5-HTP or 5-Hydroxytryptophan for Depression

[ExNavyInHouston]

I discovered 5-Hydroxytryptophan when I was researching natural solutions to my sleep problems.

As I researched, I learned it also has purported anti-depression properties.

I know there always seems to be a "natural anti-depressant of the moment" to come along, but I was wondering if any of you have used this amino acid in your routine?

I really don't care if a product's success is a placebo effect, I just like coming across things that work.

My drinking problems I know are the root cause of most of my problems, but I have the commitment to get that out of the way. Now I am just trying to get the jump on the impending problems that seem to come after the withdrawal symptoms pass.

[ExNavyInHouston]

I found a couple links that should be within Terms of Service rules here:

5- HTP- MYTH OR MIRACLE?

5htp myth

Wikipedia Entry

5-Hydroxytryptophan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[historyteach]

Hi, ex navy,
And welcome to the MH forum of SR!

I read the "Myth or Miracle" article, and found it interesting. I was taken by the conclusion and the sources, though, and think the author was wise in his caution regarding the use of this suppliment:

Who This Information Was Supplied By:

The articles I found on the web about 5-HTP were all written by distributors of the herb. This means the information could be biased. The fact that all but one article failed to include specific details about the claims, should also alert the reader to the fact that the claims may not be true.


The articles I later found in the library were medical journals and reviews. These sources are reliable and informative. However, there were few journals and reviews to be found. This leads me to think little research has been done on the supplement, 5-HTP and thus little is known about the herb. The sources seem consistent with the scientific evidence given hence, making the sources even more reliable.

Conclusion:

Although I believe that 5-HTP may have positive benefits, the articles I read provided too little detail to convince me that they are not just trying to sell the herb. My impression is that 5-HTP does help depression and most likely has other beneficial properties however, very little research has been done to prove this and even less evidence is to be found on the webs. Fortunately, the medical journals and reviews provide further insight into the benefits of 5-HTP. I can confidently say 5-HTP will provide benefits with regard to depression, blood pressure and minimal weight loss. However, with regards to sleeping disorders and panic attacks, I feel the research is inconclusive. I feel it may have benefits but to what extent is not know. It should also be realized that little was said as to the side effects of 5-HTP and any drawbacks. The only negative side effect was that there was an increase in anxiety in almost half the patients in the study by Costa and Greengard (1984). The fact that there have been so few studies on 5-HTP leads me to think there are side effects which are unknown to us still. Still, the consumer should consider 5-HTP for the stated ailments but should be wary to the possibility of averse reactions.

Thanks for the input. Have you tried it? Let us know what you think!

Shalom!

[ExNavyInHouston]

Yes, I have tried and I have to say I felt like something seemed different.

But, you can never really tell.

I recently became pretty lazy about my supplements and had gotten away from taking them.

However, now that I am on the wagon, I have gotten back on the to help keep me a little more stable through my early stages of detox.

Since, I am not longer using my old "medicine" I thought I would do something.

It seems the nature of the beast for an addict to never believe breathing just air and eating good food is enough to make our minds and bodies happy.

[Vintersemestre]

SAM-e is another natural product marketed for (among other things) antidepressant properties, from what I've read, the results with this chemical are better than those obtained with 5-HTP.

[nandm]

One of the dangers with 5-HTP is what happened to me. I thought I just had depression and never dreamed I was bi-polar. I started taking 5-HTP to relieve my depression and went into a manic phase of bi-polar. It felt like insanity. It still took my doctors a year or two to diagnose the bi-polar after that. But of course I did not tell them of my experience with 5-HTP as I did not think it was relevant I thought I was just having a bad reaction to it.

[huggybear]

I took it for a few months a while ago..
Its dose have an effect.. but its only useful if your depression is 5-ht (serotonin) based... otherwise ull find you get very tired all the time... as serotonin get converted into melatonin which is leated to inducing sleep... which is why 5htp is also used as a sleep aid..

Plus it only works on one neural chemical you depression could be an aray of them..

