Customer Reviews

Source Naturals 5-HTP, 50mg, 120 Capsules (Pack of 2)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I started using this product about 2 or 3 weeks ago at the recommendation of a weight loss book. I can't say that in this time its helped me lose any weight, but I can tell you that I feel so much better when it comes to handling and dealing with stress! Not sure if it is all in my head, or from the help of this pill but whatever it is, I'll continue to take.

I've submitted this review for other bottles of 5-HTP, for two reasons:

1. I think aspects of my review are important and I hope to help as many people as possible; and

2. I actually took several different brands of 5-HTP, so my reviews reflect that. Mostly. :)

I have taken 5-HTP for insomnia and depression. Well, to combat those things. ;) At first it was quite helpful to me and I found that my moods stabilised reasonably well. However, I did find that after a while it had a propensity to making me feel a little bit manic or just . . . weird. I was sort of hyper-aware, for want of a better way to explain it. When I eased off I was able to resume taking it again after a couple of weeks and I found that a regimen of three weeks on and two weeks off seemed to work best without generating any of the milder side-effects.

My main caution came about through a very dangerous experience, which I have fortunately learnt from and not repeated. I was first taking this several years ago and I had the foolish notion of "if a little is good, a lot is better". Basically, I was taking everything under the sun for mood enhancement--St. John's Wort, 5-HTP, fish oil, you name it. If it even vaguely hinted at any pick-me-up capabilities I was downing those pills. And, typically, I was exceeding the recommended doses. I mean, hey, I'd taken supplements for most of my life and safely exceeded the recommended dosages, why should this be any different? Well, it was. In the end I tripped some invisible trigger and developed serotonin syndrome. The only reason I actually knew what was happening was because I had gone to university and studied psych and this is something I picked up in my extra-curricular research on neurochemistry. You won't hear of it from 99% of doctors, although it is a genuine disorder. They just don't know of it. It is also invariably fatal, unless you realise what it going on and stop the medication/supplementation in time. Thankfully, I was able to cease and recover, though I have had lingering effects ever since, even though the supplements are by now long gone from my system. Things have not gone quite back to normal.

Anyway, that is my caution. 5-HTP works, but it should not be combined with other medication or supplementation without some serious research first. Stay safe!

This particular 5-HTP worked in only the most marginal way for me. Please note that I am merely describing my own experience with this brand and you may have a different experience with it. These tablets are 50 mg and other brands may have been a little more effective because they're 100 mg, although I tried two tablets at once.

I don't think price is a signal of quality - at least it didn't work that way in my experience.

It is rare for me to get REM sleep. I generally have a dreamless slumber from which I awaken drained. I've been taking 5-HTP for nearly 6 months now. Within days of starting it, I am able to get satisfying REM sleep consistently including a normal dreaming cycle. At first I am even more tired when I wake up, but once I catch up on my sleep I wake up more and more refreshed.

One word of caution: Taking too much can cause some strange results. Hyper-awareness, altered perceptions, etc. The correct dosage is different for everyone - it depends on how severe your seretonin deficit is to begin with. The first bottle I bought was 100mg. After I began experiencing the odd effects, I began cutting them in half. Now I stick with 50mg pills. No side effects ata all.

When my teenager developed a sleep disorder, I was looking for an alternative to the anti-depressants that the neurologist said was protocol. I looked all over the internet and finally found a site that looked legit. It recommended this vitamin 1-3 at night for sleep disorders with a B complex during the day and a anothere regimin for depression. The first ones I bought were expensive at the local pharmacy in a small quantity. Then I found these...more than twice the amount for the same price AND they worked even better. No more sleep disorder effects while taking them. We have run out or stopped them 4 times, because I thought my son was "cured" and the problem came right back. This shows me that these things work...and as far as I can find in my reading, no to minimal side effects, but none that we have seen.

This is good medicine. From the movie, "The Beautiful Truth" "Let medicine be your food and food be your medicine." Well you can't get good health without good rest. This stuff is great!