St. John’s wart

[Skin1969]

Can I take St. John’s wart when on thyroxine?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Skin1969

It's contraindictated according to the information that comes with Boots St Johns Wort

boots.com/hri-good-mood-tab...

Click on Patient Information Leaflet :

Do not take this medicine if you are taking any of the following

medicines:

All hormonal contraceptives – the birth control ‘Pill’, emergency contraception (also known as “the morning after pill”), hormonal implant, creams, patches, intra-uterine devices with hormones

All medicines for depression/anxiety – amitriptyline, clomipramine, moclobemide, citalopram, fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, duloxetine, venlafaxine

All hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) treatments – HRT tablets, patches, gels, vaginal rings

All medicines for thinning the blood (anticoagulants) – warfarin, acenocoumarol

All medicines for epilepsy – carbamazepine, phenobarbitone, phenytoin, primidone, sodium valproate

All immunosuppressant medicines – ciclosporin, tacrolimus

All medicines for HIV infections – amprenavir, atazanavir, darunavir, fosamprenavir, indinavir, lopinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, tipranavir, efavirenz, nevirapine, delaviridine

Some medicines for cholesterol – simvastatin, atorvastatin

Some medicines for cancer – irinotecan, dasatinib, erlotinib, imatinib, sorafenib, sunitinib, etoposide, mitotane

Some medicines for heart disease - digoxin, ivabradine, amiodarone

Some medicines for migraine - almotriptan, eletriptan, frovatriptan, naratriptan, rizatriptan, sumatriptan, zolmitriptan

Some medicines for high blood pressure - amlodipine, nifedipine, felodipine, verapamil

A medicine for regulating mood – lithium

A thyroid hormone - thyroxine

[Skin1969 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you

I did read this on the leaflet inside the box,but when I googled it it said no interaction has been found when using thyroxine,so that’s why I was confused.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Skin1969]

I think I would trust the patient information leaflet that the manufacturer provides rather than Google.

[Skin1969 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Yes thanks for your information

[humanbean]

What did you want to take the St John's Wort for, just out of curiosity? There could be alternatives available.

[Skin1969 in reply to humanbean]

For the menopause

[humanbean in reply to Skin1969]

Okay, I can't help with that. Sorry.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Depression is common symptom of being hypothyroid or under treated when on levothyroxine

How much levothyroxine are you currently prescribed

When were thyroid levels last tested

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies

Ask GP to test vitamin levels and thyroid antibodies if not been tested yet

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .

Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Medichecks often have special offers, if order on Thursdays

Thriva Thyroid plus vitamins

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

[Skin1969 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you so much for this information,I haven’t felt right since being diagnosed with a under active thyroid 5 yrs ago I’m on 100 mg thyroxine, still feel low and can’t be bothered I was always running about.now I’m menopausal 😔

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Skin1969]

There’s over 108,000 members on here....in large part because current testing is often inadequate for many, many people

First step is to get full thyroid and vitamin testing via GP or privately

Come back with new post once you get results

[Gophe]

By the way, if you are looking at it for depression, just thought I'd weigh in with my experience. I had depression for many years and started taking Rhodiola Rosea for it (an adaptogen) a few years ago. It's been a life saver for me. (I haven't seen any studies on the effects of taking it long-term, though, so I'm kind of proceding a bit blindly on that front.)

[Gophe in reply to Gophe]

Adding results from a clinical trial: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/179...

[Carysta]

The BNF is useful to look for interactions, this is what is used by the NHS but best of all is checking with the pharmacist at the local chemist who will know far more about drug interactions than most doctors

[Ellie-Louise]

I bought some years ago not realising you couldn’t take it if you were on levo so when I read the leaflet I called the online store (think it was Natures Best) explained what had happened and they agreed that the information on the leaflet was correct, I shouldn’t take it and they refunded me right away.

[Angel_of_the_North]

Perhaps. After all, lots of people get prescribed SSRI anti-depressants when on levo and they and St Johns Wort act using a similar mechanism. That doesn't mean it's a good thing. Some people do well on it - it makes me feel worse and I get insomnia. If you are already taking anti-depressants, taking it might well give you serotonin syndrome which can be dangerous. If you want to use it because of low mood, it might just be that your thyroid hormones are still too low and being optimally medicated would make you feel better. You could try it and monitor how you feel - it has fewer side effects than SSRIs. This study suggests that it might raise TSH, but doesn't say anything about thyroid hormones: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/117... I would take it several hours away from levo and stop if you feel worse

[HLAB35]

I used to take it every winter many years ago, but it wasn't as good as having decent thyroid and adrenal function with good vitamin levels. Vitamin D and Magnesium and K2 seem to have been the missing piece of the jigsaw for me regarding low mood. Low mood coupled with memory issues and neuropathy and joint instability would point more towards low B12. Poor tolerance of life stresses could be low B5 and the other B's with zinc and Vitamin C (all needed for healthy adrenals). Herbs are good at tweaking things a bit, but ideally we need optimum nutrition plus good hormone levels.

[silverfox7]

Some years ago now I wandered into what was then a new shop with selves full of various over the counter medications so I had a look to see how prices looked against my regular source. Also that morning id read something, possibly on here, re St John’s Wort and thyroid patients. I also noticed the shop had a machine to check if drugs could clash with your medication. So I put in thyroid meds and St John’s Wort and it told me no but the PIL was telling me yes! So I brought this to their attention. It wasn’t well received! They did try to show me otherwise but couldn’t but I never went into the shop again!