5 HTP has been touted as a cure for various Serotonin deiciency related illnesses such as Anxiety, Panic Attacks, weight los, insomnia, and depression. 5 HTP, or 5 hydroxytryptophan to give it it’s full name, is manufactured from an African Plant called Griffonia simplicifolia, it is not really practical to get enough of this in your natural diet, so concentrated supplement form is the only way forward. It is commonly found in Healthfood shops and is not normally classed as a drug. Relying on drugs and supplements might not be wise.
Dosage of 5 HTP. When it comes to supplements slack regulations allow manufacturers to be vague. For anxiety, depression, panic attacks and agoraphobia normally 50-100 mg are recommended three times a day. This can be adjusted depending on success and tolerance. For insomnia a single dose half an hour before bed is recommended, again of approximately 50-100 mg. For weight control the same dosage is suggested twenty to thirty minutes before eating. To avoid side effects it is better to start on a low dose and gradually increase.
Dangers: 5-HTP is pretty safe ***but*** there is some evidence that 5-htp can cause damage to heart valves over time…I can find no definitive scientific answer to this question, so maybe more research is needed. It is not associated with the same number of severity of side effects as traditional medical antidepressants such as Prozac, Celexa, and the other SSRIs. There was a rumpus in the past about a contaminated batch of l-tryptophan in the USA which caused serious illness and death. This was not due to the supplement but to the contamination of one brand in one factory.
Side effects: nausea, constipation, gas, drowsiness, or a decreased sex drive. These are usually mild if present at all, and pass quickly. Generally 5-htp’s side effects are considered to be much less than SSRIs. Check this post on 5-HTP side effects as well.
Length of time
Generally it can take 2-4 weeks for 5 htp to start working, or achieve clinical effectiveness
Efficacy of 5 HTP
Definitely some clinical trials have found that 5-htp is for some people more effective than SSRIs. As ever the results of all the studies are hard to interpret and be sure about as researchers are oftened skewed. Pharmacology is a dirty business.
Warnings etc
Speak to your doctor! 5 HTP can react badly with SSRIs, MOAIs, some over the counter medications and may not be suitable for everyone. Speak to your doctor! (worth saying twice!)
In my opinion, 5 HTP can do good things for the anxiety, panic attack, and agoraphobia sufferer. It may be possible to get the same effect by increasing tryptophan rich foods into your diet! More about that tomorrow!
Cheers.
Good quote by someone above! I am going to update the above post to highlight the possible dangers of 5-HTP…
Be advise pls dont try anything if not recommended from the doctors. We know the right medication so visit us!
Amazing Dude, I didn’t knew that, appreciated.
@ dr roberts: you don’t sound anything like a doctor.
Hi I have been suffering compounded Post trauma over 6 yrs now. Multiple traumas resulting from returning from oseas taking long time to adjust. Reverse culture shock . Separation anxiety from pets oseas during the Japan Tsunami quake& belongings in storage.Overwhelming and feeling helpless to fix anything fast. Taking on 3 jobs to try & pay personal loan associated with a photographic concept about my pets overseas. Plus a mortgage both australia related. Whilst pet fees and storage costs oseas. Exhausted & unable to sleep properly got worse by working day job followed by nite cleaning 10 hrs nitely 6 nites a week for a year. More & more mentally unable to cope especially with two older brothers who attacked me at least 5 times each. Calling my concept stupid. Labelling me stupid & deroghetory words whilst in front of our Mother & Grandmother. Wanting to go to police but threatened theyd make my life hard. My hypervigelence skyrocketed when the property in my mums & my name my mother allowed her sons to come & go as they please. Whilst knowing what theyve both done to me…I am a woman. Yes police & DV & court situation. I am hypervigelent to being in my own place live in fear of two brothers…esp seeing youngest brothers hi viz vests or dark blue merceedes van like his. I have had continuous nitemares about my brothers attacking & wanting to choke me. I am so scared of youngest brother inparticular now as Im sure he stays in the property as took concealed photos of him talking with my mother there. Whilst he has bigger money than I he buys my mothers favor. Has bought her a car that is in the property whilst keeps his van parked visibly at side of house. I believe he took drugs on the three occassions he attacked me esp last two but my mother was not at home on last attack. I believe because hes truck driving he replaced some drugs with others & also believe he is on steroids. My earlier years & career success oseas were interrupted by his selfish consumption of drugs which would have been different if he stayed clear of my mother. She obviously doesnt remember those years when he buys her favor financially. My early life before having to escape my brothers also was traumatic. Sexually exploited by youngest brotger at a factory where I was belted by my mother to go to work there with my eldest brother to help secure a property. At that work place the men watched me walk to & from the toilet on my allocated toilet break. licking their lips. I was a young teenager & my brother pushed me away at lunch time to not eat with him. I needed to feel safe which I never did. My younger brother rode a motorbike & he had put a girl in hospital when he jumped over a cliff with her on it. I was assigned by my mother to look at any ambulance sceen from then on for his bike or body. Around same time. He got me to go into the surf which had huge waves. I was not a swimmer. It was deliberately an unpatrolled beach chosen by him. I was way out of my depth feeling like I would drown whilst he (on steroids told me to just dive thru the waves. In comparasson I was a skinny not muscle bound girl. MAt the factory when I worked there with my eldest brother he was constantly handing out my number to men as if he was selling me off to them. mother always complaining to me of youngest brothers drug problems which I believe he changed for steroids. I can see from his bulk compared to 6 yrs ago when I returned from oseas how muscle and big he looks now. I think he just loves to try & break me when I do not do wgat he wants. Over the past six yrs I wrote newspaper articles that where acccepted by editors that were to help put my career back on track but he just crumbled each effort. Going so far as to go thru extended members of my family to retrieve accepted newspaper stories from editors. is tryrantke to me. Since feb 22nd this yr I left temporarily my & mums property with my cat after staying in hospital from being traumatised by him whilst mum was out of the house. It was only supposed to be temporary but had to continued existing in a vehicle. Until between doing so & writing & reliving every trauma for courts plus an agreement twhicho drop charges which my mother kept pushing me to do. I made an agreement now sitting in court I want my family to sign in exchange for charges to be dropped. Police put charges on my brother because nextdoor neighbor contacted police as I had been traumatised so much & neighbors heard the assault.
