Posted by SLS on November 7, 2009, at 6:34:04
In reply to Re: You Must Use Caution With St. Johns Wort, posted by bleauberry on November 6, 2009, at 18:46:28
I agree that St. John's Wort has antidepressant properties. In fact, I recommended it to a family member over Nardil. Her depression was mild at the time, and I preferred that she not go back to another antidepressant right away. It seemed to work. Were she to have been severely depressed, I would have recommended the Nardil first. I don't think she would have tolerated so much time invested in experimenting with a substance that does not have enough scientific evidence of utility in treating severe depression.
Once someone becomes severely depressed, non-functional, or suicidal, time is of the essence. Until I am persuaded otherwise by evidence that I trust, I would not choose SJW as a first-line treatment.
I am glad that you question the validity of clinical studies. In kind, I question the validity of much of the literature extolling the virtues of herbal remedies, as I find them extremely biased towards these treatments and wholly dismissive of standard drug treatments.
As I have said before, herbs are drugs too. Prior to the last century, medicines were exclusively herbal. These substances should be subject to the same scrutiny as are other pharmaceuticals to establish safety and efficacy if they are to be recognized by mainstream evidence-based medicine as being effective. This would be important since it is mainstream medicine that treats the mainstream patient.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:924178
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091107/msgs/924829.html