Posted by JD on May 16, 1999, at 8:13:30
In reply to Re: effectiveness of St. John's Wort versus celexa, posted by Doug on May 7, 1999, at 11:03:37
From what I've read, the MAO inhibition
effects of St. John's Wort are not extremely
high, though it IS a major no-no to combine
it with serious MAOI's like Nardil and
Parnate (and, to a slightly lesser extent,
even SSRIs like Prozac).From my personal experience with SJW, I
can say that it DID cause a noticeable rise
in my heart-rate (perhaps even blood pressure)
during the first days I used it, until I
lowered the dose. So if there's any causal
connection at all with purported cardiac
side-effects (one anecdote hardly being
enough to conclude anything!), it may well
have nothing to do with MAO inhibition at
all... Whatever the underlying truth is,
I agree that SJW should be not be taken
"casually" just because it's available
over the counter in the US: it's basically
a med like any other, with not all that
much known about how it works to boot!
--JD
poster:JD
thread:912
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990501/msgs/6173.html