I know that's a real bummer, I used to take SJW and Rhodiola together with great results but discontinued cause of this study. I just don't want to take any chance.
Since then I experimented with CILTEP (500mg ALCAR, 500mg Artichoke extract, 10mg Forskolin, 200mg CDP choline.)
which is purported to enhance LTP and therefore learning/memorization process, but has a pleasant mood elevating side effect, found it to help a lot with social anxiety too.
But being a very (perhaps overly) cautious person, I don't use that stack everyday, for lack of knowledge considering its chronic use long term effects.
I just got some Ashwagandha from LEF, and so far it seems to work nicely, can't take it during the day though, it just mellows me out way too much. But taken at night, I sleep like a baby and wake up refreshed with pleasant memories of epic vivid dreams. I am just a few days into it, but so far so good.
I guess you could also try small doses of 5-htp (50mg) now and then, you will recognise that same serotonin feeling you get from SJW.
That's for the herbal stuff, but if you are willing to try racetams, I can really vouch for aniracetam being of a great help,
at 500mg twice daily taken with eggs and CDP choline.
Thanks for the response, it sounds like we're in the same boat. It really is a shame that SJW has such negative side-effect potential; it was something of a magic bullet for me until I realized this. Especially for me living in sunny San Diego, often going to the beach and generally out in the sun quite frequently, this is just such a huge no-no for me.
I haven't tried CILTEP or any of its ingredients except for CDP Choline. I do notice some positive nootropic effects from CDP Choline, and I've heard it can upregulate DA. I've been experimenting with various amounts of CDP Choline with Aniracetam -- usually either 250mg, 500mg, or 750mg CDP Choline with either 750mg, 1g, or 1.5g Ani. The more of one, the more of the other I usually take. Right now I'm finding the best results with 750mg of each together with eggs and coffee in the morning.
I had some good results when trying Ashwagandha for 2 weeks more or less by itself, I think I was taking the NOW brand 3 pills a day, 1 before breakfast, 1 before lunch, and 1 either before dinner or bed. It didn't mellow me out too much, and it wasn't instantly noticeable, but as time went on I noticed an increased confidence and overall feeling of well-being. Not as potent as SJW, but it might be worth revisiting it again in the near future to see how it fares with my current stack.
I've been reading a lot about triple reuptake inhibitors, since that's a big part of how hyperforin in SJW works. This is also where modern medicine is at in terms of depression research, in my understanding. I've searched high and low for "pure hyperforin", but the only results that come up are SJW extracts standardized to X% of hyperforin. Aside from exploring this possibility, I've considered the notion of piecing together a triple-reuptake "stack", if you will, wherein various supplements could be used in combination to achieve the same effect. I've thought perhaps individual reuptake inhibitors of DA, NA, and 5-HT could be used together to simulate SJW.
However, I realize the odds of putting all this together in the right combination/proportion to properly emulate SJW would be difficult and likely require much experimentation; not to mention, many of the individual reuptake inhibitors I've researched have their own subset of undesirable side effects. For instance, Ginkgo Biloba acts as a NA reuptake inhibitor (and may even help stimulate dopamine production through secondary methods) but may increase the risk of brain hemorrhage in the long run, so this is off the table for daily stacking purposes for me. Something else to consider is that there are other compounds and flavonoids in SJW that appear to be active and have other cumulatory effects, which could be lost when simply targeting DA, NA, and 5-HT alone.