Amino acids can be amazing for depression how ever...
I had it so bad I had hallucinations.. Took several meds over 7 years with little success...

Tried 5-htp and saw it had an affect so moved on to others..

I’ve found that l-tyrosine, DL-Phenylalanine and l-glutamine work well..

Also gaba (gamma amino butyric acid) and L-taurine are good for anxiety as they are neural inhibitory transmitter and stop neural receptors getting over excited..

You’ll probably find that you have to mix and match them to see what suits you..

Also not everyone gets results from them... just like people get very different results from meds

I would defiantly recommend giving them a try...
Oh and get them in bulk powder its hugely cheaper

[huggybear]

Originally Posted by nandm

One of the dangers with 5-HTP is what happened to me. I thought I just had depression and never dreamed I was bi-polar. I started taking 5-HTP to relieve my depression and went into a manic phase of bi-polar. It felt like insanity. It still took my doctors a year or two to diagnose the bi-polar after that. But of course I did not tell them of my experience with 5-HTP as I did not think it was relevant I thought I was just having a bad reaction to it.

using gaba should have helped with the mania... bibolar is belived to be connecting to a difficiancey or gaba

[BackToSquareOne]

The gabba pills or caps don't cross the blood brain barrrier. Here's a list of what I tried for sleep with only moderate success. :
5-HTP, SAME, Kava, Valerian, Melatonin, St. Johns Wort, Inositol, niacin, L-Theanine, Gaba. None of these compare to prescription drugs however.

[ExNavyInHouston]

huggybear -- thanks for that tip. I ordered the GABA and will give it a try.

[huggybear]

anytime mate..
like i say tho its realy more for anxiety and mainia then depression..

Originally Posted by BackToSquareOne

The gabba pills or caps don't cross the blood brain barrrier. Here's a list of what I tried for sleep with only moderate success. :
5-HTP, SAME, Kava, Valerian, Melatonin, St. Johns Wort, Inositol, niacin, L-Theanine, Gaba. None of these compare to prescription drugs however.

gabba will pass the blood brain barrier but it dosnt do it very well. but this apears to be a matter of contention.. even if it dosnt it still has an anti-anxiotic affect for many people.. but like with most mental health maters.. the exact mechanism wownt be known..

[ExNavyInHouston]

A placebo affect is still an effect. I'm good with giving it a try.

I have turned out to be my favorite hobby.

I can't use the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," on me. haha!

[ExNavyInHouston]

A placebo affect is still an effect. I'm good with giving it a try.

I have turned out to be my favorite hobby.

I can't use the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," on me. haha!

[BackToSquareOne]

Huggy, I had the most luck with Tyrosine, Phenylaline and DLPA for Depression. SAME also seemed to help. I also use 5-HTP.

[huggybear]

Originally Posted by BackToSquareOne

Huggy, I had the most luck with Tyrosine, Phenylaline and DLPA for Depression. SAME also seemed to help. I also use 5-HTP.

i had great results from Tyrosine and DLPA but mostly after i started using a few grams at a time... just taking 500mg was noticable but not segnificant enough to make me come of my meds..
one i started taking 2.5 grams a couple of times a day i realy noticed the differents... getting them in bulk and mixing a scoop or 2 or tyrocine in orange realy was affective for me...
i added DLPA about 6 months after... but that dosnt mix with fluid at all.. so i cam it myself or i shovel a spoon full on loose powder into my mouth and just swell it down with pure orange...
i dont have to take either every day now... just a maintanance dose and im stable.. but i did fall into the trap of thinking i was 100% and layed of them for too long and my mood started plumiting and it took about a week of heavy doses to get it back..

also started taking glutamine about 3 weeks ago... started using 2 skoops in orange in the morning... after a couple of days i thought i was getting a little too giddy at work.. so had to drop it down to 1.. glutamin is an excititry transmitter and it felt like i was leaning towards mania even tho i have no manic tendancies at all..
but with one scoop im just quite cherpy.. dosnt tast very nice tho.. buit it dose mix with juice well


i really feel gabba has more then a pacabo affect with me... but i stopped taking it regularly as it makes me think slow after a couple of days.. same with taurine..

i took a gram of it when i was having an anxiety atack from taking 400mg off cafine tablets once and it did the trick..

