Evening Primrose Oil causing Depression?

[guitarbabe9]

Hi, I'm a 16 year old girl, and often in the mornings I felt unwell, which my mother decided was due to a hormone imbalance, so she gave me oil of evening primrose, which I took. About  week ago, I started to become very depressed - I have had mood swings before, and am prone to quite low lows, if that makes sense? However, it was much worse this time, and I had random crying fits, wanting to hide away, and very low self esteem. Sometimes I felt better again, but a simple, trivial comment fom my father like "no, cut the potatoes a bit bigger" would set me off again back into my depression, feeling like I was hopeless and couldn't cope, an could never achieve anything in my life.
I am not the sort of person who can really talk to my parents, i find it very difficult, as I do not get on very well with my mother a lot of the time, who just gets irritated if I am not my "normal, happy self" and struggle to expres my feelings even to my dad, who I am much closer to. [Both of my parents dismiss anything negative, such as concerns about my appearence, as "normal teenage stuff", but I feel I have it wose than I should.]
Friends as well are out of the question, as I do not really have anyone I trust and who I feel cares about me enough to listen [another thing which worsenes my depression, and vice versa.] So, my question is, is this connected to the oil of evening primrose supplement or my menstual cycle in general? Stupid question I know, but I have never felt like this before, wanting to just disappear and wishing my life would just end [although i would not do that to my family].
I started to improve over the last couple of days, and today I got my period, which has been the worst it's ever been, with awful back pain and nausea; is this also connected, and does this mean anything?

Apologies for the long post, and thank you to all who took the time to read it.

[hevg]

Well I'm really glad too to have found these answers because I started taking evening primrose to help calm my horrible pmt only to find that instead of having the symptoms once a month that I feel like I have them every day.  I forgot to take the tablets for a few days and today felt the happiest I have in ages but took a pill when I got home and by this evening was moody, tearful and hugely negative.  I'm going to stop for the weekend and see what happens.

[c2steph]

I am also glad that I found this forum. I have been very depressed after taking Evening prim rose for 2 weeks. I thought it would help my pms but the evening prime rose made it so much worst.  I have since stopped taking it but I'm still really depressed (I guess it hasn't left my system yet...I took a lot of it).  

I'm so relieved to know that my depression will be over soon!  I wasn't sure where it was coming from (I just realized that the evening prime rose was causing my depression while I was searching for natural remedies for depression...I found this forum in the process).

[ToffeeGirl]

I am very glad I found this forum, as i have just had no luck finding anywhere else on line people discussing the negative effects of Primrose Oil.

I too noticed I started to get very gloomy and down within a week of taking it.
I didn't feel depressed before i started to take it, I merely thought it was a good idea to start taking it as i read it's very good for the overall health and well being of women.

I couldn't believe when my period came i had the worst pmt i'd had for years, and figured it can't be a coincidence that i'd started taking the Primose a few weeks before.

I've now stopped taking it, and am taking a vitamin b complex instead and vitamin e and multi vit.

I wish there was more honest literature online about the negative effects of Primrose!! I've been so down I've not understood why, now i feel happier i can cut out what i believe was causing it.

[michmack2008]

I also have found that after taking evening Primrose oil for even just a day, I felt very depressed. This has happened twice, once when I was pregnant and was told that it was beneficial for getting ready for birth; I am a strong supporter of herbal/natural remedies, but at the time, felt suddenly depressed. I stopped taking it, and the depression went away quickly.  I told my midwife, who was surprised, she said that she had never heard of it and maybe it was a coincidence.  I wasn't going to test it again...until recently I was thinking it could be good for me and kind of wasn't sure if maybe it had been a coincidence, but same thing this time!!  I also felt this happen after taking fish oil.  I think that somewhere online I saw some mention of deficiency in Vitamin E?  that could make some people not ber able to absorb Fish oil correctly (the body needs E to synthesize something) maybe that is true of Primrose oil too?
Good luck! :)

[lorry01]

Wow..sorry to see that you have suffered but what a relief to see all these posts with the same reactions to Evening Primrose. I had the most horrific reaction to it, within a few days of taking it I honestly felt like I wanted to end it all. Shouldn't there be some kind of warning on this supplement ?

I have found a good diet, plenty of fluids and sleep has made me feel so much better.

[rainbow69]

I, too, began wondering about Evening Primrose Oil. I've had the worst depression in years since I began taking it. I stopped taking it night before last and I'm already beginning to come out of it. I'm 12 yrs post menopausal, have mild bi-polar issues, and take an anti-depressant that was overwhelmed by this incident. Wow, it helps to know there are others out there.