St Johns Wort Side Effects Include Interactions with Prescription Drugs

While researching St Johns wort side effects, I ran across a question about St Johns wort and Lipitor, the cholesterol lowering drug. St Johns wort is known to interact with a number of prescription drugs and recent research by the Department of Medicine at Gothenburg University in Sweden indicates that Lipitor (atorvastatin) is one of them. The study was small and short term, but the results showed that St Johns wort decreased the effectiveness of Lipitor.

According to surveys conducted by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, St Johns wort is one of the most commonly purchased "health supplements" in the United States. This fact increases concerns over St Johns wort side effects. Although it seems to be well tolerated in a number of people, others have experienced serious and in some cases life threatening reactions. For those who are taking prescription drugs, the possibility of drug interaction is a serious risk. A compound found in St Johns wort increases the metabolism of many drugs, thus decreasing their effectiveness.

The decreased effectiveness found in the combined use of St Johns wort and Lipitor is not dissimilar to the interaction found with St Johns wort and the anti-epileptic drugs carbamazepine and phenytoin. The same interaction is seen with persons taking antiviral drugs and immunosuppressant drugs. Other drugs that have been shown to interact with the herb include digoxin, methadone, omeprazole, Phenobarbital and warfarin. In all cases, the use of St Johns wort decreases the effectiveness of these drugs. Anyone taking a prescription medication should speak with their doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional before taking St Johns wort.

The complete list of St Johns wort side effects are too lengthy to include here in this article. Possibly the most serious is a condition called serotonin syndrome. The most common use for the herbal supplement is as a natural alternative to prescription antidepressants. There are a number of natural alternatives to prescription antidepressants that have few, if any, side effects. For more information about natural alternatives to prescription antidepressants, serotonin syndrome and other St Johns wort side effects, please visit All Herbal Medicine.com.