Topic Title: Looking for info on combining Prozac with SJW
| |  "Looking for info on combining Prozac with SJW"
, Tue 24 Jan 05:50
Despite all the warnings I've been combining Prozac with SJW for 5 days. Does anyone know of any sites with any helpful info? All I can find is sites saying "don't do it". I've only found one account (on this site) of another person who has tried it, and my experiences have been remarkably different to anything I've been led to expect. OK, 5 days isn't long - I know I shouldn't form a judgement for 6 weeks or so.
Perhaps I should add that my doctor doesn't know - she thinks I take Prozac on its own. I plan to tell her in two or three weeks.
Posts: 0 | | Registered: Tue 24 Jan 2006 5:30 |
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| | "Re(1):Looking for info on combining Prozac wi" , Sun 29 Jan 20:39
Everything I have read states that SJW will alter the way in which your body processes other AD medications. The SJW can actually make your body metabolize the prozac differently which can render it useless. Another thing is that the combination of the two could be too much. Is prozac an SSRI or an MAOI?
I'd talk to your doctor... if the prozac isn't working well enough for you perhaps their is a better med you can try. Everyone's bodies react differently to AD meds. It's all about finding the right one and the right dose. I personally wouldn't mix the SJW with a synthetic drug.
Posts: 5 | | Registered: Sun 29 Jan 2006 20:8 |
| | | "Re(2):Looking for info on combining Prozac wi" , Tue 31 Jan 17:00
I just read a great book about SJW. It has tons of info including combining SJW with prescriptions. Check it out.
ST JOHN'S WORT: THE HERBAL WAY TO FEELING GOOD BY: NORMAN ROSENTHAL M.D.
Posts: 0 | | Registered: Tue 31 Jan 2006 16:55 |
| | | "Re(3):Looking for info on combining Prozac wi" , Wed 1 Feb 03:27
I've been doing lots of reading and the big risk when mixing Prozac and SJW is Serotonin Syndrome. Here's the standard line on it which is quoted on scores of sites: "The symptoms of the serotonin syndrome are: euphoria, drowsiness, sustained rapid eye movement, overreaction of the reflexes, rapid muscle contraction and relaxation in the ankle causing abnormal movements of the foot, clumsiness, restlessness, feeling drunk and dizzy, muscle contraction and relaxation in the jaw, sweating, intoxication, muscle twitching, rigidity, high body temperature, mental status changes were frequent (including confusion and hypomania - a "happy drunk" state), shivering, diarrhea, loss of consciousness and death. (The Serotonin Syndrome, AM J PSYCHIATRY, June 1991)
When I started mixing these drugs a couple of weeks ago I was in such a low state that all of these side effects seemed tolerable - perhaps even death. So I wasn't too worried. Things couldn't get any worse and I wanted to find out whether SJW could help me. I decided not to come off Prozac first because I thought SJW might take many weeks to work. In the interim I would have been 'drug-free' for 4-6 weeks and thought that i probably wouldn't get through it without doing something stupid.
So, on a day when I had taken my usual dose of 40 mg of Prozac in the morning, I also took 300 mg of SJW at 6 pm. I went to bed at 11 but couldn't sleep. My mind was racing and I got up at 1 am and worked until 5 am. (This was very, very unusual. For the preceding two months I had been sleeping 12-14 hours per day, and achieving nothing except a bit of eating and washing.)
I think I was probably experiencing hypomania and a little confusion - but it seemed quite beneficial as I got some very urgent long overdue work done. Since then I've been taking 60 mg of Prozac a day, and 900 mg of SJW per day. I spread the doses throughout the day, i.e. one capsule of each drug three times a day.
I've been doing this for slightly less than 2 weeks now, and it's working very well for me. 2 days out of 3 I am useful, productive and fairly content and have regained control of my life. 1 day out of 3 I am too sleepy to get anything done. My sleep patterns are fairly disturbed, I have lots of vivid dreams and occasional bouts of mild restlessness. Perhaps I have very mild serotonin syndrome - it's hard to say. I'm not aware of any symptoms except the ones I've listed. I ought to get my blood pressure checked, but I don't want to see my doctor until I've given the SJW a couple more weeks.
Posts: 1 | | Registered: Tue 24 Jan 2006 5:30 |
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