5-HTP routine before psychedelics?

[Psyke]

So i finally acquired 5-HTP, (kinda expensive at the health food store)



I'm planning on tripping on some sort of psych in about 2 weeks or so, and i was wondering if a 50mg a day 5htp routine for the next two weeks might empower the trip?
Since it's a "smart" drug i was wondering if the increased brain function might increase the trip in any number of ways? any experiences?

Also, 5htp would theoretically produce more serotonin for say, LSD, etc, to bind itself to.

Also, should i stop taking it the day of? or the day before? for serotonin's syndrome's sake perhaps?

Also, The hallucinogen i will be doing after my 2 week routine would most likely be one of the following: 4-aco-DMT, 2c-I, DPT, Mushrooms, or LSD.
Haven't quite decided yet.

 

[pharmakos]

Also, 5htp would theoretically produce more serotonin for say, LSD, etc, to bind itself to.

you've got things pretty confused here--LSD and other psychedelics bind to a receptor in your brain that serotonin also binds to.

anyway, there are differing schools of thought about whether or not a 5-htp regimen like you described is a good idea. i personally feel that it isn't a good idea... mainly because that's a lot of effort put forth considering that any difference in effects could just be because of that old PLACEBO effect

 

[mrdocat]

I think it could lessen the effect as there'll be more serotonin to compete with LSD. LSD's not like MDMA which effect depends upon serotonin release, so the more serotonin you have, the more is released, and the higher you get. Just theory though.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

My strong and qualified advice to the op: dont do it. In addition, dont engage in any activity that would rile your senses too much and dont do any drugs (except caffeine) in the week preceding the experience.

OP remember: when is comes to hallucinogens, 'more' can lead to the most hellish and traumatic experience of your life, especially when it comes to using other substances in the hope of...haha-synergy.

 

[Psyke]

dont engage in any activity that would rile your senses too much

such as?

when is comes to hallucinogens, 'more' can lead to the most hellish and traumatic experience of your life,

i realize this, but i'm not really considering 5htp as a drug that will synergize persay, and i'll be taking the normal amount that i usually do of the hallucinogen.


I don't think you guys may realize what i'm trying to accomplish;
I'm not trying to get more "fucked" up or a higher high,
I'm going for the element of having increased brain function, so when i trip i am possibly more open minded, fluent, and perhaps philosophic.

any other opinions? perhaps someone who has tried this before?

 

[surf.shaman]

it might make you smarter or more philosophic - idk

it might make you not trip too.
"Tolerance and cross-tolerance relationships between lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) were studied in rats trained on an operant task. The results demonstrated that behavioral tolerance to both compounds occur in the rat and that asymmetrical cross-tolerance relationships exist; that is, animals tolerant to 5-HTP were cross-tolerant to LSD, but animals tolerant to LSD were not cross-tolerant to 5-HTP."
Richard B. Carter and James B. Appel
Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, U.S.A.
Received 8 May 1978; accepted 11 May 1978. Available online 8 November 2002.

 

[.Lucid.]

taking 5htp long term is wasteful and ineffective.. after taking it for more than a few days in a row, your serotonin receptors start to downregulate (turn off)

 

[Psyke]

^good to know.

Maybe just one of the small 50mg htp capsules each day for 3 days prior to the experience?
or perhaps 3 days after?

I don't do MDMA at all so now i'm wondering why i bought these! For some reason i was thinking that they were somehow great to use for psychedelics, whether it be the recovery days or beforehand.
Now i'm not so sure if i will indeed use them.

 

[surf.shaman]

that kind of explains the tolerance in the rats.

less receptors for the LSD to bind too - hence their ability to take more LSD

I suspect that LSD doesn't cause down regulation of serotonin receptors - and that's why it didn't cause tolerance the other way.

 

[.Lucid.]

^good to know.

Maybe just one of the small 50mg htp capsules each day for 3 days prior to the experience?
or perhaps 3 days after?

I don't do MDMA at all so now i'm wondering why i bought these! For some reason i was thinking that they were somehow great to use for psychedelics, whether it be the recovery days or beforehand.
Now i'm not so sure if i will indeed use them.

dude ive taken 5htp on lsd several times. dont even bother taking it in the days leading up to the trip, just take like 100mg when you drop your acid and 100 more a few hours into the trip. it helps keep the mood light and makes the trip a little more dreamy.. it can make you a little light headed though.

