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At 08:47 AM 6/28/97 -0400, you wrote: >Sue Maltais wrote: >> >> Did anyone see 20/20 last night? They did a report on an herb called >> St. John's Wort that is having great success in helping people with mild >> to moderate depression. I can't remember the Drs. name but he's written a >> book on it, and Dr. Tim Johnson was quite enthused about it. >> >> Sue, in Mass. >Sue, I've been watching this thread develop for a short time and have decided to throw my 02 cents and opinions into the ring. To begin, I freely admit that I have so many opinions that some are bound to be wrong. My intent with this message is to hold them up for consideration. Throughout this message I am addressing ideas, not people. This is, by no means a flame directed at anyone. As far as I know, I am healthy, other than an incident that occurred three weeks ago when the front tire on my bicycle blew and I lost control and took a spill. The result was an abrupt acceptance of ill health as a number of ribs were fractured. I have been taking St. John's Wort for months as a result of reading information disseminated from my health food store. I didn't rush out immediately, but, rather, looked for more information. I found Earl Mindell's Herb Bible and other sources that described St. John's Wort. There is a rather large body on knowledge in the naturopath community that is, in my view, generally ignored by most mainstream doctors. Having corroborated the flyer from the health food store, I decided to try ST. John's Wort. I found, almost immediately, a lessening of the negative feelings I seem to embrace every Sunday afternoon when I have time on my hands. I'm not aware of any side affects and firmly believe that the St. John's Wort had no bearing on the breaking of my ribs. :-}) At the same time, I also admit that I don't know if there are and side affects. As I look at this designer disease called Parkinsons, it strikes me that everyone has their very own unique set of bodily attributes and therefore everyone reacts differently to the different inputs introduced. It also seems to me that at different times, a person's body reacts to the same input in different ways. It becomes each person's, in my view, very own responsibility to monitor what's happening. The important thing, in my view, it to never give up and to try anything, within reason that comes along. I guess using leeches to let blood is something I'd not want to do, for example, but dependind on the problem..... I firmly believe (this the controversial portion of this message. :-}) ), that, virtually all doctors truly wish the best for their patients, however, it's my very own personal view that few doctors receive a lot of training in the area of preventative medicine, or health. I don't think that health is much studied. I believe that dis-ease is the focus of the majority of a doctor's training so it's no wonder that the first line of defense is to prescribe medications that mask symptoms rather than address the root cause of the disease in question. It's certainly true that there are many natural chemicals that are harmful, witness the nightshade family, but I also firmly believe that, there are many natural chemicals that contribute to health rather than masking symptoms. I find it difficult to believe that an artificial chemical can be used by my finely tuned body to built health. What it needs is the amino acids, minerals, vitamins etc. that occur in the correct proportions, one to another, to build health. Don't get me wrong, there absolutely are viable uses for the artificial drugs that mask symptoms and I use them when needed. My ribs can attest to this. What I am saying is that it is each person's responsibility to choose to work toward building health and how to do it. I am *extremely* distrustful of the news media because I've read quotes which state that they can change the opinions of the nation by the way the "news" is reported. I believe that, long ago, many of the media organizations departed from objectively reporting facts to selectively reporting "news" that generates money for their investors. I think that it's entirely correct to view information tendered by these organizations with a jaundiced eye, but at the same time, I think it's our responsibility to research the information conveyed to determine for ourselves what we should do with it. Bottom line, one ought not to close one's mind to something because it's new to them or there's a lot of media hype, or well-meaning folks who have a narrowly focused education poo-poo it. Take the time to reasearch and consider the "something" before rejecting it. Thus endth my 02 cents. Jeff Jones, part time CG for Becky [log in to unmask]