5-htp - Giving It A Try

[squireparty]

After having finally gotten some sleep - finally - I got myself together and went over to a large national drugstore chain where they often have supplements on sale for buy one, get one free, and I found 5-HTP for 12.99 for two bottles with 30 pills each. I don't expect any miracle cures here but any progress/reduction in feeling horrible I'll gladly take.

Anyone here have any experience with 5-HTP?

 

[freakofnurture]

Tryptophan might be what pulled me out of my first 'real' depression, thereby saving my life. It appeared to help me sleep and also seemed to improve my mood for over a year. - I have no way of knowing, though, if me starting on tryptophan just coincided with a spontaneous regression of my symptoms, or if it was actually the cause of it.

But since it has a plausible mechanism of action and is also virtually free of side effects, it can't hurt to give it a try.

I suggest you take it with pure fruit juice since the sugar helps with getting the stuff past the blood-brain-barrier.

Let us know if it works for you :)

 

[VDWngr1355]

I use it when I need it. Actually, I didn't need to take it all during the summer. Last month, I was just getting more and more depressed and nothing was working (I exercise a lot and eat very healthy). I took the 5-HTP one pill a day for a week and I feel a lot better. If I am having a lot of negative thoughts in the morning and can't snap out of it. I take one of those pills and it works.

Just be careful to not over-take it. When I first tried it last year, I think I took it on an everyday basis for like two months. Towards the end of the second month, I noticed my suicidal thoughts came back and I was only taking this one pill. I looked up the side-effects and it says if you take the pill for too long, than it causes the negative/suicidal thoughts to come back.

 

[squireparty]

I seem to be doing a little better on this already. No great miracle cure but I am seeing some improvement and am even starting to sleep SIX hours a night, which is just amazing to me.....

 

[VDWngr1355]

Glad you notice a positive difference!

 

[Sazza]

I am also considering trying this, so keep you're experiences coming so I can watch this space.

 

[WillyKat]

I tried it and have to say that I noticed absolutely nothing different. But based on the responses here, maybe I'll give it another try. thx

 

[Orglethorp]

I've been using 5-HTP whenever I feel I need it for about 4 years now. At that time, I was stuck with a doctor who really didn't understand PTSD and thought that my depression and anxiety were not only unrelated, but contradictory. To make a long story short, I abruptly stopped seeing her and taking the SSRIs she had prescribed me, because she wouldn't listen to me. She wouldn't prescribe the same combination I had used and had success with while seeing my original doctor (retired). I figured that getting through this on my own / using natural supplements had to be better than putting up with this doctor's backwards thinking.

I really don't recommend doing what I did - don't abruptly replace other medication with 5-HTP. I've never felt more physically ill in my life than I did that week! That being said, I do really feel that 5-HTP has helped me a lot. I've managed to stay off prescription antidepressants for 4 years now, and though I don't feel that my depression has ever been completely gone in that time, I also haven't had any lengthy bad periods.