St. John's Wort
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I took St. John's Wort a couple of months ago to see what it could do for my occasional "moody" days--not clinical depression, but just the "blues" maybe once or twice a month all my life (I am a male in my mid-thirties, good health).
The first negative side effect I noticed came after about two days of taking the recommended dosage (four pills) on the brand I bought. I experienced an increase in the number of times I went to the bathroom a day (not diarrhea, I was just going about 5-6 times over my waking hours, very inconvenient!). I halved the daily dose, but still had this issue. I have read that St. John's Wort causes an increase in the normal flora present in the lower intestine and thus increases the movement of waste through that area, but cannot verify the validity of that.
The second, more disturbing affect was that after about ten days I noticed a "flattening" of my personality and the reactions I had to things around me--that's the best way I can describe it. While this might be a positive result for someone who is clinical depressed or anxious, to me it was slightly scary. I felt very non-reactive and dulled emotionally--to me, an emotional reaction is sometimes a good thing. I mean, I wasn't even reacting with positive emotions to good events! Everything was just...there (oh, tha'ts nice).
I stopped taking it because this was not the result I wanted and the occasional moody days were preferable to feeling nothing, good or bad. But again, I could see that this might be the type of result someone who suffers from anxiety might welcome for obvious reasons.
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