement.

Exercise, for example, probably has a similar amount of scientific support as a treatment for mild/moderate depression --- both have been shown to be almost equally as effective as popularly prescribed SSRIs -- although all of this should be done with the guidance of a doctor and most likely a combination of physical activity, rx medication, and psychotherapy would be most effective.

BahstenB10

I can only post from experience. I had this job once that I was miserable at. I left a bottle of St John's Wort in the drawer. Every time that place irritated me, I'd take a pill and BOOM (which was usually daily ) Irritability and all that fun stuff gone. I can't speak from a PMS side and also, I do not take an RXs.

Aimeesdiet

I take the tablets when I'm going through a low period, they're very 50/50 somedays they work so well and other days, nothing. If you think it'll help you cope definitely give it a go

tmbg1

Thanks everyone I appreciate the input.