Hi, and welcome back to our channel.
Today we're going to discuss what is St. John's Wort and does it work for depression?
So we're going to walk through what is it?
What is a little bit of the history of St. John's Wort?
As well as what are potential benefits?
And how can you use St. John's Wort to help your depression?
[Video Transcript Below + Supplement Links Discussed In Video]
But before we dig into all of it, my name is Marcie Vaske and I'm a licensed nutritionist with Flusso Nutrients and at Flusso Nutrients, we work really hard to help educate you on different types of supplements and herbs so that you can make the best choice for yourself.
So without further ado, let's dig into our topic.
So what is St. John's Wort?
And what it is is it's a flowering plant that is found primarily in Europe and in Asia.
And this herb and plant actually has been around for many, many years.
St. John's Wort has been used for many different reasons, everything from skin ailments to even mental health.
So today we're really going to focus in on:
St John's Wort Benefits: Depression
How St John's Wort benefits can help for mild to moderate depression
So what are the potential benefits for St. John's Wort in depression and recent studies and have shown that St. John's Wort can be really beneficial in mild to moderate depression, and in some cases it's even as strong or as effective as a antidepressant.
So how it works is that there's two compounds in St. John's Wort that help to play a role in our neurotransmitter production.
And those neurotransmitters that are most affected by St. John's Wort is going to be serotonin and our dopamine and our norepinephrine.
Now, those neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, they're all helpful in keeping our mood in balance.
So if one of those aren't in balance, we have more of a risk of having depression or even anxiety.
And in addition, St. John's Wort has also been found in research to be a more of an anti-inflammatory as well.
And so therefore, it can also help people, and that's another way it can help with depression, by decreasing inflammation and supporting our neurotransmitters.
Now, there has been a lot of studies and research over of last many years, and what they have found is that it can be helpful to mild to moderate depression and in some cases may not work for some people. So it's just another avenue, another opportunity to use a natural remedy to help with your depression.
Now while there has been some really great research done and good outcomes, it's also been a little bit inconsistent.
So as you're moving forward and making a decision on how you want to treat your depression, I think it's best just to be educated in what is out there and what may be available to you.
And so by understanding something a little bit better, such as St. John's Wort versus an antidepressant, you can make the best choice for yourself.
Potential Risks of St. John's Wort
Now, while St. John's Wort can have some tremendous benefits with your mental health and depression, with a lot few side effects, there are some potential risks.
Now, most people can tolerate St. John's Wort very well and don't notice any difference besides their mental health being a lot better.
However, some of the side effects of St. John's Wort is going to be photosensitivity.
And for example, what that means is if you take the supplement and you're outside, you can begin to, your skin is just going to be a lot more tender or sensitive to the sunlight.
And in that case, you might feel like you're itching or you get a bit of a hive.
And if that happens, you just continue use of St. John's Wort.
And for some individuals, they do struggle with some gastrointestinal issues, things like nausea or vomiting or even just diarrhea. And so if you're feeling like it's getting worse for you as you're taking the supplement, go ahead and stop and those symptoms will all go away.
There's also the side effect of dizziness as well as even dry mouth. And so I think it's just important to understand that while it can be very helpful, just like anything, there can be side effects.
So knowing what the side effects are, and if they start to bother you, then you just stop the supplement and symptoms go away.
St. John's Wort And Medication Contraindications - BE CAREFUL!
Now, it's also important to understand that St. John's Wort does have some contraindications with medications and kind of a wide range of them.
So number one, it can be contraindicated with birth control pills, blood thinner medications, as well as other antidepressant medications.
So you don't want to take St. John's Wort and Zoloft, for example. You want to make sure that you're doing one or the other.
And also if you're on any of the other medications I talked about, don't take St. John's Wort, but anything else that I didn't just discuss and you're wondering about, just make sure that you either talk to the pharmacist or read over the labeling very well before you start taking any kind of supplement.
And definitely St. John's Wort. So if you're thinking, okay, well, I'm not on any medications and I want to give this St. John's Wort, I try because I have a little bit of depression, but it's not severe.
Dosing St. John's Wort - How Much To Take?
And if you want to, and the way that you can easily add it into your daily routine is by beginning with 300 milligrams a day, you can go all the way up to 1200 milligrams in divided doses.
And so I always say start slow with any kind of supplement, because if you don't need it that much, then you don't need that much, which is great.
And also you want to make sure that your body responds to it.
Okay, so begin with around 300 milligrams. You'll also want to be sure that when you're picking out your supplement of choice that it is third party tested or it's practitioner advised.
If you have any questions, make sure that you talk to a practitioner to be sure that it is the right supplement for you.
Other Conditions That St. John's Wort Can Help With
Now, in addition to St. John's Wort being very helpful for mild to moderate depression, it can also be helpful for other symptoms as well.
And number one, it's skin conditions.
Certain skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis or hives even, you can place that on your skin because St. John's Wort is anti-inflammatory.
So it can be helpful to reduce that inflammation.
You can also use St. John's Wort for anxiety and stress, and I noted that just briefly above, but you can take St. John's Wort if you're struggling with anxiety because remember that the St. John's Wort helps to improve our serotonin and our dopamine and our norepinephrine.
So it can also reduce those symptoms of anxiety as well.
And if you're a woman who is struggling with menopausal hot flashes, St. John's Wort has also been shown to decrease hot flashes.
So again, you may want to give it a try if you are feeling like, wow, these are just kicking my butt sometimes.
We really want to try whatever we can when we're having tons of hot flashes.
So as you can see, St. John's Wort has a plethora of different ways to be used. And our main topic today was how you can use St. John's Wort for depression, but it can be used for so many other things as well.
And I think that just trying natural products is always a way to go, because if it works, awesome because there's usually less side effects and you feel a lot better on them.
But also in the same time, I need to say that you need to be careful with plants and herbs and the way that your body responds to it, and definitely watching any kind of contraindications with medications that you may be taking.
So I hope this just helped give you another mind's eye or another view on what can help support your mental health.
So thanks for watching today!
Check out the high-quality supplements we discussed in this video - links below for your convenience!
1) St. Johns Wort: create an account here, then search the name "St. Johns Wort Capsules by Gaia Pro" - https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients (if you are on medication, do NOT take until after discussing with your pharmacist)
2) ALL PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SUPPLEMENTS: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com & https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrient