Anyone here ever taken 5-HTP for depression and/or anxiety?

My cousin in Europe swears by it; she was put on it after SSRIs gave her headaches. But this stuff works for her. . .I''ve been battling a huge depression and am wondering if I should give it a chance before I get Lexapro from my doctor. %0D\ %0D\ Anyone ever taken this stuff? Anyone ever taken both 5-TPH and Lexapro, who can compare?

O so weary o'' waiting
• Bump. I''m interested, too. Thanks for posting this, OP.

• I tried it, and frankly wasn''t terribly impressed, but my depression is chronic and not exactly mild when unmedicated. 5-HTP might work best for people who are suffering fairly slight, temporal depression, where it could help bring you up and out from under it. %0D\ %0D\ My doctor was concerned about 5-HTP being unregulated, so you can''t even be really sure how much of an effective dose you''re getting because of differences between manufacturer, etc. and too much can be problematic. This link has a fair rundown of pros and cons:%0D

  http://depression.about.com/cs/altmed5htp/f/5htp.htm

  Little Boy Blue

• OP%0D\ %0D\ You are speaking of Griffonia Simplicifolia Seed Extract.%0D\ %0D\ It has been used a bit more often as a diet aide than as something to help mood. %0D\ %0D\ Be careful with what blend you pick because some of them are mixed up with scads of stuff. %0D\ %0D\ Also, you are technically not to take it if you are on proper meds for moods and all. %0D\ %0D\ Your saying that you have a huge depression makes me think that going to your doctor would be best.

• I''ve taken it after doing E to help sleep and to avoid "suicide tuesdays".%0D\ %0D\ I don''t do E often (maybe twice a year) but last time I did it, I took 2 5HTP''s once a day for a few days and it seemed to help w/ the E side-effects.

• I use it, and think it''s really helped me. But start with a small dose, because it can induce nausea if you don''t build up slowly.

• It makes you spit when you pee. It also makes you spit for lube.

• I suffered from chronic depression (interspersed with some occasional acute bouts) for about 30 years. I finally tried a succession of SSRIs, each of which worked but came with intolerable side effects. My doc switched me to 5-HTP with St. John''s Wort, a slightly higher dose than is usually prescribed for "regular" depression. It helped tremendously.\ \ The real breakthrough for me was combining it with acupuncture. Since then, I''ve been depression-free for about five years.\ \ Note that most people need to build up their tolerance to 5-HTP; if you start with a full dose right away, it may make you terribly nauseous (it did me), but building up to a full dose over two weeks did the trick with no nausea.

• what brand of HTP r7, it is over the counter?

• Whatever you''re taking, you need to be sure you''re getting a consistent dose of it.

• [quote]what brand of HTP R7, it is over the counter?\ \ Yes. I use 5-HTP from Nutraceutical Sciences Institute (NSI). It''s sort of the house brand at Vitacost. Really pure, good manufacturing oversight, and often significantly cheaper than other brands.

  http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-5-HTP

• Makes you horny as hell

• Still another thread just for New Yorkers. Thanks.

• [quote]Still another thread just for New Yorkers. Thanks.\ \ Depression doesn''t affect people in Ohio?

• R 7 I am curious what dose you take for each medication.\ \ My depression is severe and nothing has helped,aside from the initial zoloft which made me feel happy for the first time since I was 7 yrs. old.\ \ \ \ I know it is chemical,but right now I have given up on seeing any more doctors.\ \ \ Thanks.

• I would also like to hear more about people's experiences on 5-HTP. My depression is terrible and the only thing that's ever helped was Wellbutrin, but Wellbutrin makes my hair thin out so I can't take it anymore. So I'm considering 5-HTP, but I'm kind of hesitant about "natural" remedies because I took St. John's Wort years ago and it didn't help at all.

• R15 you will jumped on for bumping an olde thread, but here is some information that has helped me. In winter months, I get slightly depressed and go into sleepy hibernation mode. I purchased and used one of those depression lights, but it turns out that the light wavelength was wrong, so it did nothing. I checked out the web site below and I did rad about 5 HTP there, but decided to first try a double daily dose of real vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol, not the other lab made stuff) and I made sure to get enough good fats. This has already helped my mood and outlook so much, that I don't think that I will mess with 5 HTP. But to each his own.

  http://www.earthclinic.com/ailments.html

• "My depression is severe and nothing has helped,aside from the initial zoloft which made me feel happy for the first time since I was 7 yrs. old." R14 I had the same initial positive reaction to Zoloft as you had and also to most other antidepressants. Thay made me feel happy for only a few days. The only one that has kept me cheerful for a much longer time,and I have tried them all, is Effexor. You might want to give it a try.

  Ven%20Lafaxine

• I used it for several months while I was coping with agoraphobia, and it made a huge difference. I felt much less anxious, my body felt less "reactive" and my overall mood lifted a good deal. I took it while I was doing cognitive behavioral therapy, which also helped, but honestly, I believe it was the 5-htp that really set the process of improvement in motion. A nice part of taking it was that it was easy to get on and off of. No side effects other than fatigue at first, which wore off quickly, and no brain zaps when I tapered off it. I recommend it highly. I used 50 mg. twice a day (50 mg. in the am, 50 mg. in the pm right before bed.), NOW brand from iherb.com.

• R18 Thanks for that info. I think I'm going to order some today. I figure it's worth a shot. How long did it take to start working?

  R15

• IIRC, it was a few weeks, 2 or 3, I think. Lots of sleepiness the first couple days, and I ended up pouring half the contents of a capsule into a glass of water to halve the dose, but it only took a couple days before I was able to handle 50 mg. twice a day easily. Then not really any change at all for a couple weeks. But then spots of total normalcy/no anxiety (which was a great relief) occurring more and more frequently. And finally I noticed feelings of real happiness. Good luck, I hope it works as well for you.

  r18

• R15, I want to emphasize that I was not on prescription drugs while I was taking it. If you're taking any prescription drug, especially an SSRI, I'd only use it under the supervision of a professional. I've read that they can be tricky to mix. The 5-htp alone for me did the trick.

  r18