Potential dangers of 5-HTP

[Rafterman]

So much has been written about 5-HTP over the decades. I know that there are numerous studies showing that it works as well as convention AD's for depression. The trick would be the have as much of it pass the blood brain barrier, and as little of it left behind in your blood, as possible. While it's the primary precursor to serotonin and will increase brain levels of serotonin exponentially, it can be deadly if it builds to too high a level in the blood. Upon ingestion, it will head to the brain, but along the way some is absorbed peripherally and enters the blood stream. I have seen double-blind studies (not sponsored by Big Pharma, like one might think) showing increased blood levels of 5-HTP causing increase blood levels of serotonin, leading to everything from coronary artery spasms (which can cause heart attacks in people with normal, healthy hearts) and sudden cardiac death (ventricular fibrillation). In Europe, many have experimented by taking other substances with it (such as vitamin b6, and the peripheral decarboxylase inhibitor "Carbidopa") to lessen the peripheral absorption rate. Not to be an alarmist, but please proceed with caution. I think that 5-HTP certainly works, but is not without risk.

[invisiblejungle]

Your concerns about 5-HTP are well-founded. Excess serotonin can be very dangerous, and I think people should try tryptophan before trying 5-HTP.

[Rafterman]

Your concerns about 5-HTP are well-founded. Excess serotonin can be very dangerous, and I think people should try tryptophan before trying 5-HTP.

Hey I-J,
I have read about 50 of your posts. It is amazing that you are a layman. If I didn't know that, I would have absolutely guessed Master's degree or higher. I would like to read all of your post's, but am not certain how to do that. When I click on your name, it tells me that I am not authorized to go further. Is there any way you know of that would let me read everything that you posted on here? (If you don't mind me doing so, of course) I love to get the take of someone as deeply versed in these topics as your are. Thanks.

[Rafterman]

Hi Rafterman,

That is how you access all of one's posts.  Pretty sure one needs to be a (Senior) Member.  You are at 50 posts but sometimes one's post are not all counted toward the 50.  Only posts in the 'On-Topic' areas of the forum count.

Also sometimes it takes a day or so for the full member status to kick in.  There are lots of threads on this topic. Let me look for one.

Here's a topic with lots of posts about hitting 50 but not getting into Member sections.

http://ioplist.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=3

Thanks Fire,
For some reason, I am already able to see everyone's complete collection of post's. I went and tried it, after giving the fact that I reached 50 post's a few hours to take hold. It's a nice feature to have available and I am happy that, for some reason, the system made it available to me already. Thank again for helping me out, as you are always willing to do. I appreciate it.

[invisiblejungle]

Hey I-J,
I have read about 50 of your posts. It is amazing that you are a layman. If I didn't know that, I would have absolutely guessed Master's degree or higher. I would like to read all of your post's, but am not certain how to do that. When I click on your name, it tells me that I am not authorized to go further. Is there any way you know of that would let me read everything that you posted on here? (If you don't mind me doing so, of course) I love to get the take of someone as deeply versed in these topics as your are. Thanks.

Oh Rafterman, thank you for the kind words. Yes, I'm a layman and never even finished my bachelor's. But I've been quite ill/disabled since age 23 (over 10 years now), and since I don't have a simple condition that's amenable to the cookbook medicine practiced by most physicians these days, I'm forced to learn on my own. I do feel grateful that despite my physical issues, my cognition is still fairly intact.

[MrFussbudget]

Hi invisiblejungle,

I'm curious to hear about your experience taking tryptophan.

~M

[Rafterman]

Hey I-J,
I have read about 50 of your posts. It is amazing that you are a layman. If I didn't know that, I would have absolutely guessed Master's degree or higher. I would like to read all of your post's, but am not certain how to do that. When I click on your name, it tells me that I am not authorized to go further. Is there any way you know of that would let me read everything that you posted on here? (If you don't mind me doing so, of course) I love to get the take of someone as deeply versed in these topics as your are. Thanks.

Oh Rafterman, thank you for the kind words. Yes, I'm a layman and never even finished my bachelor's. But I've been quite ill/disabled since age 23 (over 10 years now), and since I don't have a simple condition that's amenable to the cookbook medicine practiced by most physicians these days, I'm forced to learn on my own. I do feel grateful that despite my physical issues, my cognition is still fairly intact.

Wow, I-J, I am sorry to hear about your disability, but I totally get what you are saying about escaping with your powers of cognition intact. It's the same for me. I am also disabled and, in some ways, I feel mentally sharper now than when I was 'whole". We are all really blessed to live in an age when there is so much information at our fingertips. When I was in school, back in the 1960's, the only computers were probably at NASA and in laboratories and they were the size of entire room, lol.  Somehow people still became doctor's and lawyers and went into other fields that required an unbelievable amount of book learning. Yet, even then there were people who would be self-taught and be just as capable as the credentialed and licensed folk. When I was growing up, the dentist who we saw was self-taught. No schooling. No license. Same thing with our phlebotomist. These were people who studied their craft on their own and then practice made perfect. The fact that I grew up being treated by those people always gave me respect for what a person could learn on their own. In the same way that you could probably counsel professionally and be as good as those who have completed their schooling. It is so hard to find counselor's who have empathy, and also have the brainpower and the knowledge that they need at their disposal. Maybe you may even finish your degree someday and go into that career, if your disability allows it. That would be a wonderful thing.  Regards, RM