St. John's wort for depression

A

AnnD

New member
Even herbal medicines are not cheap but in researching SJW I did a report of it recently and discovered that there is no scientific evidence that it is effective for depression. But anything is possible and worth a try. I do believe that if you keep whatever it is bottled up inside of you is also not good. You can treat depression but you still need to talk about it with someone. Don't you have at least one of the those 4/5 people in your life that you can talk to and admit that you are somewhat depressed. You don't have to go into detail but sometimes it is just a relief to say it out loud. If I had a friend that had any problems I sure would want to be able to help them in any way that I could and sometimes just listening is all that a friend can do but you might be surprised at how helpful telling someone can be....they might even be able to guide you in some way...or to just give you a hug which also very helpful. Whatever you do you need to continue to push yourself to get out and do things ...if you are allowed get a small pet(cat or dog) or something to take care of or you yourself do some work at a shelter for animals would help you tremendously....You would be very surprised. I am so sorry your mother isn't someone you can trust to listen to you since you must be very young to not want to tell a doctor(who has heard it all) that you are depressed. Any medical doctor can prescribe an antidepressant(you don't have to go to a mental health professional) and your mother isn't allowed to know why you went...even if she is responsible for paying the bill she isn't allowed to know why you went so you can make up any story if you are afraid she will not support you. I also know that being a student can be very depressing for a lot of guys and girls so you are not alone in the depression and it is to bad your school doesn't offer some relief in that area. Perhaps you need to stop school for awhile and return home? Or do you think mom would be too hard on you? Do you have a dad?..or any sister/brother or some family meraber that you can talk to even like over the phone...you just need to put your trust in someone. If you reached the point of wanting to harm yourself then you must speak to someone Check your local phone book to see if there is a crisis hotline in your phone book that you can call and speak to someone...you don't have to give your name...then go to your local emergency room and tell them you feel like hurting yourself....Somewhere along the way sweetie you have gotten lost so tell one of your frienRAB and although it isn't their problem I bet there is one of them that would be more than willing to sit with you and listen. Even in good mother daughter relationships daughters don't always want to share terrible things with their mothers and it is then you need to trust someone. My own daughter now is 40 and I have just learned after all these years that she too was in trouble as a teen and to this day she has never told me but her sister recently told me of what happened...I have to say who ever helped her(and her frienRAB at the time did help her) I would of thanked them myself. We had a good relationship but sometimes you just don't want to tell mom. Good luck to you
 
I've been in a serious emotional rut for quite some time for absolutely no reason, and I am getting concerned I may have actual depression. But, I do not want to go to a doctor because this would involve telling a stranger in person about what I think is a delicate and personal problem (whereas I can hide behind a username online). Plus, I think it would be easier on this broke student's wallet to spend $6 on some herbs than to spend $50+ on a doctor visit for them to tell me "You need to get out more, tee-hee!".

I've been trying other non-bottled ways of lifting my mood, like sleeping (which I do in excess anyway because I don't want to do anything anymore), focus on frienRAB (the whole three or four people I talk to have no time for me), not drinking (never did anyway), and just going outside to get out of the house (which feels like a chore). Being optimistic has never been one of my strong points, even when I was happy. So far, nothing has really worked, and I've been doing a lot of fake smiling lately so people who do know me don't ask me what's wrong...the last thing I need is an interrogation.

I'm looking into home remedies for depression, and I am hearing St. John's wort is an effective alternative treatment for the symptoms of depression. Has anyone here ever had success with this supplement? I'm also seeing that mint [tea], coffee, and garlic can also help.
 
AnnD,

Honestly, I only have one 'friend' within hugging distance who I talk to, and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable talking to him about this because I didn't really get to know him until last semester and he's not incredibly close to me yet. I know if I talk about my depression to him, I will end up in tears and I don't want to break down like that in front of him; I only can handle crying in front of my boyfriend and my best friend, neither of which this friend is.

Also, I can't quit school now, not even temporarily. I'm graduating this semester and I know I'll never hear the end of it if I don't finish. I'll be told to just shut up and deal because I only have a month and a half left.

I really don't feel comfortable putting my trust in anyone but my boyfriend, and he seems kind of indifferent to my neeRAB at the moment...which stinks since I could really use his support beyond "I wish I could give you a hug". I feel erabarrassed to talk about this to frienRAB or family because I don't want to be labeled crazy because I'm depressed over absolutely nothing. And no worries - I'm not attempting or contemplating suicide. I've never actively thought about killing myself, but there are lots of times I wished I were dead. I just don't have the strength to pull the trigger or overdose or hang myself...which may or may not be a bad thing depending on my mood.

