What are the health risks from taking St john's Wort?

Question

My last exam my doctor told me to stop taking st johns wort immediatly, said it had something to do with my heart, but I didn't catch what it was

Answer 1

One of the major downsides of using St. John’s wort is that it may interact in a potentially harmful way with many common medications. It's broken down in the liver by enzymes that also process certain medications. The result is that it can decrease the effectiveness of other medications a person is taking or increase the effect, leading to an increased risk of adverse effects.

Answer 2

He probably told you that because he doesn’t get any kickbacks from it!

Doctors are “encouraged” to prescribe certain drugs because they get “rewards” from the drug company sales representative – monetary based, prizes, gifts, holidays, freebies, subsidized training etc…

When you buy St Johns Wort – he misses out on these “rewards”.

Seriously though, you have to be careful mixing natural medicine with prescription medicine, as there can be reactions. These interactions may lead to loss of therapeutic effect of the prescribed medicines.

However, the same can be said for mixing different types of prescribed medications.

Hundreds and hundreds of people die every year from doctor prescribed medication – from adverse reactions, accidental overdoses or from other diseases brought on by medication (i.e.) steroids damage you liver which can lead to liver failure.

Whilst there are deaths from natural medicines, these are certainly in the minority.

I am always very suspicious if someone or something tells me to avoid natural medicine because if you dig deeper (rather than taking it on face value) there is normally some sort of agenda going on (i.e.) some sort of sponsored propaganda disguised as “research” by the pharmaceutical companies (which are the richest organizations in the world, after oil)

Why don't you speak with your doctor again and ask him to explain. Your health is very important, so this time make an effort to catch what he says and if need be, follow his instructions.

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Answer 3

St. John's wort may cause serious interactions with prescription drugs, and is thought to increase the possibility of rejection for heart transplant patients.