St Johns Wart best source? Price/Purity

[Border Collie]

I am interested in a source for St John's Wart for depression. I've read on this or a related forum that some (many) times an herbal remedy will contain chemicals used for extraction. I am concerned about this. It's too late in the year to plant it and grown some of our own. Does anyone hav ea suggestion on a good supply of St John's Wart?

Purity is the primary concern, and price is a definite concern also.
I suppose there might be only one trustworthy supply place out there, or only a few, so please share any advice you have to share.

THank you!!

Border Collie

 

[summerthyme]

Hi, BC...

I've bought the bulk herb from Http://www.atlanticspice.com and found it to be of decent quality.

I've never seen any which comes close to matching what you can grow or wild harvest yourself, but theirs had the correct smell and wasn't badly bleached.

I'm probably the one who has written about my experience with a "standardized extract" which smelled so strongly of benzene and possibly other solvents that I didn't feel right about taking it.

Another option, if you don't want to fiddle with filling capsules, is to buy a WHOLE HERB capsule from one of the reputable brands.

Do you have a GNC store near you? I've found their "Nature's Fingerprint" brands to be excellent over the years.

Here's a link to their St. John's wort online:
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=95473&catid=16983&trx=29384&tab=0#0

I wish I could send you some, but I missed the window for harvest this year. Summer was busier than usual, but I think the drought brought some of the plants out a lot earlier than i was expecting them. By the time I started looking, the plants were way past their bloom...

Hope this helps.

Summerthyme

 

[Border Collie]

Hi, BC...
.......
I'm probably the one who has written about my experience with a "standardized extract" which smelled so strongly of benzene and possibly other solvents that I didn't feel right about taking it.
.....
Hope this helps.

Summerthyme

yes, it was you but I didn't want to bother you - you're one busy person!!
And yes, this has helped a great deal, as usual.

We've made capsules before. I'll discuss this with my wife and we might choose the GNC capsule route for now.

BTW, The elderberry harvest from bushes down the road and preparing syrup with instructions from you and goatlady went very well. I'm now armed with info on harvesting twigs from the elderberry plants next spring early and rooting them. In 3-4 years I hope to have our own harvest. I've tried the syrup on two colds and they healed up very quick. In one case, me, colds are very predictable and it cut down a 3-4 week process to 1 week, and really only 2 days.

All that to say, I'm looking into buying seeds to start next spring and also to go out in June to look for wild plants. I can only so so much and have had to learn to fewer sticks in the fire, so to speak. So one herb, one project, at a time. Well, all right, several at a time, but not 10-15 at a time anymore.

The time you, primarily, and significantly others as well, have taken to share on this forum or elsewhere has been immeasurably helpful. I don't see how I could learn this stuff without all this help.

Thank you!
Border Collie

 

[Border Collie]

dosage so high?

The link to GNC was to one of several variations and dosages of SJ wort, 500mg.

Would you take that much, or was this just a helpful link to one of their varieties at random?

Most places, I think,suggest 300mg to start with. This would be for either a 110lb teenager or a 160lb adult.

I guess it takes a while (weeks? months?) for the herb to take affect? Is that your experience?

thanks!
Border Collie

 

[summerthyme]

BC... actually, I don't consider that to be a "high" dosage. Remember, you're talking "whole herb" here. We generally take between 1-3 capsules per day (and find that 2 seems to be the minimum to be effective for most people) of the stuff we wildcraft and put up. That's probably 600-900 mgs daily.

It certainly can't hurt to start with one, give it a week or so and then increase to the "recommended" amount once you're certain you're (or whoever it taking it) isn't one of the very rare folks who "react" in some way. I've only heard of a couple, and they said it made them feel edgy, or had difficulty sleeping.

And yes, it does take a bit of time to "kick in" and start showing some effect... I'd say a minimum of 2 weeks, and it's not unusual for it to take as long as 6 weeks for the full effect (for someone who is already struggling with a mild clinical depression) to show up. If it doesn't seem to help at all after 2 months, it's probably not going to.

The folks in our family who take it (for SAD- seasonal affective disorder...occupational hazard for living this far north) have learned to start taking it in mid-October, when the days are starting to get noticably shorter. We usually don't really have any symptoms then, but by the time the dark November days are here, the herb has started working, and we avoid getting symptoms at all.

It's not a cure-all... I don't think any anti-depressants are. But it's certainly one of the safest options out there.

There are some warnings that say not to use light therapy with St. Johnswort. I'm not sure it's all that important... but St. Johnswort CAN cause hypersensitivity to sunlight. That's in *large* doses.... cattle which eat the stuff can sunburn so severely that they blister and can have permanent damage to their eyes. But it's something to think about, especially for anyone who likes to use a tanning bed or sunbathe.

Summerthyme