Are there any St John's Wort tablets which aren't huge?

[Bananaketchup]

I've been taking SJW for several weeks now, I bought them from the Healthspan website. They are about the size of a smartie, and taste foul. Several times I've retched trying to swallow one.

I've now developed a really unpleasant anxiety tic of retching when I'm anxious, it's horrible and as I'm quite emetophobic, really not helpful. I think it would help me train myself out of this if I wasn't retching every morning taking my SJW, so does anyone know of a brand which is not so big and/or doesn't taste so bad? TIA.

I feel your pain - mine are from Tesco and they are huge and yellow and foul, and slightly rough so stick in your throat. And I have an exaggerated gag reflex caused by the very thing that makes me unstable so that's not helping either.

My fave pill design is slightly oval, coated and smooth like nurofen tablets. why can't they all be like that.

Urgh, sounds like yours are even worse! I would much rather take several smaller ones to get the dose, rather than one giant one, why do they think 'one a day' is such a selling point when the 'one' is the size of a horse pill?!

Can I ask a question about SJW? I have had a jar of these on my shelf for weeks now - I haven't taken any yet. Do they help? What do they help with? Are there any side effects? My main symptoms are anxiety, worry, and occassional insomnia which brings my mood right down (and worry about the insomnia). I'm not on the pill or any other medication. I see that they taste horrible but are they good?

They have anti depressant effect. They have been proven to work and in some European countries (eg Germany) they are given on prescription.

Not sure they would be the best choice for you Becky as I don't think they work for anxiety the way SSRI antidepressants do.

will let you know about them working once I've been on them for longer than 6 days...

Becky I'm using them for anxiety but after about 6 weeks I'm not sure if they're actually helping or if I just think they're helping cos I want them to work, IYSWIM. TBH I'm only on them because I have to be off ADs to adopt, I was perfectly happy on my 25mg of Citalopram. If a friend with anxiety asked me whether to take SJW or an SSRI I would say SSRI no contest, I definitely felt they worked where as the SJW I'm really not sure if they're doing anything or not. Not sure if this is helpful to you, sorry.

I tried Prozac for 3 days (an SSRI I think) and that was all I could stand. I felt like I was totally bonkers by day 3 and the insomnia they gave me was horrendous. So I've been avoiding medication after that bad experience... But starting to feel really worn down by the anxiety and the cycles of sleep anxiety. Ah well.

Maybe if you've got some to hand there's nothing to be lost in trying the SJW? I haven't had any side effects, so if you can stand the vile taste there's no harm in giving them a go. At least then you'll know either way if they help or not. Maybe I'd do better with mine if I wasn't still hankering after the Citalopram [hopeless AD junkie emoticon].

Becky could you not consider a low dose of Citalopram? DH is on 10mg and felt it hugely reduced his anxiety and a friend of mine was on 5mg for a while and found that beneficial.

I'm terrified of getting insomnia on these sorts of ADs. I'm too scared to take them in case it happened...

Didn't have that effect on dh or friend - in fact it helped both sleep better as theey stopped worrying so much!

Sounds like magic to me. Perhaps SJW would have the same effect, but just in a milder way. But I am such a wuss when it comes to medication. I don't even like taking parecetomol!