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St John’s Wort instead of Venlafaxine?

SmokinJoeFraz93

Senior Member
Messages
194
Location
United Kingdom
I no longer take Venlafaxine, but I do miss the mental energy it gave me. I don’t want to take it again because I feel I’m no longer depressed or anxious. Well... Not to the point where I need meds.

I have heard St John’s Wort is quite good, and it doesn’t give the horrible side effects and withdrawals like Venlafaxine.

I just want to be able to have the mental energy that the meds gave me. Any advice or opinions?

Thanks.
 

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
There are many things that can affect how your brain works. The answer is, it depends in what's going on inside you. Something that may work for someone else may not work the same way for you as you have different genes and environmental factors.

How are your hormones - cortisol, thyroid, sex hormones (pregnenolone, DHEA, testosterone, estrogen)?

What's your status of B vitamins, antioxidants, lipids, and amino acids? (If you don't know, a comprehensive nutrient test, like a Genova Diagnostics NutrEVal test can tell you.)

How's your gut? So you have candida, SIBO, or a microbiome imbalance? Have you been on antibiotics or a high carbohydrate/sugar/alcohol diet?

Are you taking any other botanicals?

How's your sleep?

Do you have any heavy metal toxicity, like less, arsenic, or mercury?

Do you have any chronic infections, like Epstein Barr, etc.?
 

ErdemX

Senior Member
Messages
113
Location
Istanbul
I used an another SNRI (Cymbalta) for a long time and also tried St John's Wort. I think there is no way that they can work the same way. St John's Wort was a very light supplement for me, meaning I never felt something very noticeable at the start or when stopping. I had no side effects from it. It is a very widely used herb with documented benefits so my suggestion would be just try St Johns Wort and don't be afraid to use big doses if you have no side effects. I would also give it a couple of months to have a proper evaluation.

Some people also have great benefit from Nimodipine (Nimotop) but you need to start very low dose and slowly. There is a useful and well written pdf about its usage on CFS/ME, if you can find it online.
 

dreamydays

Senior Member
Messages
182
Location
United Kingdom
To replace the norepinephrine part of the antidepressant directly, you might look into atomoxetine, bupropion or modafinil. For general brain fog, I would recommend piracetam, aniracetam and/or noopept all should be taken with alpha-gpc. For a stronger stimulating effect try phenylpiracetam. I have had pretty good results with nimodipine as well. I spend all my energy looking for potential treatments. The main downside of clearing brain fog with supplements/medications is that it tends to make it harder to sleep.

One last thing is if you suffer from OI/POTS then treating this will tend to help get blood to the brain.