Topic Title: Should I be taking St. John's Wort?
| |  "Should I be taking St. John's Wort?"
, Wed 1 Feb 10:49
First of all, I want to thank you all in advance for reading my extremely LONG post, lol. Here's basically what's been happening to me these past few months and I just wanted to know if I should continue taking the St. John's Wort and how much I should be taking. I'm 17 years old, by the way and will be 18 on March 8th.
"Anyway...umm...I guess I should start off with what happened to me a few months ago. In October my brother who I'm very close to was deployed to Iraq. The same month my boyfriend broke up with me and was also deployed to Iraq along with my brother. My mom went back to work full time and that left me home by myself (I;m homeschooled), I was having relationship issues with my dad (aka: not getting along with him), and my horse was sick. I was fine for awhile...in fact, I enjoyed my time by myself and sort of became anti-social...I barely ever got together with my friends or even left the house. Let me put it this way: going to Walmart was a big trip for me. But besides that, I was feeling okay...pretty good. What I found though was that I had a lot of anger inside me...it seemed I was always angry at someone or something. The smallest thing could make me blow up in a rage. But, like I said, my mood was basically normal, I was happy for the most part and I, again like I said, enjoyed being by myself.
Another thing to note was that when my brother was deployed...I barely cried or thought about it. That's weird for me considering I cry for EVERYTHING and also I'm very close to my brother. in November, I started studying psychology, also...I know that doesn't mean a lot, but they say psychology students sometimes get that "Medical Student Syndrome".
Anyway, January came along and I was doing fine still. I was still quite anti-social, but my mood was basically happy and content. Of course, I wasn't happy all the time....I felt the stress of everything going on in my life...but nothing so bad that that was all I could think about.
January 8, I decided to start writing in my diary again so I could have a little memoir of what my life was like while my brother was at war and I remember thinking to myself "This is going to be one boring memoir", because in fact I didn't really feel all that affected by my brother being over there. But, anyway, I decided to write. I wrote about 6 pages about how I currently felt...everything that was going on in my life, and about how, even though I was home by myself a lot and was pretty anti-social, I was "definately NOT lonely" (exactly what I wrote).
After I wrote that entry, I was positively overcome with a, the only word I could describe it, negative feeling. It was a heavy feeling that felt like a ball inside my chest. This feeling didn't let up. 24/7, I had this feeling. I didn't know what it was, but from studying psychology for a few months, I thought maybe I'd come down with a mental disorder of some kind. I came online to check it out about January 10th. I read up on everything and saw that the way I was feeling were symptoms of anxiety. I basically felt like I was going crazy, like I didn't have any control over myself, that I would start hearing things and seeing things that weren't there, I was constantly on edge and nervous, I would cry over nothing, I had trouble concentrating, I felt weird and foreign, familiar things were no longer familiar, everything felt strange, I felt like I was in a dream or like I was looking at the world through a fog, I was always sweating, shaking...one time, the feelings were so bad that I threw up.
I couldn't think about anything but how I was feeling, and because of that my schoolwork suffered. Another thing that happened to me was that I no longer enjoyed being by myself...in fact, I was AFRAID to be by myself. Going to sleep at night was a chore, and I had nightmares almost every night. Those nightmares had me waking up in the morning feeling crazy, horrified, and alone.
I began opening up to my parents almost immediately about how I was feeling. My mom studied psychology for a few years, so she basically told me that what I was feeling was a "delayed reaction" and that when I wrote in my diary, I realized just how severe my stress really was. Even though I wanted to believe my mom, I couldn't. I felt like I was going insane. I automatically thought that I had schizophrenia...but then I thought "How can schizophrenia happen all of a sudden one day in someone's life?" It didn't make sense, and I felt like I was just dying inside and no one understood how I felt.
Around, hmm...the 18th of January I started taking St. John's Wort. It says on the bottle: helps promote a more positive mood. I take one in the morning and one in the evening (it says I should take 6 a day (2 pills three times daily), but I went on a site (this one) for St. John's Wort and it said teenagers should only take 2 a day). I started feeling a little better (even though the St. John's Wort pills say it takes a few weeks to really take effect), but I kept having that weird, dreamy feeling.
