Post subject: Side effect of alternative medicine, St. John's Wort

I thought alternative medicine has very small side effect, but I guess I was wrong. I'd us to look at this alternative medicine, St. John's Wort. What side effect should we be aware of?

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Apparently, there's some contraindication to taking it along with certain drugs - the pharmaboys were quick to jump on that one!! And you shouldn't expose yourself to a lot of sun if used topically (not sure about internally) as it can cause you to burn.

I'll have to research it but don't have the time at the moment...watch this space.

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Post subject: St. John's Wort

iRule - I thought some introduction about this herb was necessary for the uninitiated.

St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum in Latin) is a long-living plant with yellow flowers. It contains many chemical compounds. Some are believed to be the active ingredients that produce the herb's effects, including the compounds hypericin and hyperforin.

St. John's wort has been used for centuries to treat mental disorders as well as nerve pain. In ancient times, doctors and herbalists (specialists in herbs) wrote about its use as a sedative and treatment for malaria as well as a balm for wounds, burns, and insect bites. Today, St. John's wort is used by some people to treat mild to moderate depression, anxiety, or sleep disorders.

You can find good prices on St. John's Wort here.


Some patients who take antidepressant drugs do not experience relief from their depression. Other patients have reported unpleasant side effects from their prescription medication, such as a dry mouth, nausea, headache, or effects on sexual function or sleep.

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BTW, how come is this herb called "St. John's"?

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In the West, (well, in Spain anyway), St John's Day is 23rd June, and this is around the time when the plant traditionally flowers.

In most countries it's referred to as hypericum. I expect different cultures have their own names for it.

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Got cha. It's weird; conventional thinking tells me that much of alternative/complementary medicine are originally from India, China and other east Asian countries. I couldn't connect St. John's and alternative/complementary medicine for this reason.

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There are some good articles about St. John's wort if you search at pubmed.

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Wikipedia actually has some information about St John's wort(Hypericum).

Hypericum is a genus of about 400 species of flowering plants in the family Clusiaceae, formerly often treated separately in their own family the Hypericaceae. The genus has a nearly world-wide distribution, missing only from tropical lowlands, deserts and arctic regions.

The species vary from small annual or perennial herbaceous plants 5-10 cm tall, to shrubs and small trees up to 12 m tall. The leaves are opposite, simple oval, 1-8 cm long, either deciduous or evergreen. The flowers vary from pale to dark yellow, and from 0.5-6 cm diameter, with five (rarely four) petals. The fruit is usually a dry capsule which splits to release the numerous small seeds; in some species it is fleshy and berry-like.

All members of the genus may be referred to as "St. John's worts" or St.John's-worts, though they are also commonly just called Hypericums; other names include Rose of Sharon and Tutsan. Some species are used as ornamentals and have large, showy flowers.

Various Hypericum species are used as food plants by the larva of the Treble-bar, a species of moth.

The document was originally published at Wikipedia and the document is licensed under GNU Free Document License. If you'd like to find out more about Hypericum, you might be interested in visiting this page in Wikipedia.

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For Shilajeet!

Just been checking out the price of your 2 oz bottle of St Johns Wort. We don't use that terminology this side of the pond we say mls. I got my bottles from Spain, actually, as I couldn't get my hands on it over here at the time, and paid about £5 for 100ml. How does 100ml compare to 2oz?? Not sure how to work that out!!

Just interested!

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Google is here to help my lady

1 US fluid ounce = 29.5735297 ml

Try this: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=oz+to+ml