60 days and more depresssed than ever!

[zien]

I'm a 27 y/o male dealing with anxiety/depression. I take GNC brand. 900mg a day standardized. I've been in therapy for 8 weeks and it's helped. SJW really kicked in 3 weeks after I started and I felt like I almost recovered 7 weeks in. About two week ago, my depression came back worse than ever.
I have the most debilitating fatigue. I dance 30 hours a week and noticed I have been very very stressed the past couple of weeks as well.
Should i cut down on SJW or drop it altogether? My depression was never THIS bad.
What gives? Now i wonder if I should drop it altogether without cutting down. Help!

[babablacksheep]

SJW may not be working for you. Talk to your therapist about other options, consider prescription anti-depressants if you haven't already.

Recommend you lower your dosage slowly over two weeks. However, don't combine with other anti-depressants.

[Sleepless]

Like baba said, don't quit cold turkey. You might make things worse, and you will never know if you would have been OK on a lower dose. In my experience, the SJW can build up in your system, and the depression that you are feeling is a warning sign that you need to cut down. When I went up to 3X300mg of Kira a day, I felt so depressed and horrible. I slowly came back down and now I am taking just 225mg a day and feel great. I find that when I come straight down by 300mg I do have some withdrawal effects however. Dizziness, confusion, anxiety etc. I need to come down in increments of 150g at most. Like I say, I think it is best to do these things slowly, even if you are at the point where you are absolutely loathing the wort. For one, your system has become used to having this herb in your body, and taking it away suddenly can give it a real shock. For two, if you have been taking for about 10 weeks, and it was working, then it probably just is a matter of playing with the dose. Let me tell you LESS IS MORE - and if you need proof - look back at some of my posts. The name is Sleepless, and one particular post titled Day 27 says it all. I was in a terrible state, but after backing off it has all come good. Don't deprive yourself of the opportunity to feel good - it still could work for you!

[NathanSF]

Same for me. About 7 weeks, still completely depressed. I'm about to give up on SJW and try 5HTP.

I may taper off SJW, or quit it cold turkey. Personally, I don't think it matters because it hasn't done a thing.

I think I'm going to drop it and start 5HTP. I really have no idea of the dose I was getting anyway - was making a tea from the loose herbs twice a day.

Best of luck. I'm glad SJW helps some, wish it would help me!

[ScottW]

I found that I cannot take SJW every single day. I get my best results when I take it only days in a row, and then take a couple of days off. I take a 300mg right before bed and it knocks me out solid.

I don't really fight depression, I have a total lack of seratonin that only SJW can give me.

If I take more than that, if I take 600 or 900mg I get into REALLY bad shape. After a couple of days at this dosage I start to whine about every little thing, I become over sensitive, more depressed, totally restless.

But before I get to that stage I find myself saying hello to just about everyone, more engaging, more fluid in what I say and what I write, it's great. However, the more I take, those positive symptoms start to go away fast.

I think people are under the misconception that this stuff is in and out of your body in one day. It's not. SJW has a half life, from what I understand from a herbologist, is about 7 days. So each day you don't start from a base line of 0% in your system. Your new base line is like 10-15% and each day it adds a little more. We often think that because we are on a 24 hour time schedule that our meds/supplements are as well, and it's just not the case.

IMO, I think it prudent to take a real balanced aproach on SJW. It's great stuff for curbing anxiety and depression, but it can get out of control real fast. Again, just my op.

Best - Scott

[zien]

Hey Scott,

So I read SJW's half-life is 26.5 hours. I was prescribed Remeron and going to try Perika's SJW instead. Anti-Ds scare me.
Anyway, GNC's really worked for me at the 900 dose but backfired 2 months in. I was thinking just taking 300 mg of Perika's and see how I feel in 2 weeks. It was hard for me to gage if my depression got worse from the SJW or the physical exhaustion. Blah. I noticed after 5 days of no SJW I felt amazing Then it all turns to **** 2 weeks later. damn!
Hopefully just 300mg of Perika will help me. After all, I'm only 5'5" 118. Thanks for the advice. - mikelb

[zien]

Oh and there isn't any side effects from stopping St. John's Wort.
I quit cold turkey and nothing happened to me.
Anyway, so yeah I'm going back and forth between starting Remeron and discontinuing Perika (only 300mg) after 3 days.
I've had depression for 5 months from something traumatic that happened in May. Anyway....my anxiety has decreased dramatically either on its own or with therapy. So I'm 15 weeks into therapy and wonder why my depression is still here. I thought therapy was supposed to lessen the symptoms.
This sucks. Thanks to all who replied.