GassyJack

Greetings all

Been taking St Johns wort for years and works well for me. 10yrs ago i tried Paxil and quit after only 2days. did not like side FX.

i been depressed most of my life and i been self medicating with booze most of my life.

this year i tried Cipralex (main reason for trying is some days the Stjohn doesnt seem to be working) didnt really like cipralex either.

Dr gave me 14 - 50mg tabs of Trazodone early this year. but was afraid to take it heh. i always check the internet for info on a new med and when i read about the side fx it scares me off ..took me almost a year to give cipralex a try.

main reason for the Trazodone is i am just not sleeping very well. Ever since i quit drinking 2yrs ago (December) i went thru some pretty bad panic/anxiety attacks. Thankfully the panic attacks are gone(knock on wood) i get some anxiety but learned to control/relax now.... pretty much the last 8months now i just not sleeping very well.
most days i can fall asleep ok. but i keep waking up several times thru the nite. yep i sleep like a baby.. i am up every 2hrs

so this past weekend i decided to go off St Johns wort and give Cipralex another go. I have the 10mg tabs that i cut in half and took one half tab sun mon tue morning. went back on Stjohns wort on Thursday.

Tues nite tho, i gave Trazodone a shot. took the 50mg tab. cut that in half. then in half again. so i took a quarter tab. went pretty well i thot. didnt have any of the severe side fx. and i must say i had the best sleep i had in a long time.

in light of that..i would like to keep taking it for sleep. i know u can take it with a prescribed SSRI (like Cipralex) but what about St Johns wort? that is basically a herbal SSRI ... and since Traz is a SSRI maybe i can just take that and for go the St johns?

thots?

nandm

Hi and welcome to the mental health forum.

My only experience with st Johns wort was very negative as it can be for some. It does work well when it works for people though. Trazodone has never worked well for me either but I really tend to react strange to meds I think. Sorry my experiences with these meds is probably not very useful to you.

historyteach

Please talk to your doctor before mixing trazadone, (or any prescribed medication), with St John's Wort, (or any other herbal medication.) There *can* be severe side effects due to mixing the two.

Many times, the pharmacist is even a better person to ask. It is their specialty, afterall. Doctors only have a few hours training in pharmacology.

In any case, get professional guidance. Don't depend upon strangers on the internet for your medical care, ok?

Shalom!

N2breathe

I tried Saint John's and it worked some for me but not as good as I anticipated. Maybe I did not try it long enough for the it to take hold. What are the bad effects of it?

secretsmile

i dont mean to sound like a p but your not a doctor your taking and mixing prescription meds as you like (self medicating) talk with your doctor if he says take x amount take x amount herbal meds are meds at the end of the day you could end up psycotic well (seritonin syndrome) from mixing meds like this that goes for 5htp meliton any many over the couter meds

AfterForever

I tried self medicating with St. Johns Wort on top of the Effexor and Remeron that I take daily for severe depression. It completely screwed me up. My doctor said it is the worst thing I could have done. I don't recommend using it with other meds unless advised by a doctor.