There seems to be a lot of confusion about as to how much of this stuff we should actuallt take. Dr Sahelian recommends no more than 50mg, as do some other sites, then you see others saying you can take 500mg! I took 100mg last night before bed and feel crappy today, like i wanna cry or hit something, and my face feels so hot, even tho i don't have a high temperature. No panic attacks tho! When I took a 50mg dose yesterday morning (just to test) I had a massive panic attack a couple of hours later. I've noticed that if I take it just before bed I do feel a bit panicky in bed as well, but it seems to be reducing the depression somewhat.

xxx

Hey,

I've been taking 50-100 mg three times a day, and have only seen negative side effects when I forget to (that is, a return to my moodiness). I have noticed a decrease in appetite, but I count that as a positive side effect!!

After reading the above quotation from the 5-htp website, I noticed that it can be used in combination with SAM-e. Any idea how that one works and how the combination works? Any one tried this?

Hey Magnolia,

Check out SAMe here:
http://supplementwatch.com/suplib/supplement.asp?DocId=1237

That seems to be the best overview I've seen and I like that it gives you the references to the studies it's sourcing at the end.

My mother is currently taking SAMe and 5HTP concurrently and has reported no side effects. She had rather bad insomnia before taking them both and has been sleeping ***6 or 7 hours a night*** which is a huge deal for her.

Loopylou: Weird that it's giving you panic attacks--I've heard that you should taper up AND down, so maybe taking 25 g twice a day? Could be that you'd be better off with the SAMe. My roommate is taking it for depression (she actually went off of her antidepressants and started SAMe instead) and loves it, less side effects and it's caused absolutely no changes from her SSRI.

Are you taking any other medications or supplements? There is a website http://www.psyweb.com/alturn/alDrug/5HTP.jsp that has more on the actual interactions and precautions.

not sure if anyone mentioned this yet but taking "enteric coated" tablets helps with the nausea

yup, good point, Cami--I seem to do fine with the capsules but for those of you who can't handle them, try the EC tablets or caplets, they'll disolve in your intestines instead of your stomach

As someone that has had anxiety fro over a year now.....I have tried almost every natural and pharm. med out there. 5HtTP works pretty well but not for a long time...kinda like anti-dep. you have to up the med when you level out and start having issues again. As for Sam-e is NOT what you want to use to help anxiety or panic....it WILL make it worse especially in high doses....it is more for depression. to bump up you mood and energy. For anyone that has panic or anxiety the last thing you need it a bump in energy...you going a million miles an hour already. Some things help some people...you just have to try and see what works. My best advice is not order over the internet only because you try it you buy it...meaning if it causes some side effect or simply does not work you can't send it back for a refund. Where as a store you go to will usually stand behind the product. The only thing that works for me is Bach's rescue remedy. I have tried so many I still have bottles and bottles sitting here that didn't help or caused a side effect. But I am very sensitive to meds. The one thing that caused me issues was passionflower which is almost every "mood" nat. med. it made me really dizzy. There is a lot of plecebo effects with almost everything...but hey if it works then go for it! The best thing is exercise....positive thinking....and a little saying that has worked for me like you can't believe....for those suffering with anxiety and panic. "Feel the fear..and do it anyways" I say it over and over in my head when I get freaked and it works. We must retrain our brains from this depression and anxiety that we got from the pill...it takes time...baby steps....this didn't happen over night(even though it feels like it did)so it is not going to go away over night.

