combining st john's wort with inositol

[jenlun]

Hi:) Anyone here who has experience with combining st johns wort and inositol. I'm on my third week taking st johns wort and just got my shipment with inositol powder. Don't plan to build up to a high doseage with inositol as long as I take st johns wort, but am eager to start taking inostol as well.
Appreciate any feedback to my question :)

[uru]

So I found this:


St John's wort has significant interactions with a large number of medicines which are in common use. This means that it may affect the levels of some other drugs in the body. This could make the other drugs less effective, or increase the chances of adverse effects. These drugs include both prescribed drugs and medicines you can buy for yourself over the counter.

Because of this, it is very important that you get professional advice from a pharmacist, medical herbalist or doctor before taking St John's wort at the same time as any other medicine.

And this
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=50764

[MyNameIsTerry]

I don't, but I do know that there is evidence that if you encapsulate your inositol you can take 70% less and the GI side effects of high dosages can be avoided this way.

Inositol has been trialled at higher levels for some anxiety disorders with good results but some people seem to say they get benefits at lower levels so I guess it will mean tapering up until you feel something.

There are no interactions recorded on Drugs.com, which is a good sign, but there are other sites you could check too. Inositol isn't a herbal though, we eat it in our diet already so it would only be a question of whether too much is an issue when combining with St. John's Wort.

[jenlun]

Thanks for your replies:) I've decided to combine SJW and inositol. I have been taking SJW for about 2 1/2 weeks now and think it has a slight effect lifting my mood. Also started taking inositol three days ago. I take 3 scoops of powder a day, morning, noon and in the evening. The label says 1 scoop a day so I figure 3 scoops is a fairly low dosage, used against anxiety?
I will keep my inositol dosage low as long as I take SJW.
Can't really say I feel any effect yet, positive or side effect. Probably too low dosage and to early to tell. Anyways, I'll post my experiences with this project as soon as I experience any effect:)

[MyNameIsTerry]

How big is a scoop?

The dosages used in clinical settings have been pretty large and the side effects tend to be GI related but you can avoid that by encapsulating them if you plan to go so high. The dosages should be mentioned in here:

http://examine.com/supplements/inositol/

[jenlun]

Hi again! 1 scoop is 6 grams of powder. How much of this that is inositol, I don't know since the label on the box doesn't say. The label suggests 1 scoop a day. As most health authoroties recommend about 1000 mg a day, I figure 1 scoop (6 grams) is about 1000 mg of inositol? That adds up to around 3000 mg a day. Not much at all.
My inositol is sold by Swanson Health Products.

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you have a 6 gram scoop you are getting 6000mg of something. Is the product just inositol or a combination of things? If just inositol then it may say what % pure product it is which is often a % value which would tell you how much of 6000mg is inositol.

[jenlun]

You are right. Studied the label one more time. It says 100% pure inositol. That means that I for 2 days took 18 grams a day. Didn't really feel any side effects though, maybe besides a slight headache?
Today I'm back on track, taking a total of about 6 grams. Hard to say if there is an effect? Feel a little reduction in inner stress about one hour after intake, but that might as well be placebo?
Thanks for making me aware of the right dosage:)

[jenlun]

Ok! My conclusion is as follows: I took about 6 grams of Inositol for a period of 16 days while taking St John's Wort. On my two first days with Inositol, I took 18 grams instead of 6 due to a mistake. I experienced absolutely no side effects combining the two.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Have you looked at what they used in the studies? I think 18g was one of them, it might have been for OCD but I would have to check. So, higher doses like that might be needed anyway? (12-18g is the therapeutic range in studies)

[jenlun]

The studies I read about were done on patients with panic attacks, I think? The therapeutic dosage was 18 gr. I didn't want to go that high as long as I took SJW.

I read a post a few days ago by someone suffering from OCD. He claimed that a high dosage of Inositol combined with a good quality magnesium had made tremendous results on his symptoms.

[jenlun]

Correction: the study implied that Inositol showed effect on patients suffering from panic attacks and/or mild depression when given in 12 gr doses. Patients with OCD were given a dose of 18 gr a day with promising results.