Since then I have relived nightmares about what my brothers have done. Including ones in which they try & kill me. I get very depressed & most days too down to do anything accept force myself to go to work. This further depresses me as I work in security & the other men at my work place sexually harassed me in 2014. An all male work place. They were disgussing whether I was ‘goable’ for a couple of the male guards. I was shocked to find out that meant if they thought I was good enough for them to have sex with. Another male who worked for city council next door to our site insisted onvtrying to get to me eventhough he was married. One day he walked close to me & said Id be easy to have sex with. Because I did not want anything to do with him he also told a female council worker he was saying I crazy touching his head. Whilst I was in the office next doir. I also hears him say whilst I sat in thr adjoining office that Women in this country should not be allowed to drive. He himself still has a thick Italian accent.His supervisor heard all of that. I went to HR about it but was so exhausted from there rigorous interviweing that I had to have time off esp added to it was HR man who said “how did I want to put it to bed?”. I was off 8 mnths all my long hrs of work & earnings to pay mortgage & loan & overseas storage & pet fees slipped. I finally had to go back to work but so very exhausted. Could not recover following was the last attack on me by youngest brother 22nd feb this year. Often many times a week these traumatic events come to my mind. It just happens. I can not control it. I tried 5htp felt something improved but when I didnt continue it. I got depressed again. I have had little energy. Exhausted. Dr tested my bloods. Low in B Iron & Zinc. Very low. She put me on Vit B injections. I scraped money together desperate to feel better. As at all time low. It cost $180 for hypnosis. Cant get it on medicare anymore. I have been reading about PTS trauma today. I know Ive been suffering from it. Somedays feel so debilitated. Like concrete weighing me down. Yesterday it came to mind flashbacks …I get heaps that I was working 30hrs at security all male site…I pushed for more as I have debts. Finally I was working 68hrs & some male colleagues were jealous. But I only had one day off a week..and on a flat rate working nite & day $22.70/hr. One Sunday I had run out of make up and felt embarrassed as I looked so tired & with all money going to my debts put color in my hair myself instead of hairdreser to cut costs. I only had the one day off to do banking clean room wash clothes and buy groceries and color hair. It had gone quite dark. I found out later it had got around that due to how exhausted I looked from long hours & no makeup..my male colleagues called me ugly. It nearly killed me as over seas I had strived to get into tv & do TV cms to make mum proud of me plus into fashion magazines. Security for a job had only meant to be short term..but not a lot to chose from on the gold coast when you are in debt and need extra hours. That issue was not fully resolved..and I have felt very stuck because under threat not to go to police about brothers in the past. Added to this was the fact I did extra security courses because I was told by a course trainer i had to because Im a woman. I had asked about best paid job after course. My mother was with me at the time. He came up with a high paid job on a mine site on the condition I was prepared to do additional course. Which I paid for both mum andvI being $1800 because he told her she could also have same job. She had worked in aviation security. To cut a longer story short he did not keep the job promise. In the courses prior to the extra course at same office the instructor had made a comment in class about men making so much money at sites…they should leave the misus at home & fly straight to Thailand for fun.. He then realised what he said & told the three women in the class that if they didnt like the comments not to bother about going to mine sites as we would cope much more deroghetory jokes etc against women there.
I work at a Portas one of the jobs Ive had for 3 yrs. Its casual & only reason I worked there was the high paid job was not given as promised & because my boss is a woman & does not make crude comments. She treats all staff equally. But It is a terrible schedule . It is 5 am starts wuth two hr drive to Brisbane & schedule is inconsistent. The other day however a trash truck driver who just said hi in the past to me & others started to talk about women and porn. I had to tell him ‘I may wear boots & a security uniform…but I am still a woman”…I just get so hurt by the constance of things done & said to women. Gold coadt is the DV capital of Australia.
I dont know how much more I can take or even if I can keep going much longer.
My presnt Dr put me on mirtazapine anti depressants. They were ok along with codral for flue with a drowser in them…so could sleep at night. Taken seperate nights. But then I felt the mirtazapine sometimes doesnt work.
I please can you tell me best thing to take to be able to lift my mood during day and sleep at night. But not be drowsy day time or adictive.