 

[scribbles]

I have heard about preloading seritonin for trips on mdma or dxm. I used 5htp a lot in the past and i don't think it changes the trip too much if preloaded. It does seem to add some mood enhancement but it causes that even if i don't trip on it. I found it useful to help speed up recovery from overuse of psychedelics. I enjoyed its benefits on mood and sleep but stopped using it for a while. I have heard that since the structure is so close to seritonin that too much can cause problems. The theory was that natural seritonin production was inhibited by too much 5htp because the body thinks it is part of the diet so stops making as much. I did mildly crave it for a while after i stopped using it but i feel like i levelled out. Good stuff, but i recommend moderation.

 

[pharmakos]

5htp actually makes me a little less lucid

 

[moe.ron]

5-htp is more of a recovery thing IMO, you know next day if your feelin off... most of the time its not needed but when it is it does help.. good to have on hand I think

 

[girlygrrl]

I've taken 5-HTP quite a bit and it helps a lot for depression as well as quick recovery from DXM and MDMA trips. I don't know that it would make any difference with LSD other than helping with the insomnia. At least I always tend to get insomnia from LSD, and 5-HTP tends to significantly improve how deep I sleep.

 

[Nub]

I've taken 5-HTP quite a bit and it helps a lot for depression as well as quick recovery from DXM and MDMA trips. I don't know that it would make any difference with LSD other than helping with the insomnia. At least I always tend to get insomnia from LSD, and 5-HTP tends to significantly improve how deep I sleep.

A lot of people talk about DXM afterglow, but I really don't get it. Usually the next day after taking DXM if feel like shit.
Does the 5-HTP take away the hangover from DXM or what does it do? I've really got to try this the next time I take DXM, because I like it a lot, but I hate how I feel the next day.

 

[paridiso]

I tried preloading with 5-htp a few times before taking acid and it had no effect on the trip.

 

[kingme]

ive not heard of many using 5htp to preload for a trip. much more frecuent when recovering from a roll. in that sense i have been using it after nights out with mdai/methylone or other such stims, with varying degrees of succes, but mostly it helps with residual stimulation. that being said, i also load up on vitamins and minerals in the same situations.

 

[girlygrrl]

A lot of people talk about DXM afterglow, but I really don't get it. Usually the next day after taking DXM if feel like shit.
Does the 5-HTP take away the hangover from DXM or what does it do? I've really got to try this the next time I take DXM, because I like it a lot, but I hate how I feel the next day.

5-HTP does seem to give me a good DXM afterglow...then again I don't take more than ~350mg as I don't enjoy the higher plateaus.

 

[38slug]

5 htp Ruined my mushroom trip even when i was just taking it once a day for 1 week. after the trip i stoped taking it. my friend swim likes to steal bottles of 5htp from whole foods. he says its pretty easy

 

[TheAzo]

I can sort of understand why one would be inclined to take 5-HTP before taking serotonin releasers (ie, MDMA). More serotonin to get released, help deal with depletion, etc. It only follows to use it for a brief time prior to using the drug, soas not to produce tolerance. Some people say it works.

In the case of something that does not release serotonin, and hence won't suffer if there's a "lack" of it, I don't know why you'd ever take it. All it could do is downregulate receptors and produce tolerance.

I also seriously doubt the claim that "serotonin depletion" is a major part of tolerance to MDMA. I'd belive that it could be relevant to the comedown (though I suspect there are other reasons for this even - there was a batch of papers about MDMA metabolites someone linked to, and some of them were non-benign, and long lived. a-methyl dopamine was one of them, iirc). Serotonin is not a hard molecule for the body to make, though, and it creates and metabolizes it throughout the whole body all the time. Why would it take so long to recover, when there's normally so much turnover of it (and other neurotransmitters) It's much more believable that the cause of tolerance and "loss of magic" is due to receptor downregulation and neurotoxicity than mere depletion of serotonin.

my friend swim likes to steal bottles of 5htp from whole foods. he says its pretty easy

Disgraceful!