[historyteach]

Just a quick word of caution, here.
If you're on ANY medication at all,
Please consult your doctor before trying any of these remedies.
Even natural remedies can interact, unfavorably, with meds.

Shalom!

[renia22]

Hi Exnavyin Houston-
I see a Naturopath & she recommended 5-htp, the 'Vital Nutrients' brand. I took it for about a year and had good results (can't recall the dose now), but it got to be quite expensive, so she switched me to Rhodiola (500mg daily of the 'NOW' brand). The key to supplements, I have learned from her, is the quality (capsule form for better assimilation, not tablet; reputable companies that use mimimal fillers). She also has me taking vitamin D3 and fish oil (my vitamin D was very low, and depression can be a side effect). I feel a lot better and haven't been depressed in a long time. I also cleaned up my eating & increased exercise, but the supplements have really helped.

Hope that helps!

[ExNavyInHouston]

renia22 -- thank you. I can not believe how much better I feel not that I am 33 Days Sober. I may go off the 5-HTP to see if I was just using it to treat depression brought on from my drinking.

[renia22]

That's great & may you continue to feel better!

[bella162]

I came across this product a little while back, did a lot of research and thought i'd give it a go. I had read that it was best to start off on small doses and gradually increase it over a few weeks until you 'felt' you were at optimum dose for you. Everyone is diferent and whilst some might only need 25 mg a day, another person could need 300 mg a day. So the trick is to increase it to a point where you start to feel a bit sick and you will know you've overdone it so cut back untill the sick feeling goes. ok so this done, i start within a week to feel my brain fog lifting and my energy levels start to rise. I had been suffering from a low lying type of depression for a long time - not depressed enough to knock me sideways but just enough to make life harder than it need have been- anyhow, suddenly i was freed up enough to begin to feel the feelings of motivation so decided to sieze upon that and motivate myself into further self development, you see, I had read that 5 htp was not a long term solution and that at some point you would become immune to the positive effects so i wanted to use the 5htp as a kick start and then to build upon it, putting things into place to stop me going backwards in life.
Anyhow, I knew i wasn't going to get anywhere with this unless my self esteem was in a better place. So now i added Hypnotherapy CD's into the mix, motivating myself to listen to them at least twice a day. Long story short. here i am 6 months or so later and feeling fairly good, quite a difference from the stressed up ruled by my emotions drama queen control freek I was, although i still have lots codie moments, i am able to cope better now that i have a range of techniques to sort myself out with. ( CO -dependancy issues, and probably undiagnosed ADD, though i didn't realise thats what the problems were untill recently - what a fabulously complicated mix! )

Anyhow i guess what i'm trying to say is, that 5htp worked for me in that it lifted me up just enough for me to be able to help myself - I'm a work in progress- i don't think i could have helped myself otherwise. - I took it for about 3 months but have stopped taking it now, and I felt the effects of it within a few days. I'd advise anyone to give it a go but use it as part of plan to get yourselves into a better place not as a quick fix solution to get rid of depression.

BTW I managed to persuade my son, who was severely depressed but unable to take meds, to try it and he felt himself lifted and coming out of his brain fog almost straight away. He has diagnosed ADHD and as ADHD brains are affected by low seratonin and 5 htp helps the brain use seratonin more efficiently -as i understand it - I can see why this would work for him ( and me )

[Seekingsobriety]

Check out my posts about Dr. Michael Murray's book 5_HTP.

He will make a believer out of you.

It has been and IS being used to treat depression, insomnia and overweight problems.

He cautions not to use it with a prescrip AD.

[Thanks2HP]

I started seeing a therapist about a month ago. I have been dealing with depression and anxiety despite taking Wellbutrin for several months now. The SSRI's worked better for me than bupropion but I don't want to deal with the sexual side effects that the SSRI's have.

