St John's Wort

I'm going on this soon and I heard that it gives you more vivid dreams. Is this true and can anyone tell me of their experiences with it?

I've never taken it before, but I've heard of it already. I also did some research, and I thought I should share my findings. First of all, It's main use seems to be for depression. Like many anti-depressants, it targets the serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a chemical produced by the human body, and it acts as a neurotransmitter. Many researchers/scientists/doctors, etc, believe that serotonin is the chemical responsible for maintaining mood balance, and this is why it is targeted for depression. However, if St. Johns Wort is taken with other medical anti-depressants, it can cause the serotonin levels within your body to drastically increase or decrease, which is very dangerous. However, It is also used for treating insomnia(a disorder that basically makes it hard to sleep or impossible to sleep naturally). This is because St. Johns Wort also contains melatonin. Melatonin is the chemical our body produces, that regulates our sleep-wake cycle. So, thought St. Johns Wort can be helpful for improving sleep, It probably isn't wise to take it specifically for having more vivid dreams. It's main use is for mild/moderate depression and helps somewhat for sleeping due to the melatonin within it. Taking it with normal levels of serotonin and melatonin, can cause those levels to change. If you want to improve your sleep, I would recommend taking natural melatonin supplements, or other supplements meant for improving dreams and dream recall(You can find some of those right here on this awesome website!). Don't forget that before taking supplements, you should consult your doctor first. Especially if you are taking prescription/over the counter drugs, because supplements can be dangerous or contradict the effects of those medicines. If you still wish to take St. Johns Wort, or wish to take other such supplements, you should always research them first. There are side-effects and other variables that come with taking supplements, and you should be aware of those first. Hope This helps!

I too are going to say I dont think anyone should be taking this drug (it may be natural but it still works like a drug) for LD as as the other stated, it does raise serotinin so messes around with your body in serious ways, just like anti-depressants do. Im sure you wouldnt pop anti-depressant pills if you didnt have depression and just take them for LD. (When one takes anything which gives serotonin, ones own bodies abilities to make ones own serotonin can fall as ones body adapts to the serotonin giving drug).

I tried taking it ONCE for depression and I had the most hellish trip on it when I did, I will NEVER take that drug again. In my case it affected my brain and moods but in very terrible ways (like crazily fast cycling bipolar but my moods were swinging majorly every 5-10 seconds to a different mood.. it was sooo hellish. It made me feel like I was going completely crazy).

I get side effects from serotonin raising anti-depressants too but nothing like what St John Wort does to me.. (those pharmacutical drugs just give me simply a headache, nausea or brain fog... they dont make me feel like Im going completely mad).

Don't worry, I doctor prescribed it to me as an anti-depressant.

I've been taking it for about three weeks now and I don't think it's affected my dreams at all. The first night I took it I thought I had a more vivid dream, but looking back through my dream journal, it wasn't really. I had just expected it to, I guess.

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As a person above me said... if St John's Wort only works for dreaming due to its melatonin content, you'd be better off just taking straight melatonin. it's like $4 for a good-sized bottle of it at WalMart or wherever.

It aids sleep and some say it helps with dream stuff.

Keep taking the St John's Wort though if you're just taking it for depression. I'm surprised you were "prescribed" it, though... it's OTC... is your doctor a shaman? :P

Allyk47 wrote:

Keep taking the St John's Wort though if you're just taking it for depression. I'm surprised you were "prescribed" it, though... it's OTC... is your doctor a shaman? :P

Many doctors even some psychriatrists (there is one who wrote a book about it and how he uses it extremely successfully in his patients), actually will tell a person to take St Johns Wort now days due to all the side effects of the SSRI drugs and the fact that they have a very bad repretation of having to try many of them before one works (there was a study done on that which had a shocking result)