St John's wort used alone refers to the
species "Hypericum perforatum", also known
as Tipton's Weed or Klamath weed, but,
with qualifiers, is used to refer to any
species of the genus Hypericum. Therefore,
H. perforatum is sometimes called Common
St John's wort to differentiate it from
the others.
In modern medicine, standardized Hypericum
extract (obtained from H. perforatum) is
commonly used as a treatment for
depression and anxiety disorders. Several
studies have found it to be effective in
the treatment of mild to moderate
depression, with fewer side effects than
many conventional antidepressants.
St John's wort may interact with birth
control pills and may reduce the
effectiveness of oral contraceptives.
However this is not clinically proved
because no cases of pregnancy due to
contraceptive/St John's wort interactions
have been found in the literature despite
over 20 years of widespread prescription
in Germany. If you use birth control
pills for treating acne there is nothing
to be worried about. You can continue
taking both drugs at the same time.
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