I may still give SJW a try...heck, even if I can get a placebo effect happiness, I'll be content. Just something to get me out of this funk and back on track. I need to focus since midterms week is approaching and my attention has to be on my work and not on trying to stop crying or when my nausea is going to end.
 
Just want to let you know that I only paid $10 for a month supply of SJW dried aerial extract capsules. Always go with the extract type, they're stronger than the regular kind.
 
I have severe depression. I took SJW for a few months and it worked pretty well at first. However, I had to stop taking it because it was making my hair fall out. It's considered a rare side effect. I'm an odd duck, though, and seem to get every side effect known to man. By the way, a good doctor wouldn't tell you that you just 'need to get out more'. That's not how depression works. If it were, the pharmaceutical companies would be out of business.
 
Depression is not uncommon amongst the general population. The nuraber one cause for depression is stress. For someone to mock you for having minor clinical depression is ridiculous, especially blood relatives. I understand that you are worried about upholding a certain image for your family and frienRAB, and you don't want them to label you as the depressed kid, but the longer you keep it bottled up inside, the higher you run the risk of it turning into a more serious mental illness, such as major depressive disorder.

Depression is a bad term to describe what it actually is. A lot of people hear the word and just immediately think schizophrenia, or manic bipolar, or slitting wrists in the bathroom, but really a lot of the time it onsets by just stressing and worrying about something, and being unable to get that thought off your mind. And then every waking moment, you spend worrying about that one thing, which leaRAB to another and eventually you got yourself a classic case of the unshakable blues.

Don't fret, reach out to your mother and talk to her. Let her know you've been feeling down recently and you don't have anyone to talk to. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to find out how supportive they will be. Think of it in terms of coping with stress, not a battle against depression.
 
Depression goes beyond just taking some kind of medication. I don't have any scientific studies to back me up on this, but I've made the observation that there is a huge tendency amongst people who are depressed to also be very pessimistic. Nothing has ever gone right, nothing ever will go right, therefore you're depressed until the one thing that you believe is the underlying cause of your depression: school, family, girls, work, etc. becomes mediated. The problem with this kind of reasoning is that oftentimes, one is unable to motivate themselves into fixing this problem.

Studies have been done on St. Johns Wort and in most circumstances, they performed much better than the placebo, over 5000 clinical trials. Thus being said, if you are infact a student, and you are feeling so pessimistic about life, you should take advantage of the student health care coverage, and see a psychiatrist to help sort out your problems. FrienRAB don't want to hear about other friend's problems all the time, and most of the time the people on the internet don't know you well enough to diagnose you; they just diagnose what you present to them, in which almost all circumstances is: depressed. Good luck.
 
I'm thinking maybe what I was experiencing was just an episode; I'm not completely better, but I feel like my mood has improved noticeably. I have no clue how long it will stay improved, but I have not cried in two days and I'm not sleeping all day.

And honestly Epicus, I am worrying about something at just about any given moment. Not earth-shattering anxiety, but I always have something on my mind. Did I forget to turn in an assignment? Where did I put my phone? Did I ever find out when XYZ project is due? Why is that person walking so close behind me? Will I overcook my food? I hope that stranger doesn't sit next to me. I wonder how Friend is doing...I haven't heard from him in a while. I have a sore throat - do I have swine flu? My pupils are uneven - I must have a brain tumor.

You get the idea. I think way too much, especially about my health.

And trust me, my mom will listen to me talk about being depressed and all she'll say is, "Well what do you want me to do about it?" or "Just worry about school right now.You don't have anything to be depressed about". I know my mom well enough to know exactly what she would say.
 
You can talk to a counselor about personal problems in confidentiality. Perhaps this is connected to the depression.
 
Epicus, my school has no student health center or insurance or even a campus nurse. The school is great in every other aspect, but we are totally on our own in terms of physical and mental health.

Plus, seeing a doctor of my own volition would also mean telling my mother I was seen for depression, which will lead to her mocking me that I have nothing to be depressed about and that I'm overreacting. And I wouldn't tell my frienRAB about this anyway because there's nothing they could do about it...and even if they could, it's my problem, not theirs.

I still may try SJW...I am really desperate to get out of this rut before I go from wanting to die to being suicidal, but also doing so on the sly. Thanks for the help, everyone. :)
 
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