5-HTP can be very beneficial sometimes (e.g. on MDMA comedowns). It's a direct precursor to serotonin (5-HT) and increases the production of serotonin in the brain.
This happened quite a while ago, and I didn't use any medication that affects serotonin then.
I bought 100 mg 5-HTP pills because I was tired of using AD's and wanted to give 5-HTP a try.
The instructions on the bag was to take one pill before sleep. So I did that. Sleep was great, 5-HTP makes you quite drowsy and sedated. The first two days I felt great, there was a definite moodlift. But on the third day I got a light serotonin syndrome. I got severe diarrhea, nausea, vomited profusely, got heart arrhytmias and developed a slight fever. 100 mg was far too much for me. Fortunately the symptoms were quite light when taken into account that serotonin syndrome can be very dangerous and even fatal. I can't imagine people taking 100 mg every day for prolonged periods.
Also, taking 5-HTP on SSRI withdrawal is one of the worst things you can do. It makes withdrawal much, much worse. Anxiety, nervousness and nausea is increased dramatically. This also seems to be the experience of most others taking it while on SSRI withdrawal. You would logically think that raising your serotonin levels (as they almost always are low when quitting SSRI's) would help, but it has the opposite effect. Why that is the case I don't know.
5-HTP is marketed as this natural antidepressant that supposedly has few to no side effects. Too many are fooled by this and get various negative reactions by taking it. If you do decide to take it, start low (25 mg) and see how you react. Avoid using it for prolonged periods.
Generally I think it's very unwise to alter your neurotransmitter levels much. I've found Tyrosine to be great after taking stimulants, but in those cases my dopamine levels have been very low, hence the benefit.
This happened quite a while ago, and I didn't use any medication that affects serotonin then.
I bought 100 mg 5-HTP pills because I was tired of using AD's and wanted to give 5-HTP a try.
The instructions on the bag was to take one pill before sleep. So I did that. Sleep was great, 5-HTP makes you quite drowsy and sedated. The first two days I felt great, there was a definite moodlift. But on the third day I got a light serotonin syndrome. I got severe diarrhea, nausea, vomited profusely, got heart arrhytmias and developed a slight fever. 100 mg was far too much for me. Fortunately the symptoms were quite light when taken into account that serotonin syndrome can be very dangerous and even fatal. I can't imagine people taking 100 mg every day for prolonged periods.
Also, taking 5-HTP on SSRI withdrawal is one of the worst things you can do. It makes withdrawal much, much worse. Anxiety, nervousness and nausea is increased dramatically. This also seems to be the experience of most others taking it while on SSRI withdrawal. You would logically think that raising your serotonin levels (as they almost always are low when quitting SSRI's) would help, but it has the opposite effect. Why that is the case I don't know.
5-HTP is marketed as this natural antidepressant that supposedly has few to no side effects. Too many are fooled by this and get various negative reactions by taking it. If you do decide to take it, start low (25 mg) and see how you react. Avoid using it for prolonged periods.
Generally I think it's very unwise to alter your neurotransmitter levels much. I've found Tyrosine to be great after taking stimulants, but in those cases my dopamine levels have been very low, hence the benefit.