Is it safe to drink herbal teas like Lemon Balm and He Shou Wu with Celexa?
Celexa® is cleared from the body by two liver enzymes, CYP2C19 and CYP3A4. So things that interfere with those systems will affect how much of it stays active in the body. Inhibitors of those enzymes would make it increase over time and things which increase the activity of those enzymes would make it seem weaker. Your doctor chose a dose for you. People who take this type of drug (called SSRI) will typically take a starting dose and the doctor may elect to change it after a few weeks or months based on how the patient is doing. That said, both herbs that you mention have been studied some. Melissa officinalis (Lemon balm) and Polygonum multiflorum (He shou wu) do not show up as having been tested with these enzyme systems, at least where I can find the studies. While it is possible that they may inhibit or induce the clearance of Celexa®, we don’t know that they do or how strongly. You can make a choice here. One approach would be to continue using them, particularly if you have found