Around the 23rd, 24th...my negative feelings of anxiety started to change. Basically, now I feel hopeless, I constantly feel bored and I constantly feel the need to be doing something, I've gone and done things these past few weeks that I didn't think I would have EVER done (aka: teaching at a crochet party, try smoking...didn't like it though). I constantly feel nervous, I shake..my hands shake so badly it's embarrasing, my muslces are always tense and they like "twitch" once in awhile for no reason...that sounds weird, I know. I'm nervous about everything I say, I watch every word I say to make sure I'm talking okay because lately I feel like I have no control over my speech. I feel sad, I cry easily, and I still feel very dreamy and "not real". I have trouble concentrating, my memory is definately worse than it has EVER been, familiar things seem unfamilar, I always have a sense of dread and fear, I still have nightmares once in awhile, when I wake up in the morning (I'm not too sure if this is exactly the word for how I feel) I feel afraid.
Things I used to like are no longer interesting to me, I look at other people with smiles on their faces and think "How can they feel happy when life in general is so boring and meaningless?", I've had thoughts of suicide, I'm questioning life (it doesn't feel fun, it seems meaningless), and basically I'm always sad feeling. The whole day is like a chore to get through for me...going to sleep scares me because of nightmares, waking up scares me, just getting through the day scares me. I also feel very sensitive...like even the slightest insult will destroy me.
I told my mom the 24th that I was feeling suicidal and she said that she was going to take me to the doctor. I went the 24th and he basically said "It's stress related and to get out more and socialize". He took blood and everything came back okay, although he said my thyroids were a little over active...but nothing to worry about, it's probobly just due to hormones. And, yes, I have tried getting out more lately...but even when I'm out doing things I feel this way and when I come back home to relax these negative feelings hit me again full force.
That's basically how I'm feeling now. I'm scared and I feel utterly alone. For instance, when I went into the doctor's office, the nurse came in and asked me "What are you here for?" and I was like "I have this anxiety...depressiong thing" and she turned around and said "Who doesn't?" But I know that what I'm feeling isn't what everyone feels all the time...I'm living with this negative feeling 24/7. It NEVER goes away. True, some days are better than others...but the feeling never goes away."
So, these feelings have been with me for almost a month now. Again, from what you guys just read about my situation...should I continue to take St. John's Wort and how much should I be taking? I'm only taking 2 a day (one in the morning and one at night). And also, how long until I really get the full effect. I'm going to wait another few weeks to see how I feel before considering going to a counselor or psychiatrist, but I REALLY don't want to be on any of these heavy anti-depressants that have all those side effects. Okay, again, thanks for reading my post :)
Posts: 0 | | Registered: Wed 1 Feb 2006 10:43 |
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| | "Re(1):Should I be taking St. John's Wort?" , Wed 1 Feb 14:49
Hey kitty whats up i read your post..
Well dont worry about a thing Kid, u just started the wort on the 18th, I would give it atleast 3-4 weeks to see if you can feel the full effects of it. Try not to worry about so many things in life, everything will end up ok..
I had the same problem as you, but i solved it by getting out and constantly keeping myself busy doing things.. Get new hobbies, get a job, get involved in clubs, Ya know whatever floats your boat...
Its normal for alot of teens to be in similiar situations as yourself and its nothing to really worry about.. Start looking up to the bright future, and give st johns wort a few more weeks.. I personally have only been taking it for a week and I already noticed that its impossible for me to cry!
Perhaps changing the brand, And i would stick to just 2 a day ... Try to get a perika or kira,, one of those Dank german brands ..
good luck :)
Posts: 2 | | Registered: Wed 25 Jan 2006 22:0 |
| | | "Re(2):Should I be taking St. John's Wort?" , Fri 3 Feb 07:30
Thanks so much for your reply! Actually, since this depression started, I've been more active than I have ever been. I find it weird because a lot of people with depression seem to become anti-social...but I feel the exact opposite.
Can you tell me, I'm taking St. John's Wort in the "Sundown" brand (I bought it from Drug Fair). I don't know if this is a good brand or not, but I started questioning it because on the bottle it says I should take 6 pills a day at 300mg each! I started questioning if it's a good brand because of that, and I did a search for "sundown brand st. john's wort" and I saw this page come up as a google cache: " In the test, one of the lowest-scoring products sampled, with about 20% of the labeled potency, was from Sundown Herbals, a division of Rexall, the nation's No. 1 distributor of dietary supplements.
Informed of the results, Deborah Shur Trinker, Sundown's vice president of regulatory affairs, said they were "false" and "misleading."
Trinker, in a letter to The Times, argued that the tests involved too few pills for the findings to be significant. Trinker also argued that chemical ingredients specific to Sundown's brand might interfere with the analysis, giving an artificially low reading. Finally, she stated that an independent lab hired by Sundown had found the product to be 100% potent."
So I'm thinking of switching...but do you know of any good brands of St. John's Wort that are really effective? I live in New York, if that makes any difference.
Posts: 1 | | Registered: Wed 1 Feb 2006 10:43 |
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