St. John's wort is an natural treatment that some folks believe can be used to treat depression. They are turning to St. John's wort because most of the psychotropic drugs used to treat depression have some severe unwanted side effects, and so they hope that a drugs derived from a plant will cause fewer problems. About 17 million Americans undergo from depression. Depression can be treated in a number of the way, most commonly by the use of anti-depressant medicine, akin to Prozac, Paxil, Elavil and Nardil. The attainable side effects of these medicine include sleeplessness, complications, gastrointestinal disturbances and changes in sexual need or activity. A 1994 research, reported in the British Medical Journal, indicated that St. John's wort was about as efficient as standard anti-depressants -- higher than sugar pill placebos in treating mild to moderate depression. John's wort (hypericum perforatum) is a perennial shrubby plant with golden flowers. The lively therapeutic substances in St. John's wort are hypericin, pseudohypericin and xanthones, though other elements might assist the motion of these compounds.

St. John's wort extract preparations are standardized to 0.3 percent hypericin. The standard adult dosage is 300 milligrams taken three times a day, and that signifies that a person taking St. John's wort will get 2.7 milligrams of hypericin a day. It's not clear how to improve brain health St. John's wort works to deal with depression. Almost definitely, hypericin helps to elevate the biochemicals within the mind that have an effect on temper, namely dopamine and serotonin, and to cut back andrenal activity, which is elevated in depression. St. John's wort has uncomfortable side effects, too. The commonest are light-sensitivity, dry mouth, stomach irritations, dizziness and tiredness. St. John's wort could help with the remedy of some retroviruses, reminiscent of herpes, HIV and pal leukemia virus, and will help in treating some cancers