Re: Supplements and personality features

Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Mon, 12 Jan 1998 08:40:28 -0500


Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
> Mark Crosby <crosby_m@rocketmail.com> writes:
>
> > The most well-known SSRI is Prozac, which has some
> > nasty side effects. However, I have found that the
> > herbal extract of Hypericum (St. John's Wort -
> > available wherever they sell a variety of herbal
> > extracts) IS absolutely amazing in this context -
> > much more reliable than, say, piracetam.
>
> Huh? Is there any evidence at all that Hypericum acts as a SSRI?
> Remember, the SSRI family is very specific, and AFAIK not something
> you are likely to find in nature.
>

I was reading an article last week that said that Hypericum has SSRI
properties, but also does one or two other things that allow for a more
stable treatment, minimizing side effects. Most things in nature that
work typically aren't promoted by the medical establishment because they
can't patent them, and therefore make multi-millions off of them. FOr
example, ginger root is typically 2-3 times more effective as a
treatment for motion sickness than dramamine, but you never hear about
this from the drug companies, or from your conventional doctors. Ginger
is so ubiquitous that no one in the medical field can hope of making
apenny on recommending it for treatment of motion sickness.