Hello Riz
Everything below should answer your question.
Clearly this guide is written without the knowledge you have just necked a load of pills or crystal and your brain has dumped its load of serotonin. Bare this in mind when absorbing this information.
Due to the additional drain on serotonin supply slight increased dose might be advised.
Taking it along side carbidopa might also be an option. See below for more info.
Personally the worrey about Serotonin Syndrome in my opinion is highly unlikely as clearly stated in this report.
Source
http://www.smart-publications.com/articles/5-htp-the-natural-alternative-to-prozac-section-5
Extracts of relevance
How Safe is 5-HTP?
When taking any substance that alters the body's neurochemistry, it is always important to proceed with caution, and 5-HTP is no exception. It is almost inevitable that too high a dose will cause adverse effects, and it is possible that some of these could be serious. Having said this, we should point out that 5-HTP is an exceptionally safe nutritional supplement that has rarely, if ever, been associated with serious problems.
The most common side effects associated with oral 5-HTP are generally related to gastrointestinal upset, including nausea, vomiting, heartburn, and stomach pain. For most people, these tend to be mild and transient. Oral 5-HTP at doses of 100 to 300 mg/day has never been reported to cause significant changes in blood, liver, lung, metabolic, or kidney function.
5-HTP may sometimes cause GI upset, because serotonin (produced from 5-HTP) is a major neurotransmitter in the gut. It has therefore been suggested that people taking oral 5-HTP should also take a drug like carbidopa (called a peripheral decarboxylase inhibitor, or PDI) that prevents the metabolism of 5-HTP to serotonin in the periphery but not in the brain and spinal cord. As a result, less serotonin is produced in the periphery to upset the GI system, and more 5-HTP is made available in the brain to make more serotonin where it is needed most. In essence, the use of a PDI means that a lower dose of 5-HTP can go a much longer way.
Is a PDI really necessary, though? Probably not. 5-HTP has been combined with a PDI in some studies and has been given alone in others. Either way it still raises serotonin levels in the brain, although you may need less 5-HTP when combined with a PDI. A Swiss study of 25 depressed patients found no difference in antidepressant efficacy between those who took 5-HTP alone and those who took it in combination with a PDI. Although the 5-HTP group experienced somewhat more GI side effects, the 5-HTP + PDI group had more psychopathological side effects, such as acute anxiety.
Is Serotonin Syndrome a Concern?
The drugs most commonly associated with serotonin syndrome are those that block the normal metabolism of serotonin -- the MAO inhibitors, the SSRIs, and the tricyclic antidepressants -- and thus increase its availability at certain serotonin receptors. Serotonin syndrome rarely if ever occurs when these drugs are taken by themselves. Rather, it is combinations, such as an SSRI plus an MAO inhibitor, or one of these drugs plus tryptophan, that most increases the risk of serotonin syndrome.
There have been no published reports of serotonin syndrome occurring in someone taking 5-HTP. Nevertheless, there is no reason to think that, given the right combination of drugs and doses, it could not occur. Common sense would dictate, therefore, that 5-HTP be combined with drugs known to affect serotonin metabolism only with the greatest of care and under the supervision of a knowledgeable physician.
5-HTP Dosing Guidelines
The dose of 5-HTP that has most often been reported in the scientific literature and prescribed by physicians is 300 mg per day. When taking 5-HTP for depression, anxiety, or fibromyalgia, the general practice in scientific studies has been to take 100 mg three times a day. This dosing regimen may leave some people too sleepy during the day, however.
Some physicians have found it best to start their patients out by taking 150 to 200 mg at bedtime. If this is insufficient to provide antidepressant/anti-anxiety relief, they can take additional doses of 33 to 50 mg during the day. The number of these doses should be adjusted to a level that provides adequate relief without causing daytime sedation.
If you are taking 5-HTP to enhance sleep, it is probably best to take the entire 300-mg dose at bedtime. The dose used in the best migraine study was 400 mg (100 mg four times per day).34 The dose found to effectively suppress appetite was 900 mg per daily (300 mg three times per day).51 Incidentally, the fact that this very high dose of 5-HTP was used without significant side effects can be taken as an indication of the general safety of this substance.
Different individuals may require higher or lower doses than these, but these are good starting points. As with any drug, it is usually better to start with a low dose and increase it gradually. If you find that a lower dose delivers the therapeutic effect you are looking for, then you can stop there. If the 300-mg dose seems inadequate, you can slowly increase it (preferably under your physician's supervision). In any case, always be alert for adverse side effects. If a given dose makes you feel uncomfortable, either physically or mentally, back off the dose and do not go any higher until you consult with a knowledgeable physician. In most cases, lowering the dose will quickly cause the adverse effects to disappear.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
