Posted by bleauberry on May 22, 2008, at 20:02:51
In reply to Started St. John's Wort 500mg *Flare*, posted by Quintal on May 22, 2008, at 16:38:40
Here is some info on SJW compiled from hundreds of posts at sjwinfo.org.
Some people respond badly to high hyperforin brands, while others love them. Some people do best with the proven brands (Kira, Perika), while others do much better with el-cheapo brands which are usually low hyperforin. Trying 2 or 3 brands is recommended if the first brand fails.
Some people respond very quickly, while a good many people say it took 8 weeks to 12 weeks to kick in.
Some people do best on low doses (150mg-300mg), much worse on higher doses, most people seem to like doses in the 600mg-900mg range, and once in a while someone takes a much higher dose with good effect.
The time of day it is dosed, or whether it is taken all at once or in multiple doses, somehow has an effect on how it works. Some people swear by evening dosing after daytime dosing was doing nothing, or vica versa. Some people do best taking it all at once at night, some all at once in morning, and some spread out through the day. If things aren't working out right, experimentation is recommended.
If it poops out, most people can regain the effect by...lowering the dose. Really.
How it will interact with the other meds is anyone's guess. When I took it with prozac and zyprexa, it ended up decreasing prozac levels and increasing zyprexa levels. It mostly speeds up CYP3A4, but also slows down a different one.
So there ya go.
Honestly, the best AD response I ever got was on an el cheapo brand, second best was Kira, and a distant 3rd place was pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately for me SJW worked awesome only for a couple weeks and then I just got numb like SSRIs do. That was not common, but of course it had to happen to me.
poster:bleauberry
thread:830546
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080519/msgs/830596.html