5HTP

[friken]

I've been taking 100mg daily along with an l-dopa supplement for mood enhancement / depression. After a week I wasn't feeling any benefit from it so I doubled the dose to 200mg.

First dose at 200mg 5htp I had a bit of nuasea for an hour or two after taking with no noticable change. The second day of that dose, no stomach issues but that night was very interesting trying to sleep.

I had VERY lucid dreams in/out of full waking lucidity while feeling body waves of euphoria and tingly muscle relaxing so intense it felt like it was pushing me out of body. I had several very vivid and lucid dream/sleep paralysis episodes as well. I also had light periods of closed eye visuals. They were light, but were there.

It lasted a couple hours before I could get deep enough into sleep to not remember it all. The entire next day my body felt lighter, less stressed, muscles relaxed, nearly 0 anxiety.

I'm staying at that dose to see if the effects continue. That brings me to today. I'm not feeling as light and minor anxiety is closer to normal amounts -- talking about normal healthy adult level not that I struggle with it. If I hadn't felt what lack of anxiety felt like I'm not sure I would have ever said I have anxiety at all.



Anyone else take 5htp? dose? effects?

 

[3rdI]

I took it for a while, cant remember the dose though, and it gave me really really crazy dreams, I stopped taking it after a few weeks as it was messing with my sleep patterns because the dreams kept waking me up.

if I had a break from work I would try it again as the dreams were very cool, but I need my sleep.

 

[benzyme]

note: 5HTP is the direct precursor to serotonin via 4.1.1.28 (AADC), and is further along the tryptophan metabolic pathway than tryptophan --> DMT. bufotenine is a possible side-product.

 

[friken]

I knew it was a precursor to serotonin, but can you explain what you mean by:

and is further along the tryptophan metabolic pathway than tryptophan --> DMT.

 

[benzyme]

the side reaction occurs from tryptophan to NMT, via INMT (2.1.1.49), and again to DMT by the same enzyme (in theory). the preferential pathway is tryptophan to 5HTP to serotonin via tryptophan-5-monooxygenase and AADC (aromatic amino acid decarboxylase), respectively. the addition of the 5-hydroxy is spontaneous, thus an irreversible reaction.

figuratively speaking, the production of serotonin is the forward reaction, and DMT, a side-reaction product. 5HTP cannot convert to DMT.

 

[friken]

figuratively speaking, the production of serotonin is the forward reaction, and DMT, a side-reaction product. 5HTP cannot convert to DMT.

Layman translation, please correct if I am wrong:

The 5htp is used by the body to create serotonin. The creation of that serotonin excites some mechanism in the body which creates/releases DMT?

 

[friken]

I have had several more days at 200mg + LDOPA and have not had another night quite like the one which started this thread.

Last night I increased that dose to 300mg to see if that would revisit the euphoria experienced. I did experience a much less intense version... subjectively maybe 1/2 or less intense. My theory is the 200mg dose that elicited the large effects was on a nearly empty stomach and the others have not been due to nausea/cramping that was felt. When taken with food or hour or so after (not empty stomach yet) I do not experience nausea or cramping.

300mg dose even on a non empty stomach did have light nausea about an hour after dosage and for about 20-30 min.

 

[benzyme]

figuratively speaking, the production of serotonin is the forward reaction, and DMT, a side-reaction product. 5HTP cannot convert to DMT.

Layman translation, please correct if I am wrong:

The 5htp is used by the body to create serotonin. The creation of that serotonin excites some mechanism in the body which creates/releases DMT?

they are just sister molecules, produced on separate pathways from the same precursor.
they bind to the same active sites. DMT production inhibits serotonin production, but our normal metabolism favors serotonin production.

 

[brokenChild]

don't fight with depression, accept it. Figure out why you are depressed, resolve the problem(s), no more depression. True story

 

[Hiyo Quicksilver]

^This post is on-topic as phuck.

 

[Nathanial.Dread]

5-HTP turned me into an emotional basket-case. I took it for a while in my endless war against intractable depression, and while I didn't feel depressed on it, it did make me feel crazy. (Crazier then normal, anyway).

