St. john's wort and Insomnia: What Users Say

• las...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 14, 2014

For Depression "I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and have been seeing a grief counselor. I have tried four different types of antidepressants and couldn't stand being on any one of them for more than a day. This is working. My only side effect is not being able to sleep if I take it late in the day. I've stopped crying and obsessing. I feel calm again for the first time in years. Maybe now I can put my life back together."

• Big...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• June 16, 2019

For Depression "I've been taking St. John's Wort for about two years now. I've always had massive hormonal fluctuations in relation to my monthly cycle and finally decided to try St. John's wort after a period of worsening and dreadful PM depressions. And I'm so happy I did. It's changed my life. I feel so much happier, more positive, and confident. Not all of my grey thoughts are gone, but overall, I have no doubt it has improved my brain chemistry. However, I'd recommend everyone thinking about trying it to start with as small a dose as possible. I think the dose a lot of people write about (300mg a day) sounds like a lot! I'd recommend starting much lower, observing the effects, and then adjusting if necessary. I also find that taking it at night makes it difficult to sleep, so I take a smaller dose at night than in the morning. Really, there should be more guidance on how to use this, but since there's not, just being patient and starting out with a low dose would definitely be my recommendation."

• Ast...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 11, 2017

For Depression "I don't ever leave reviews for anything, but I felt the need to leave this. After a few trials with medication that left me fearful to try more, I researched and tried this - mostly uplifted by the no side effects angle. It's supposed to take a few weeks to work, but I noticed extreme results within a few days. It brought me out of my depression and quelled my anxiety so, so well. I think I may have had a bit of insomnia due to it, but this was cured by a cup of passionflower tea before bed. I had also lost my appetite for the better part of 2 months, losing 25 lbs. I am now eating as I had before! I did pair it with some light exercise and better eating, but that was after. I just bought a brand from a local drugstore. A ++ for this."

• Pur...
• October 19, 2015

For Depression "I have been feeling down and anxious, and my GP prescribed me an antidepressant for severe depression. I have been on a different medication before and found that although I felt more stable, I was reduced to a zombie. So, I decided to try St. John's Wort after reading good reviews. I started on 325 mg once a day in the morning. Day one - I felt amazing! I thought, hey, if this is a placebo effect, I don't care! Day two, I started to feel shaky and spaced out. My partner said he noticed that I became intense on worries and seemed worse. Day three, I took it, and all day, I have had that same fuzzy brain zap feeling that you get with prescribed AD, nausea, brain fog, insomnia, ear ringing, and light sensitivity. I would not say it has less side effects."

• Ros...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 9, 2023

For Depression "I’ve come back 9 days on to say I’ve stopped SJW now. Since I started taking it, I did feel calmer for the first few days (a little woozy, but it wasn’t in a bad way), but sadly, it gave me terrible insomnia. I am really very low, but the one thing I was doing was sleeping, giving me respite from my intrusive thoughts. Sadly, I had multiple nights in a row where I only slept for 1-2 hours. I persevered and got some Zopiclone from my GP, but even with Zopiclone, I only got 5 hours of sleep for the past 3 nights. I plan to try 5HTP next, and if that doesn’t work, sadly, I’ll have to go down the SSRI route. It’s worth noting that I had no other negative side effects, a mild headache the first few days, but very mild. If I carried on, it may have helped my mood, but I’m afraid sleep for me is major!"

• Pin...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 22, 2017

For Depression "I have had seasonal affective disorder for the past two years. I would feel depressed, anxious, and even suicidal. However, when I learned about this, I started taking them, and it works wonders! I am so happy now! Keep in mind that this may have side effects... for me, I have some trouble sleeping after it and your appetite decreases. For some people, the appetite part is good because they need to lose weight, but not for me. I am a bit worried because I am already a bit underweight and I don’t want to lose any more weight. But I guess I’ll see :) Thank you, St. John's Wort!!"

• Ros...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 4, 2023

For Depression "I have started St. John's Wort 3 days ago, just 1 tablet a day that is 370 mg. I’m petite, so I started out on a low dose, the packet says to take 1 or 2 a day. I’ve had horrible intrusive thoughts for about a month, thought that now that life is pointless, etc., and I can’t work, I cry a lot and generally feel anxious and depressed. The triggers are not clear-cut. I’m only 3 days in, but today has been the best day I’ve had for about 3 weeks. I’ve felt a bit spaced out, and I think it’s affected my sleep a bit, but I had a good period today where I felt happier, and my intrusive thoughts of suicide lifted a bit. I’ll come back on to review again when I’ve been on it for longer, but I’m hopeful. I don’t want to take an SSRI, but if this doesn’t work, I’ll have to."

• Jus...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 14, 2017

For Depression "I have anxiety and have suffered with it for many years. My friend suggested SJW, so I grabbed a week's worth of capsules from her to give it a try. I had some severe side effects from this and didn't actually see much improvement in my daily life. I had trouble getting to sleep, slept for 10+ hours every night even with work the next day. It kept me from caring about waking up for my job. This was mainly due to the anxiety dreams I had every night, which is something I had never had before. They are different from nightmares and they can probably even cause panic attacks if they become bad enough, which could lead to nightmares, I'm guessing. I stopped taking them after the 4th day and was immediately back to decent sleep and able to wake up for work."

• Kat...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 5, 2022

For Depression "I have had depression and anxiety for over 20 years and tried quite a few different antidepressants. The side effects are sweating, piling on weight, terrible insomnia, can’t orgasm, and keratosis pilaris, to name a few. At the time, I just thought it was my body until I’d go off them and realize a certain side effect would go away. I never feel happy, and after losing someone very close to me this past year, I’ve been getting worse. I thought I’d try SJW, but am on thyroid medication, so I need to keep an eye on levels in case it’s affected by the SJW. So far, I don’t think it has. It took a couple bottles of the Blackmores brand to feel a noticeable difference. The only side effect has been the difficulty in having an orgasm and slightly numb. It was bothering me, so I cut back the past few weeks to 2 tablets a day, and I feel way too emotional and very angry."