I'm taking 100mg at the moment.. sometimes 200mg if I'm having a really bad day (probably just a placebo effect, but it works for me).

Hi lorlor,

I did finally take 50mg twice now before I went to bed, and each time it made me feel sleepy the following day. I wonder if that means I don't need it?
I have been taking the cortisol reducers when needed to help with the anxiety and it helped me immensely. I have a hypersensative system and have anxiety attacks just thinking of taking something, it's taken me over 2 weeks to take the 5-htp.
But if you are having anxiety, I highly suggest the cortisol reducer, I take 'Relora' it's 250mg, I take one at a time, just to take the edge off of how I'm feeling if I still feel it I take another. On really bad days I've taken up to 3,not all at once but within hours of each other, but that is a really bad day. I'll take one then wait about an hour then see how I feel, if I'm still feeling anxious/anxiety then I'll take another one.

I hope that helps!

Oonu, thanks for the encouraging words. Lately, I have been feeling myself again. But I know I am not out of the woods yet. You sound like me. If I start worrying about anything, I feel the anxiety coming. I am glad you are doing better and found the strength to take the 5-HTP. The Relacore worked on the anxiety, but within a few hours I would feel even more anxious and wanted another pill. I am not sure if the relacore does the same thing as chocolate, you feel good then you crash. So no more of that for me. I will look into the Relora. Thanks.

I just began taking 5htp for depression and anxiety. I was taking SSRIs for several years but decided to go off of them to get pregnant. It has been a rough ride, though, and I think I may be experiencing withdrawal(I tapered over several months and have been off for about 7 weeks now). I'm eager to see the effectiveness of 5htp. I won't take it for long tho, since there have been no studies done on it being safe for pregnancy...but it is worth a try now because if I don't begin to feel less depressed/anxious, there is no way i'm having another child.

has anyone experienced stomach cramps from 5htp?

I felt nausious when i was takin more than i shud of! what dose on on? i take 100mg a day

only been takin 50-100 a day

hey,

is it bad to take 5-htp while on the pill?

not sure about that sorry, you will have to ask the people where u get it from they should know! people argue that the pill lowers serotonin levels so if that is the case come off it! You cant stay on 5-htp forever (3months at a time) so itd be pointless if you were just going to stay on the pill.

thanks jen.

major bummer about the 5-htp thing. im having major problems with the pill and depression but i really dont want to go off of it. besides having an irregular and painful period, my boyfriend and i are regularly having sex and it will be hard to just stop. i recently talked to my doctor and switched pills though so hopefully that helps a little.

I've been taking 5HTP for nearly four months now and I think I am almost sane again. If I was quite low in serotonin all my reproductive life, due to negative life experiences and bad diet; I'd say that taking the pill for two and a half years knocked it right down to 90% deficient most of the time. I got my periods back after 42 days off the pill and had reasonably regular cycles, but the depression, paranoid, negative self-conscious thought patterns and anxiety continued to worsen until I found 5HTP.

I'm having a low day today, I occassionally suffer from violent nightmares and feel very gloomy absent and tired; but this only lasts a few days around ovulation and before and after my period. I'm hoping to lower my dose gradually once these difficult days improve a little more and come off the 5HTP altogether. I'm still nervous of what is ahead of me, but wanted to say that this drug can help.

I started with 100mg am and pm, then changed to 100mg pm for six weeks as I was too tired all day when I took it in the morning. I've gradually upped my dose a little to counter the difficult dips, so I'm now on 50mg am and 150mg pm, I find they work better when I take them before dinner.

I don't want to be on them long term as the effectiveness is said to wear off, but nor can I go back to functioning alone yet. I hope that I can wean myself off slowly by dropping a pill on the more mentally level days; thankfully the FAM charts help me to know when my good days are. I think it will be a while before I'm functioning on my own, but I still have hope, something which all but disappeared on the pill.

When I started taking 5HTP I got very tired and nauseous and for the first few weeks on it, my brain felt like it got electric shocks every so often, which felt like parts of my brain I hadn't used in years were waking up. Now it's just the lethargy, mood dips and occasional nightmares which bother me. I've come a long way. Just wanted to say that it's worth sticking with it, even with a few headaches or upset stomachs as these can be side effects of the low serotnin not the 5HTP too. Give it a try, if you feel depressed and zombie like, it can help a lot. It's certainly saved my relationship.

I just want to thank everyone who's posted and recommended 5-htp. I started taking 50-mg at night about 2 weeks ago, and have to say that I'm very pleased with my improved mood. (FYI, I also discontinued the pill about 5 weeks ago, which I also think is a major contributor to the improvement). I still have mood swings, but they are quite minor in comparison to what they were before. I also haven't experienced any negative side effects that I'm aware of. So thanks everybody for turning me on to 5-htp!

I just joined this forum and have found all your blogs so helpful! I have suffered from anxiety-panic attacks for over 13 years now and refuse to take sythetic drugs that seem to do more harm than good. I have periods in my life that my problem seems to be pretty controlable but over the last year I have seemed to sink into a hole that I can't pull myself out of. I wonder where that creative outgoing girl I once was went to. I'm sure many factors contribute to my problem(my dad has severe cancer)life changes.. etc. but I have become so desperate I actually went to the doctor( a big phobia of mine) to discuss what drug she could give me to get rid of this awful hell I have been living. Somewhere in our conversation she was talking all about how my brain is low on serotonin and red flags went off that I could maybe get this from a natural source rather than a sythentic source. That's when I happened on 5-HTP. I bought some today by the makers NATROL. Not sure if all 5-HTP is created equally.(any advice?) My other question is does anyone who suffers from anxiety or panic attacks find if they eat crackers, a candy bar, peanut butter on bread during an episode that they feel better? This seems to be one of the only things that helps me when I have a panic attack but lately it has gotten so out of control that I have a box of crackers everywhere! I thought maybe it was a blood sugar thing but I do get anxiety and panic at other times too like in stores etc where eating doesn't help. I was tested a long time ago when I first started having anxiety and they found nothing pretty much. I read that low serotonin levels can cause constant hunger feelings and almost like an addiction to carbs. Carbs raise serotonin which equals guitargirl stuffing her face with crackers! Has this happened to anyone else?

Does anyone know or ever found out if 5htp can be taken while on the pill? thanks!

I heard 5-HTP is good for ppl who are bipolar. does anyone know if it's true. I also heard that it is not very safe to use.

Just a note for anyone else wondering, but not all 5-HTP are equal.

Personally Natrol did NOTHING for me.

My favorite is from Puritan's Pride.

I take 100mg 3-4x's daily.

Hello everyone! I have been suffering from horrible anxiety for about 5 months! I am seeking other alternatives to at least cope with this crazyness I am going threw. I have been taking lorasapam and it has been working, but the way I take it I fear for the harm I am doing to my body. One of my good friends seen this add in a local news paper and I was wondering if this 5-HTP really does work because I cannot handle it any longer! Please help!

just got a bottle of 5-htp at the advice of my dr to help with the anxiety/depression that i have due to the good ol birth control pill. just wanted to bump this thread up to see if anyone has any new comments about their experiance with 5-htp!

Hey Clark,
Let me know how it works for ya. I've been reading about the 5HTP and have been thinking about trying it. It is supposed to work kind of like an anti-depressant except it's natural and doesn't have all the bad side effects. Just make sure you don't take it with anything containing St. Johns wart.

does anyone know if you can take 5-htp and omega-3s together ?