I laughed and cried at everything, I felt like every little thing in my life was of paramount importance and the stakes had been turned up to 11. I stopped after a few weeks because I was worried that something like psychosis was setting in.

Also: brokenChild, I mean absolutely no disrespect, but it really bothers me when people say things like that.
Sometimes, depression comes from within your soul and through self development you can beat it.
Sometimes your brain is just straight-up broken and needs to be fixed, just like every complex system is at one time or another.

I've had people tell me things like: "go to therapy," or "talk it out," or (and this is the worst) "change your perspective and see the beauty in the world," it completely delegitimizes the reality of the illness. You would never say: "you can just 'resolve' your cancer, so why are you worrying about it?"
That's what "figure our why you're depressed and resolve the problems" sounds like to me.

Blessings
~ND

 

[DreaMTripper]

Very true ND spot on.

I took 5htp for a while and it helped a lot, vivid lucid dreams indeed! I also used to take it to preload before a night on mdma, worked very well.

 

[sleepypelican]

i took 500mg a day for two months for depression and at the start it worked wonders. After a while it was for sure messing with my dreams, so i stopped taking it. I take it now everynow and then because it can be synergetic with certain strains of Kratom when i'm looking for deep sleep.

 

[brokenChild]

from what I could gather, 5-HTP is more problematic than not. (when it comes to neurochemical responses and balance of other body hormones) that's just from a quick google search.


And Nathanial.Dread, I'm not intending to downplay depression in any way whatsoever, I've had to deal with chronic depression most of my waking life, am 28 now, so I don't just blab these statements lightly.

In my own experience, I found it more effective and productive to my own personal health to not waste a whole lot of energy on fighting the symptoms of depression tho, instead go to the root of it, whatever that personal root may be.

So yes, if it helps to self-medicate a little, do so wisely with full awareness of and respect to personal health, but then don't just stop there; do some introspective work and find the roots. Treat the disease, not the symptoms. I would tell a cancer patient the same thing; my father actually passed away from cancer (just a factual statement) and I later came to realize the root of HIS issue as well, which was also treatable. But, alas, hindsight is 20/20. In any case cancer is a disease of the soul, so for those issues introspection would have to go pretty deep, but not impossible.

Nothing is impossible (or impassable), mental attitude is the only real barrier. Respect

 

[MagicGing]

brokenchild, i couldnt agree more.

however, id like to highlight what nathanieal dread said with the computer analogy. there are sometimes certain physical causes to some forms of depression that could be greatly improved by treating the effect. however, it is treating the effect, and not the cause.

that being said, i think most forms of depression could be greatly improved by a more "spiritual" healing? if that classifys it well...

i think for the most part ive just repeated what has already been said, but thought i would share my thoughts, im still going through it a bit, and can feel a bit how a more insightful, experiential healing can effect my depression much more than anything attempting to treat the effect ever could..

 

[brokenChild]

^^I am not disagreeing with you guys about addressing the "effect" so-to-speak. I know at times the effects of depression can be downright debilitating... and so during those times, it's obviously best to attend to the immediate suffering, otherwise you will not be able to function at optimal understanding if trying to dig for the root cause (since your awareness will be spaced out on the suffering as well)

So, personally I choose to self-medicate with marijuana, it's natural, and fits situational circumstances (as in, I'm not at risk for losing my job over it, or any other real, significant issues) But the trick then is finding the kind of head space that still leaves you with enough clarity for personal insight. Again, that is just one of a thousand and one possible, effective approaches... feel free to find your own best way.

As far as digging for the roots is concerned tho, depression itself (chronic, at that) goes fairly deep, so it just takes deep insight and introspection, and evaluation of one's life (awareness, you could say) into every single aspect from memory, to how you noticed it's progression, to where it started from and why. This "where it started from and why" is the most significant thing you could ever find when it comes to treating it effectively.

Use every tool available, but don't stop at the surface issues is all I'm getting at. Use your own good judgement. Best of luck!

 

[Mustelid]

I've been taking 100mg 5-HTP daily and it's helped more then SSRIs did.