has anyone withdrawn from antidepressants using st john's wort?

Question

has anyone substituted an anti depressant drug with st john's wort. ? and did it work well?

Answer 1

I have been taking Citalopram, which would increase side-effects if taken with St John's Wort, so as there must be a level of Citalopram in the body, at what point would I be able to take SJW without them reacting?
A herbal replacement does sound a better idea as I'm checking of the drug's side effects like a game of bingo . . .

Answer 2

You must not take St John's Wort while you are taking an anti depressant - this is potentially very dangerous.

Check with your specialist who will tell you how long you must wait after coming off the anti depressant before starting the St John's Wort.

You should also take advice about St John's Wort if you are on the Pill.

Answer 3

I did just that, and the St John's Wort worked quite well, for a while. I tapered the antidepressant, while slowly increasing the St John's Wort until I was off the antidepressant. Took the St John's Wort for four years before it was no longer effective for me. Good luck.

Answer 4

There are countries where St Johns Wort is banned. There are good reasons for this. Using it whilst you have anti depressants in your system can cause serotonin syndrome. Google it, it can be fatal, regularly is fatal, and is really not something I'd bother messing with. If you can just taper off without relying on another pill I think you'll be just fine. St Johns Wort does increase serotonin, hence the fatal side effects, I would avoid the risk and do as your doctor says. If you're well enough to come off anti depressants, you shouldn't need SJW.

Good luck, and please, do be careful.

Answer 5

They really haven't proven that St. John's Wort works. If you stop what you're taking now and substitute it with St. John's expect to have an emotional crash in about a week. It's a bad idea.

Answer 6

I have not withdrawn from prescription antidepressants using St. John's Wort but I have used the SJW. I don't know that it will work for everyone but I have been able to keep myself off prescription meds using it.

Answer 7

Seems to work well for some. But has evidenced some contr-indications for others. Such is the nature of depression.

It would be better to try and withdraw from antidepressants without having to substitute something else if it is at all possible, I feel (well... that is what I am attempting to do at the moment!)

If you accept that depression stems from the fact that the 'mind' is somehow trying to inform us that it is 'unhappy' with one or more aspects of life, and this 'manifests' as depression, I have come to the conclusion that this means it is preferable to try and reach the place where you can be honest enough with yourself, and with others, to realize, identify and accept those aspects of life that are the root cause of your unhappiness/depression.

This can then lead you to identify what changes you can choose to make to adjust things in a way that your mind naturally begins to heal itself.

This may sound simple -- but it is of course far from it. This is because it is often very hard to accept the need for change, and even harder to undertake it. In truth I suspect that many depression sufferers actually know what it is that is affecting them, but their depressin stems from their inability to see how to overcome/resolve those issues. Sometimes the changes that need to be made can be brutal, painful, frightening and hence apparently (but not actually) impossible.

All forms of drug, whether manufactured, or natural, are simply things that can merely alleviate the symptoms of depression -- perhaps by reducing the susceptibilty to emotion, or by 'lightening the mood' for a while -- BUT they can NEVER solve the problems hat have triggered the depression itself, therefore they can not CURE depression, merely assuage its impact to some extent.

I feel it is also important to realize that in cases where a person cannot really identify the changes that are needed to 'mend' their lives, the probable 'answer' for them is to learn aceptance. This I suspect is even harder than undertaking change in many cases -- and the inabilty to 'accept' the immutability of things may be the single major cause of depression in society today.

Answer 8

Hi the best thing you can do is talk to your doctor or phone the NHS direct and get the right info before you do anything like that. some antidepressants don't interact with others very well so please be careful.

Answer 9

If you follow your doctors orders and taper off your meds you shouldnt have any withdrawals to speak of. Talk to your doc.

Answer 10

yes my friend has, and she is well and truly over her depression.