St John's Wort with a Best Before date of 3 years ago

[BettyButterknife]

Would it be a bad idea to take this? Or would it just not be potent enough?

I would probably get some new stuff, if you can afford too.

Can I ask what you are taking it for? Is it PMS? If so, take calcium too. It was recommend to me by a consultant and is the only over the counter thing that has ever made a difference to my PMS.

GP recommended it for PND as I didn't want to take ADs. Haven't heard about calcium... although a friend recommended magnesium. All these minerals we're deficient in, eh?

Betty, sorry to hear that you have PND. Did the GP offer anything else like counselling?

Don't know if you have heard of the APNI, here is the link just in case you haven't.

No don't use out of date SJW. It's not that expensive and like everything else it loses its potency with age.

I take SJW as a mood booster while recovering from PTSD and it really helps, but it's subtle and if your PND interferes with daily life and your functioning it may not be enough. ADs are not the end of the world. You can't get addicted to them and once you're better yo ustop them again. As said above explore counselling too.

Agree with madmouse. ADs aren't the end of the world and can be really helpful.

I have had them prescribed once along with CBT and I think they saved my life.

Thank you - I wouldn't say I've got it very badly (Edinburgh Scale score of 26) and I'm going back to the GP next week to have my bloods taken to rule out anything biochemical/thyroid-y. She suggested I try to get some time away from the DC to get a bit of myself back, which I have been able to do and have seen a bit of an improvement as a result.

I think if the bloods come back ok counselling will be the next course of action. In a funny way, it was really helpful to talk about it to someone impartial, even just for 15 minutes, and for it to sink in that it's an illness and not me just being a shit mum.

Will stock up on SJW tomorrow. Thanks.

Edingburgh of 26 is pretty high OP! Anything over 10 needs checking out.

Hmm, have just redone test online picking all top answers to see what maximum score is - it's 30. So I guess 26 is pretty high... Didn't realise.

I don't agree that AD's are not addictive, some are, like Venlafaxine for example.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't take them, just wanted to point this out.
Venlafaxine has made a big improvement to my life, but it does come with big withdrawals if you stop taking it. Need to wean off it VERY VERY slowly...so I would say it was addictive, I know some doctors who disagree with this, but both me and my partner know different!

Good luck with whatever you choose. x

ell1 there is a difference between being addictive (which means your body craving the ADs) and the side effects you get when coming off ADs which are caused at least partially by your body re-adjusting to natural serotonin levels.