St. John's Wort

This is the answer to the comment on the post below, but it got so long I figured it really should be a post of its own. How long did it take for the SJW to start working? About a day or two. But the last time I tried it, years ago, the dose was like a capsule a day - nuthin'. The dosage now is 2 capsules (600 mg.) 3x a day, with meals. I'm taking it twice a day, and that was enough to make a noticeable difference. 1200 mg.

I won't say it's a dramatic change, and I've never been on real anti-depressants so I have nothing to judge it by, but a lot of the annoying issues - like waking up in the middle of the night with all the shit I'm dealing with racing through my brain - have stopped. Literally overnight. Since the shit that I'm dealing with gets piled higher every week, I can't quite believe that a placebo effect could explain this - and even if it is, I'm there. I did research it on MedlinePlus and other sites, and nobody had a negative thing to say about it, just that it's not good for more than mild depression and recommended for a short period of time, and doesn't work for everybody.

I'm not majorly depressed, obviously, but I was sleeping poorly and feeling overwhelmed, and I'd wake up at 3 a.m. with a frantic to-do list chattering in my brain, which left me starting the day overwhelmed, tired, sad and disgusted. I'm still disgusted about a lot of it, but I have the focus to deal with it.

I would say it's too good to be true and may be a placebo effect, but I'm not sure the subconscious that woke me at 3 a.m. could totally be fooled by a placebo. I am very good at compartmentalizing my issues. I do not sit around dwelling on things, I do not have trouble falling asleep at night. I would go to bed and sleep just fine, only to wake up at 3 with a whole litany of shit racing through my brain. I do have a lot on my plate right now, life and death kind of things, and I have to put them in order and address them as they come due. I always do that. But the waking-up brain chatter happened when my husband was dying too, and after, as well. So far, SJW has helped make it shut up. Time will tell.