Posted by bleauberry on December 16, 2015, at 12:13:43
In reply to SJW is making me pre psychotic, posted by Lamdage22 on December 16, 2015, at 5:13:01
I added SJW to my meds (years ago) which included zyprexa. it was rough going for 6 weeks...and then it kicked in like magic....and then pooped out...and then later I discovered some things. Just want to share in case it is helpful.
SJW changes the metabolism of zyprexa in such a way that the blood level of zyprexa is remarkably increased, like double or triple or even quadruple. My 5mg dose caused a blood level equivalent of 20mg.
That is not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. But it is extremely important to know. Because if things start to get weird, well, increasing the dose of your antipsychotic a lot might do that. Right? For me, the 20mg was actually fine as long as it was with SJW, but was horrible otherwise.
The other thing to know is that SJW has multiple mechanisms, as do most plant medicines, and man doesn't know much about them. What we do know, is that somehow it does reuptake inhibition of serotonin, ne, da, and gaba. Undoubtedly it impacts other chemicals and enzymes in the brain. But its strongest known mechanism is as an anti-viral.
That is really important if you are in the camp that I am, which believes that a vast majority of psychiatric patients have their symptoms rooted primarily in either a toxicity situation or an infection situation, both of which are stealth, unsuspected, and undiagnosed.
It is also a powerful anti-fungal and a pretty good antibiotic too. So let's assume you are like me....underlying Lyme disease that nobody knows about....and you start taking SJW. The next thing that happens is you kill a bunch of bad bugs, overwhelm the body with the toxins of death, immune system reaction is severe, and the symptoms of all that display themselves as fatigue, depression, anxiety, psychosis. That reaction is called Herxheimer reaction. Google it. Google 'Lyme psychiatry' also.
Just sayin, SJW can bring up some issues if you don't know a lot about it. It can be your friend or your enemy, depending on how you manage it. For example if someone has a bizarre reaction to it, throws it in the trash, and moves on to something else, maybe just threw their life away too because it was trying to tell them...."you don't have psychiatric issues you have an infection causing psychiatric issues."
When it kicked in it was great. Very close to 100% remission. But it didn't last. With the benefit of hindsight, had I known the metabolism angle better, I probably could have managed it to stay at a steady blood level and not poop out.
Also with the benefit of hindsight, the first 6 weeks that were so rough and hard to hang in there, all that was probably Herxheimer reaction, because a couple years later it was determined I did have a hidden Lyme disease and Candida fungal issues.
It is a wonderful plant but you have to know what you are doing with it and what it is telling you through hints and clues, what most people would call side effects or reactions.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1084728
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20151119/msgs/1084734.html