Posted by Larry Hoover on May 24, 2003, at 12:08:51
In reply to St. John's wort long term safety question?, posted by bookgurl99 on May 24, 2003, at 11:15:41
> Hi,
>
> As I'm currently switching from an SSRI to Saint John's Wort (in an effort to eventually give up all antidepressant 'substances'), I am wondering what evidence there is regarding long-term safety and St. John's Wort. Just as the jury is still out on long-term pharmaceutical SSRI safety, is there still no data on longer term St. John's Wort use?Nobody's done that kind of study yet, as far as I know.
> Are there any studies out there, aside from Germany's Commission M (or whatever it's called?), that have examined the long-term safety of SJW?Perhaps the German experience is instructive, by the very absence of reports of adverse effects in the long term. 10's of millions of doses of SJW extracts, used by German patients, have yet to stimulate even case reports of long term adverse effects. I know, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence", but as it stands, that's all that can be said.
Compared to SSRIs, with both acute (treatment emergent) and persistent (even after withdrawal of treatment) side-effects, the generally benign character of SJW stands in rather stark contrast, IMHO.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:228825
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030520/msgs/228845.html