Pumpkin--interesting, I didn't know that SAMe had such a different effect. 5HTP does tend to calm you down, but it also gives me at least a boost in energy overall because I'm sleeping! And not exhausting myself crying.
Good point, also, about retraining our brains. I said it on a different thread earlier this year--when I feel myself falling into those negative thinking patterns created by depression I have to consciously pull myself out of them. I have to be vigilant and recognize the signs of the beginnings of harmful thinking patterns. I'm getting pretty good about it! But it does feel like this happened overnight--one week I was fine, the next I was most definitely not--and keeping in mind that it will take time to retrain our brains and bodies is important

Rowanthe....I know it felt like mine happened overnight ....I woke up one day with a panic attack and have had a hard time getting myself straightened out since. I kinda caompare it to a death or a breakup. The first weeks or months or even years can be so hard and feel as hard as the first day we dealt with it. But the more we move on with our lives and redirect ourselves(re-train our brains) we find those feelings are a distant memory. Yes we still "feel" the feeling we had when it was so intense in the begining but we suddenly find ourselves forgetting what we felt like at the start. The feelings are less intense...but of course thats only if we "allow" ourselves to lessen the emotion. If we grab on an never let ourselves be calm vene for a moment it will comntinue to eat away at us everyday. It is the hardest thing I have had to deal with in my life so far. My anxiety and panic have run my life for the last year or so. Now that I have quit taking everything....BC....med...natural meds all of it I finally feel myself returning to normal. Each week I conquer one more thing and the intense feeling I once had at the start are not as bad. Now I still get a bad day here and there....but I try not to let myself fall back in the cycle. It is a hard lesson to learn but I will get there one day...now looking back I realize it didn't happen overnight...the stress, anger, meds all built up in my system a little at time and then I felt like I crashed...now my normal self will come back to me a little at a time like it came on in the first place. It is very much like weight gain...we gain a little at a time over the years then one day we wake up and feel like "oh my god I blew up overnight" no it happened over time...but so many of us expect the weight to go away quickly ....it takes time..like everything earned in life.

I have been taking 5-HTP with birth control to try and geat a rest from my weird feelings etc.. I'm not sure if it is helping yet but i have been taking a 50mg in the afternoon and before bed, but when I wke up I seem really shaky and alittle off, I dont know if it is still from my birth control or these or a combo. Also I have notice when my b/leaves I'm up and have a 1/2 before I get up and i try and rest but it seems like I'm so shaky and anxious waiting for the alarm.... can someone describe what anxity actually is from who has had experince living with it. Aslo I took a test on depression and is said i was serve but I don't feel that bad.. but could that be possible I'm not completely aware of it yet??

I have had anxiety andpaninc for over a year now....I don't feel depressed either and yes you can have anxiety w/o depression. For me anxiety is light headed, dizzy, racing heart, shakey, wake up early in the a.m. and can't sleep. My mornings I feel worse than the afternoons. The hard part of anxiety and panic is ....we control all of it. It is hard to hear that but it is very true. We can create it, control it, make it go away and make it happen when we wan to. Now having said that it ia one of the hardest thinsg to overcome that I have ever dealt with. It is harder I think for most to deal with knowing we cause it then thinking popping a pill will make it go away. The meds may help it calm dwon to give you the chance to relax a little to work on being ok again but in the end we have to work on making it go away so to speak. We have to allow it to leave our lives which is very hard because we get used to it being around as uncomforting as it makes us feel we feed the monster. It is kinda like a bad relationship...we know it is bad and hramful tour lives....but knowing it and changing are such different things. The only way to calm anxiety is allow yourself to let things go....try to realize we can not control everything....easier said then done again but it is crucial to try and do this when we feel the panic starting up in us. I have been through a year of a lot of trying this and that to make this evil anxiety go away. I have read books, articles, studies, listened to cd's, done workbooks, listened to relaxtion cd's. yoga, tai chi, exercise, meds, natural meds. The only thing that works for my anxiety is to keep getting up everyday and just going out and doing things...it has been hard for me to even leave the house and go to the store or drive...but if I do alittle everyday I win back one more day of my life that I have in the past allowed anxiety to steal from me. Baby steps...and patting myself on the back when I have done even the smallest thing.

