H5TP

[FeatherHead]

Hi all, Just wondering if anyone here has ever tried taking H5TP for their anxiety and depression? My doctor has sugested I take Prozac but I've decided to try the natural route first and have ordered some 5htp, it is meant to be really good for depression and aids a good sleep and reduces headaches. In fact it sounds like a wonder drug and side effects arn't too bad. I'm interested to know if anyone has any experience with it?

[eight days a week]

I guess you can only mean 5HTP? It's fantastic in my experience. I used it in the past for depression - I haven't tried it for anxiety but will - I just have other stuff to try first.

It's very gentle, completely natural, but worked wonders for me. I'd urge everyone to try it before trying SSRIs.

Some of the national healthstore chains occasionally do offers on it - I bought a load then got about a third off I think.

[Ingenious]

Yes, it was rubbish. It had no effect on me at all which is a shame because like you I thought it sounded a wonder drug after looking it up. It was the last "natural" thing I tried before admitting defeat and getting proper medication from the doctor.

By all means give it a try, I'm sure my own mental health had deteriorated so much by that point nothing other than full-on drugs would help me :) However I would ask your GP, if it can be prescribed (not sure if it can, but worth asking) then you are guaranteed a proper dosage rather than the vagueness of buying it from health stores and the likes.

From my experience you're better off from a natural point of view from doing lots of exercise and maybe trying some CBT or meditation. For me, exercise to the point it hurts has been like doubling the dose of my medication, very effective.

Edit. You also have to wonder if it was such a wonderful drug why doctors don't prescribe it as a first line medication?

[Ingenious]

LOL - Two replies, one says fantastic, one says rubbish :) Just goes to show how different we all are!!

[FeatherHead]

Thanks Ingenious and eight days a week. Yes we are all different and I really hope it works for me. My doctor had never heard of it, but she took the time to check if it can be prescribed and unfortunately it can't. I've ordered it from Healthspan and the feedback for it on their website is mostly good, so wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes. I agree excersise is good, it's sometimes difficult finding the motivation to begin though.lol Hope the proper drugs are helping you Ingenoius, I may be on them myself soon.

[Ingenious]

Please do let us know how you get on, I'm very interested to know. It has to be worth a try if other people recommend it, as a last try before powerful medication.

[eight days a week]

Best of luck FH and I'd also love to hear how you get on :) In my experience I felt a positive effect within a few days.

Doctors will know little about it I'm sure (we don't have an 'integrated' model of medicine in this country; we have doctors on the one hand who deal with and mostly know only about pharmaceutical drugs, and complementary specialists who know about the other stuff). But if you have a decent independent health store locally please do pop in and ask their advice. Our local one has staff qualified in complementary medicine, nutrition etc :)


LOL - Two replies, one says fantastic, one says rubbish :) Just goes to show how different we all are!!

Absolutely! Plus some of the complementary medicines can be quite 'mild' in their effects compared to pharmaceuticals, and so may not be suitable for very serious or urgent problems (no idea myself if 5HTP is one of these, which is why I'd do further research and/or ask an expert).




Edit. You also have to wonder if it was such a wonderful drug why doctors don't prescribe it as a first line medication?

For the same reason my GP didn't ask me about diet or exercise before putting me on ADs I'd imagine. In all my time with my psychiatrists they've also spent almost zero time on the same topics. It's not really their business (except the very best, and for all of them it should be imo). And like it or not, healthcare is a 100s of billions of pounds a year business. One of the biggest in the world. And business dictates how it works.

I could write for hours on this subject, but will try not to :roflmao: Basically, pharmaceutical companies fund the research of new medicines and treatments, and their aim is to find profitable ones. Things that don't look profitable generally don't get researched.

You can't patent natural remedies or substances. So there's no profit in researching them for use as medicines. Hence the lack of studies on a lot of complementary medicine stuff. And our whole healthcare system is built from that profit incentive. Including what medical students learn about. And really, with a drug-based health system, there's enough for them to learn about just in that area (my GP knows little enough about even ADs imo, and he obviously prescribes them to loads of people).

I know WAY more about all sorts of health stuff than my GP. That's why it's important to look outside of conventional medicine if you can, even if your research doesn't turn up anything particularly helpful. Inform yourself, because the NHS certainly won't do it all for you!

You can test your own GP on this. Ask him or her what tryptophan is and see what they say! I bet they either won't have heard of it, will have heard of it but can't remember what it is, or will offer something but not the full, correct answer 'it's one of the essential amino acids for life'. If you don't get enough from food it can/will cause ill-health, including mental health problems, and if that's the case you can supplement it by taking 5-HTP.

(Sorry for going off-topic!)

[FeatherHead]

Thanks eight days for that long and passionate reply. This may have opened up a whole nuther can of worms lol. Whenever I go to the doctors I always walk in and tell them what's wrong me and what treatment I think I should have for it, makes it all so much easier for them, thing is if everyone els does this the docs will soon be totally brain dead and only needed to sign the prescriptions. It's no wonder we're all suffering health anxiety if we can't be sure anything will be done to help us if we get a really serious medical problem.
I will let you know how it goes with the 5htp, I'm actually looking forward to trying it and really hope it works so I won't need to go the docs again.

[eight days a week]

Sorry again FeatherHead!

I hope my post can mostly be ignored and the discussion can continue about 5-HTP :)

[ljd]

5HTP works for me helps me sleep and relax give it a go.

[xhyperyogix]

i've got LOADS of it. And Kava, and magnesuim, and kalms, and inositol, super b-vits, omega 3's, and st johns wort, sam-e.......... hmmm, my vit cabinet is burstly! and I'm still in a mess. i'm currently on a 'no supplement' phase to see what happens........

Basically over the last 20 years, nothibg has worked.....

Hope things have for others tho....

Love Hyper xx

[PanchoGoz]

I'm on vitimin B which has halped me feel balanced and keeps my energy regular throughout. With these natural things, I will say that it can be hard to tell if the effects on you are "placebo" or not. They often only make a slight difference - is it worth it?

[FeatherHead]

I'm not too bothered about it helping me sleep as I don't normally have a problem in that department 5htp will probably make me feel tired but if it helps with mood and emotions It'll be worth it. I'll just have to wait and see when it arrives. This particular brand also includes some B vitamin and zinc I think.
Hyper, I've also got a whole cuboard full of vitamins & supliments and I'm going to stop most of them, they are probably all clashing with each other and I can't afford them anymore anyway.
Glad it works for you Ljd, how much do you take? I'm thinking of starting on 50mg.

[xhyperyogix]

yeah feather - i stopped them all because i thought they may be clashing too. good luck with it xxxx

[FeatherHead]

Good luck to you too hyper x :unsure: x