Posted by JohnL on November 7, 2000, at 3:27:33
In reply to Help, posted by David Peterson on November 6, 2000, at 10:49:16
> I have a question, My Doctor don't know about St John's Wort. He told me it would be ok to take meds together So it means SJW 300mg 3 times a day Paxil 20mg once a day and Ativan 1mg 3 times a day.. Does anyone know if this combo will hurt me? I believe SJW and Paxil shouldn't be taking together.
There is one documented case of an extreme sedation/stupor kind of reaction to the combination of Paxil+SJW recorded in literature. I personally experienced this same thing when I tried it. I couldn't drive 5 minutes without having to pull off the road to shut my eyes. I know that doesn't mean it will happen to anyone, but it has been documented and I did experience it. Not fun.
It must be something specific to Paxil, because I have combined SJW with Zoloft or Prozac with no problems at all. If you want to try Paxil+SJW, it might be wise to start with just 300mg SJW just once a day to see how it goes. Give it a week before thinking about increasing the dose. This way you can catch any adverse events early, if they happen. At the first sign of trouble, i.e. oversedation, stupor, severe diarrhea, it would be wise to stop both the Paxil and the SJW immediately, and then restart just the Paxil at a half dose after a day or two when the symptoms go away. Then work back up to where you were, and take some time to rethink what to do next.
John
poster:JohnL
thread:48261
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001102/msgs/48338.html