Has anyone had any experience of using the above natural remedy as a replacement for prescribed anti depressant?

I don't have experience as a replacement, but as a substitute; yes.

On my advice, my brother used St Johns Wort and Vitamin D for his Seasonal Affective Disorder; and it worked really well.

St Johns Wort is most known for depression, but it's also useful for controlling blood sugar and normalizing hormones, too! Which might be why it's so good for depression...

If you are on prescription medicine now, I believe you are supposed to taper off, NOT stop abruptly; but adding in St Johns Wort during the taper could give you some excellent feedback on how it would work for you.

Thanks for the advice. I am in process of tapering off tables now and so will give it a try

Hi Foxy. I've been lurking around here for a couple of weeks, and your question motivated me to register.

I've been taking St. Johns Wort for 4 years and it works excellent. Just make sure to work with your doctor while you're getting off of whatever you're on now.

Once you start taking St. Johns, it takes about 2 or 3 weeks before you see results, and it's subtle. Sometimes you forget it's even working until you stop taking it. And it takes about a week to even notice the difference if you do decide to stop. But I always go back.

I also take a triple strength fish oil every day, DHA is a very powerful antidepressant. And I also agree with including a vitamin D supplement every day (1,000 IU).

I've suffered from depression my whole life, but I'm doing good now. And that's a story for another post.

Good luck to you.


Edit: And yes...I've been on every medication in the book...every one.

I also highy recommend magnesium(not mag oxide- its not absorbable) for depression. It has helped me alot. I was on lexapro, but it made me want to sleep all the time so I got off of it. Had annoying side affects when I tried to get off. I had to keep taking small amounts for months before I finally got off of it

No luck with that SJW here -- I tried it for 6 months or longer. Now magnesium, vitamin D3, Ginkgo Biloba and Brazil nuts (high in selenium) and VLC diet I swear by em!

Just adding my .02 about what has worked for me. I take magnesium/potassium/taurine as well as a good multi-vitamin, CoQ-10, D3, and fish oil.

On top of that, I find I do best when I'm also taking a product called Clarocet ERT which you can buy online. It contains some vitamins, along with St. John's Wort, SAM-e, Valerian Root, Arctic Root, 5-HTP, GABA, and Acetyl-L-Caritine. Since getting pregnant I am not using the ERT, and the depression has not been as easily managable without it.

I started a post earlier and then jumped around from site to site and lost it...

Short version:

Try this:

http://www.iherb.com/Doctor-s-Best-...lets/16567?at=0

I got a message in my journal just the other day from a lady who - amongst many others here - took this product on my (and Hutchinson's) recommendation. Her husband gets depression and she says he is a lot less stressed.

If you google "magnesium depression" or even "magnesium glycinate depression", you'll get some interesting results.

Oh, and it needs to be a properly chelated kind with the "Albion" stamp: I tried a non-Albion certified kind of Mg glycinate and it wasn't half so good.

Off to bed!!!

amanda