What it means
The word comes from Old English and simply means plant. Nurses meet it most in St. John's wort, an herbal product people take for low mood. St. John's wort interacts with many medicines: it can make drugs such as birth control pills, warfarin and cyclosporine work less well, and taken with antidepressants it can cause serotonin syndrome.
For the nurse
Ask every client about herbal products, including St. John's wort, when taking a medication history, since many people do not think of herbs as medicines.
At a glance
| Also written | worts |
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Related terms
cyclosporine
An immunosuppressant drug that calms the immune system, used mainly to prevent rejection of a transplanted organ.