A week or so ago, the negative thoughts were really flooding my head. I searched online, more for herbal anti-anxiety remedies than anti-depressant supplements. I decided to try Seredyn Anxiety Control 500 mg but couldn't find a local source so had to order it.

In the mean time I went down to Walgreens Drug Store and purchased
Nature's Bounty Valerian Root Plus Calming Blend 450 mg, Capsules
Natrol 5-HTP TR Time Release 200 mg, Tablets

Placebo effect or not I got some relief. I told my therapist about it on Monday 6/1 and he gave me the following handout:
**********************************
Start with one supplement at a time...

Mood = Dark Coud
5-HTP 50 mg in the afternon and at bedtime. If no response with the first dose take another 50 mg at 30 and if no response to 100 mg take an additional 50 mg 60 minutes after the first does. Your dose for both afternoon and evening is the lowest does at which you notice a response.
Discontinue if you experience confusion, shivering, sweating, muscle spasms, diarrhea, agitation, rapid heart rate, headaches or if you feel sleepy, excessively tired or queasy.

Mood = Blasting the Blahs
Tyrosine 500 mg. If no response repeat at 30 and 60 minutes.
Early Morning, mid-morning
Watch for jitters if tired.

Mood = Stressed Out
GABA 100-500 mg thress times a day.
Take first does at home.
Discontinue if tired.

Mood = Sensitivity
DLPA (phenylalanine) 500 mg early morning, mid morning.

The above came from Mood Cure. (The Mood Cure)
**********************************
I haven't tried Tyrosine, GABA or DLPA yet.

As I said I had some relief for about a week and a half until I got a bit of bad financial news which turned up the volume on the negative thinking.

I've been really down yesterday and today but since suicide is not an option I plan on fighting this thing.

Along with going to NA or AA Meetings on a regular basis, working with others, calling my sponsor, going through the steps again, I'm willing to take direction from the therapist which includes exercising, eating better (both huge challenges for me) and reading the following books:

"Taming Your Gremlin (Revised Edition): A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way"
Rick Carson.
"How To Want What You Have"
Timothy Ray Miller;
"A General Theory of Love"
Thomas Lewis

I don't know how I'd do it but giving up sugar seems to be a good idea too:
Sugar Ruins Your Health - a link off of Mood Cure.

"...explosive evidence incriminating table sugar as the chief architect of heart disease comes from the U. of HA (1972).

CC Brooks and his associates fed pigs high-sugar diets. Sixty-eight of the eighty pigs developed heart disease in the left half of the heart. This backs up the contention that Dr. Yudkin and others have been making for many years. A remarkable added finding was that in pigs in which 10 percent of the sugar was replaced by coconut oil or beef tallow, the heart remained free from the endocarditis that afflicted the [other] animals. This may confound those who have been apprehensive about fat in the diet."


I've never put much faith in the Self-Help books but I'm tired of feeling so down and tired of beating myself up over past mistakes.


Best of luck with your recovery.

[otterbearcat]

I justed starting taking 5 HTP 2 days ago and feel 'something' not sure what yet. I am seeing a naturopath, but my appointment isnt til the end of the month. I am under A LOT of stress and therefore am very depressed.

Wondering if anyone has taken it when they know that they would be a strong candidate for prescript Anti-Ds.

I really dont want to deal w/ the side effects of the Anti-D's or the cost...

[lifeafter]

I know this is an old thread, but I just want to throw my 2 cents in. I have had great experiences with amino acid supplements.

A good informative article on 5-HTP:

5-HTP article

[otterbearcat]

Wow! I havent logged in for months and here is this thread. Well, I have been taking 5 HTP for over four months now. Has been a miracle although what has already been said is true. It is starting to lose its effect. I did ramp myself up, increasing by 50mg every couple weeks. I am up to 300mg now, which is as much as I want to take.

I have some serious stress in my life right now, so I attribute some of the 'less effectiveness' to that.

Somehow I have manged not to drink for almost 7 months though!

Interested to hear if anyone switched to something similar after they built up tolerance to 5 HTP.