Pumpkin, I am so glad that u r slowly beating your battle with anxiety. I have been suffering from occasional anxiety attacks too, although my problem is more on the depression side of things. I have found vigorous exercise to be helpful in both instances, what do you think? Exercise is known to both raise serotonin levels and calm us down.

xxx

Exercise is for sure a positive thing to do for Anxiety and depression. Excercise uses up the adrenaline that is overproduced during anxiety and panic. See adrenaline is produced for the "fight or flight " response so if you don't flee by running like you would do in a situation that would spark that fight or flight response you basically stew aorund in your own extra adrenaline and that makes you feel panicky and gittery. As for the depression and exercise...it also produces the feel good release of endorphins when you exercise which give you a calmness which helps with both anxiety and depression. God I could write a book about this stuff...I enjoy helping people with these isssues...it gives me a calm in my own life...makes me feel like there was a reason why I ended up with this issue...to guide others that are having the same problem. I found through this problem of mine that there is a lot of info about it like...what the symptoms are and such but not a lot on why it happens and nothing really on trying to fix it by woking on yourself before going right for a pill to cure it. I will love to help and give any advice on this subject...remember this is only my experience and what things work or not for me are not true for someone else. If you are under the care of a DR for this and taking something DO NOT evr quit what you are taking til you speak with a DR.

hello all,

i'm on my way to the store to buy 5HTP. what is the best starting dosage for anxiety and depression? also, when do you notice results!! haha. when is it ok to go off it, and do you have to wean off of it? so many questions...

thanks for the help. here's hoping...

50 mg is a good dose to start with up to 3 x's daily you can then after a few weeks go to 100mg 3 x's daily...it usually takes effect within a few days to a week for most. You may want to adjust your dose depending on how you react to it (like making you sleepy) it works VERY well at night if you have a hard time sleeping. You are supposed to take breaks from it every so often. Check out www.sjwinfo.org for a lot of posts about people and their experiences with 5-htp.

i've only taken one pill so have no say about anything yet...but i was wondering: will htp and other anti-depressants just make us numb to whatever is going on--just cover up whatever we are feeling without truly resolving it?

it won't neccesarily cover up what you are feeling....what all of these meds are intended for is to give you some breathing room...a little relief so you can work on what the real problem is. Like any pill...ex. a pain killer....that doesn't make the thing causing the pain go away it just calms the pain so you can deal with everyday life.

5HTP shouldn't make you numb....what it does is boosts your serotonin levels naturally. SSRIs (a type of antidepressant) doesn't boost your actual serotonin levels, it just keeps your body from getting rid of serotonin (basically cycles it over and over again) so it's quite a different effect on your body

If your body has enough serotonin, you should find that your moods improve and that rather than being numb, you're able to rationally think things through instead of reacting in a knee-jerk fashion or numbing yourself to them. I found, though, that the difference between my super-overreactive self and my post pill self was so drastic that the first few days did feel like I was a bit numb--but I was in such a good mood, with such a smile on my face, that I knew it was something else
Good luck!

I'm a little confused, if you can take it right before bed as a sleep aid, but you can also take it throughout the day for other symptoms, wouldn't you be sleepy all day? I'd like to take it as a weight loss aid and to help with my restless mind at night. I'm a student, and sometimes I just can't turn my brain off and get to sleep at night, but I don't think i want to take any hardcore prescription sleep medication.

Can I ask you all is it ok to take 5 HTP with vitamin B 6. I came off BCP about 2 weeks ago and whilst the anxiety and panic have gone now, I am still having terrible moments of desperation and confusion and really weird feelings of not being here and not feeling anything.....not ideal when you are supposed to be getting married in 8 weeks time.......
so I wanted to try 5 HTP as I have all the symptoms of low serotonin! thanks to you all!

it's so revealing, to read that you can be anxious without really being depressed. I got panic attacks since new years eve and realised after 2 month that it’s the pill, now I’m of the pill and take some supplements and it’s getting better (at least it’s bearable) Unfortunately I always worry just because of one issue and sometimes I fear that it’s something deep inside me and hasn’t got anything to do with the pill and the hormonal imbalance caused by it. It’s just this big insecurity or uncertainty I carry around me. No Doc really believed me when I said I think its due to the pill, only a specialist admitted it could be it. The rest just meant I’m stressed, how disappointing is this.