Taking St.John's Wort with Depakote, is it safe?

[Legends]

Hi everyone.

I've been on Depakote 500mg twice a day for almost 10 years, I always felt the side effects of depakote: feeling a bit depressed, tired, long sleeps.... but somewhat it never really bothered me too much and I just dealt with it, after all, it made my seizures disappear . But now I just relocated to a new city and the stress,lack of job, friends... is getting hard to deal with and I feel a big lack of energy that stops me from even trying to make my situation better. I'm considering taking St.John's Wort from Perika brand to try to make my mood a bit better and feel more energetic, I was on prescription mild antidepressants for a few months time ago when I was in a similar situation and somewhat it helped and had no problems at all. I just didn't like the zombie feeling that they gave me so I rather try the natural way this time. I've been doing some research about taking Depakote and SJW and there's not so much information and it's totally contradicting. Some claim there's no problem at all mixing them, in some other site I read that SJW somehow makes your body absorb meds less than usual, so if you are in any other medication it can lower the dose on the blood stream, which is what worries me.

So has anyone tried mixing them? any experiences, thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Nakamova]

Hi Legends, welcome to CWE!

SJW and Depakote should be safe together. There is some research showing that SJW affects absorption of Tegretol, Dilantin, and Phenobarbaitol -- but those anti-seizure medications are enzyme-inducing. They work differently in the body than Depakote (which is enzyme-inhibiting) and are in a different family in terms of the pharmacokinetics.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/329.html

 

[silentoak33]

Did you ever try depakote and St. J W together?

I am wondering if you ever decided to try them both together? I have diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was prescribed depakote but i am currently taking 300mg of St. Johns Wort a night. I am worried about combining the two but after some research it looks like it shouldnt interact too much, from what i understand if it does interact it may heighten the "sedative" effect from either or med or SJW. St.JW supposedly acts as a SSRI.

Let me know if you decided to try them together I would love to hear it from someone who has.

thanks so much

 

[Porkette]

Hi Legends,
My Epileptologist has told me never to take a anti depressant of any kind while on seizure med because it will reverse the seizure med and lead to seizures for me. While I was taking Depakote it worked really good for me and I had a lot more energy but I took it so many yrs. my body became immune to the drug and I had to go on tegretol xr.
I found just keeping myself busy was the best thing to do and I didn't have time on my hands to think about things that would depress me. Just like you I've moved a lot (16 times) and I've lived in 4 different states so I understand how you feel about not having any friends around and getting work. It can be very stressful but give it time. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue