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St john's wort in everyday life: stories of people who have used the herbal remedy to modify their own moods ST JOHN'S WORT IN EVERYDAY LIFE: STORIES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THE HERBAL REMEDY TO MODIFY THEIR OWN MOODS
From the dark realms of cyberspace a 19-year-old girl who calls herself Dream wrote to me as follows:
I began taking St John's Wort for depression - severe mood swings, excessive anger, guilt, feelings of worthlessness and irritability. It helped me function at work. My job requires good customer relations, and I was too easily irritated and hacked off. On St John's Wort 1 could smile and interact just fine. It caused me a problem only once when I took it on an empty stomach and suffered severe stomach cramps for the rest of the day. I've stopped taking St John's Wort because I feel better now. I was extremely grateful for it because it enabled me to function at work and subsequently keep my job (I recently got promoted, too). I can't afford a therapist or any expensive medications. I only wish St John's Wort worked as well for everyone as it did for me.
Work stress is a common source of frustration in modern times. Perhaps it always has been. But nowadays, corporate downsizing is making many workers increasingly insecure about their jobs. International competition has led to companies trying to get as much from their workers as possible for as little as possible. People shoved into tiny cubicles feel unappreciated and depersonalized. Chronic stress results in both physical and behavioural changes. Physically, there is evidence of increased blood pressure and pulse rate. More stress hormones, such as Cortisol, are produced by the adrenal gland, which can reduce appetite and disrupt sleep. After time, individuals can feel burned out and, like the young woman in the above example, can become irritable in ways that can get them into trouble with their supervisors. If stress continues for long enough it can turn into clinical depression and a person would do well to head off such a development at the pass. There are, of course, many things one can do to reduce stress and avoid depression. But one easy solution, which should certainly be considered, is the use of St John's Wort. As in Dream's experience, the need for the herb may be temporary, to tide a person over a particularly stressful time, but the benefits may be permanent. For example, in Dream's case she was promoted, perhaps as a result of her improved mood and better control of her temper while on the herbal remedy.
Although work-related problems are stressful, being made redundant, laid off, downsized or whatever it is called nowadays can be even more so. A 48-year-old man from Germany who has treated himself with St John's Wort for the past year writes, T lost my job a year ago. I was finished with the world. Now after a month in a new job, I am fine. With all the problems I was having, I could no longer see light at the end of the tunnel. Now everything is normal again.' There are all sorts of adjustments that need to be made following a job loss and specific actions that need to be taken to determine how best to find new employment or get on with one's career. But putting your brain chemicals in order may be a first step to developing the best mind-set to enable you to make these changes; for this man, St John's Wort appears to have done just that.
Another source of chronic stress is the aftermath of losing a loved one. Grieving is an extremely painful process and probably a valuable and necessary one. Nevertheless, in some people the degree of suffering is so great that some form of medication may be warranted. In one recent study of widows and widowers, researchers found that almost one in four of the bereaved individuals had enough symptoms to be given the diagnosis of full-blown clinical depression. The decision as to whether to alleviate such painful symptoms is obviously a personal one. For many people, the idea of a natural substance, an herbal anti-depressant that they can buy and administer themselves, may prove to be appealing. A 45-year-old woman describes how she has taken St John's Wort three times a day to deal with her feelings of grief following the death of her husband six months ago. She feels that St John's Wort has helped her enormously so that now she is more at peace with herself and can sleep properly again.
The chronic illness of a close relative or friend and the unremitting care and attention this may require is another stress that can wear down those who love the ailing person. One 64-year-old woman felt very stressed as a result of her husband's depression. Taking St John's Wort has helped her enormously without causing any side-effects. Now she feels better and can sleep again.
Although there are no research studies on the use of St John's Wort for the treatment of stress, it is commonplace to recommend conventional anti-depressants for such uses, often to very good effect. Already there are thousands of people using St John's Wort for chronic stress. I predict that its use in this regard will greatly increase over the coming decade.
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