Posted by bleauberry on September 13, 2009, at 17:38:41
In reply to St John's Wort on Bipolar II, posted by fattoush on September 11, 2009, at 17:54:52
> I am now on a low dose (450 mgs) of Lithium for my bipolar II depression. I could not tolerate any form of anti-depressant. I also could not tolerate AAPs or other anti-convulsants. I am doing better, not suicidal anymore, but am still depressed. I have a friend who swears by St John's Wort. She says that she was jittery at the beginning but that went away. Her depression lifted, her concentration is better. Any bipolars out there with experience with St John's Wort?
St Johns Wort can be used in bipolar and anecdotally has shown mood stabilization properties, though I am not aware of any scientific studies done on that. One of the most frequent comments by SJW users whether it works on their depression or not is that it levels out their mood swings.
SJW can cause overstimulation at first and can unbalance things, as can anything that impacts the nervous system.
SJW can be more potent than people realize. Just because it is sold like a vitamin doesn't mean it isn't a drug.
The most responsible approach I know of to approach this would be:
1. Start with 75mg for the first 3 days.
2. Increase to 75mg BID the next 4 days.
3. Add 75mg every 3-4 days.
4. Be prepared to wait or adjust depending on what you feel.At a SJW forum, these are some common trends that are seen in their years of archives:
1. The brand matters. For some people, the cheap brands (Spring Valley WalMart, Rite-Aid) work best while the clinical brands (Kira, Perika) don't. With others, the exact opposite scenario happens. When one brand doesn't work or is problematic, one of the next 4 brands tried usually works well. So just as with individual antidepressants, individual brands of SJW are uniquely different. It is important to try multiple brands to find the right one for you.
2. Dose size makes a difference. For some, it is 300mg per day. Others, 600mg or 900mg. Rare, but a few others, up to 1800mg. More is not always better. Less can be better unless proven otherwises in each individual case.
3. Dosing time makes a difference. Some people noticed an ineffective one time morning dose of 900mg became very effective when they switched to taking it at night instead. And the opposite. Some people do best with the entire day's dose all at once, while others find specific times of the day to spread out their doses.
When SJW works, it really works amazingly well. I think what causes a lot of perceived failure with it is the lack of awareness of the above observations of longtime successful users.
poster:bleauberry
thread:916539
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090912/msgs/916940.html