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5-HTP only works temporarily

Gavman

Senior Member
Messages
316
Location
Sydney
There is evidence of the overmethylators having a hard time with SSRIs, from Pfeiffer and Walsh - where B12 and folic acid are used to help regulate it.
Are there more symptoms that you have? Seems like the harder things like bipolar, schizophrenia, hallucinating etc. can fall under this category too.
 

Dufresne

almost there...
Messages
1,039
Location
Laurentians, Quebec
Myers cocktail can be done IM??

I believe it can be. Here's the list of ingredients, taken from wikipedia.


Magnesium chloride hexahydrate 20% 2-5 mL
Calcium gluconate 10% 1-3 mL
Hydroxocobalamin 1,000 mcg/mL 1 mL
Pyridoxine hydrochloride 100 mg/mL 1 mL
Dexpanthenol 250 mg/mL 1 mL
B complex 100 1 mL
Vitamin C 222 mg/mL 4-20 mL

Here's an excerpt from http://www.drceaser.com/therapies/myers’-cocktail-intravenous-push

Magnesium, along with calcium, vitamin C and B vitamins given IV or IM showed improvement in 74% of sufferers of fibromyalgia and myofacial pain.

I specified IM because I seem to recall this form being offered online and it wasn't ridiculously priced. Though this was several years ago and I'm sorry I don't remember the site.
 

ramakentesh

Senior Member
Messages
534
tolerance is a problem i often face with all meds and supplements. its likke my body does everything it can to get itself back to feeling cruddy LOL
 

Pea

Senior Member
Messages
124
Hixxy, I recently read that taking some green tea around the time you take the 5-HTP (or Mucuna) helps get it into the brain instead of going to the gut right away.

I have been taking 5-HTP successfully for almost 2 years, and coincidentally also take a green/white/black tea pill in the morning, although that is for weight loss.

I did also read that even though B6 is needed, to not take the B6 at the same time as 5-HTP, as others have mentioned.
 

richvank

Senior Member
Messages
2,732
Hi, hixxy.

Perhaps you would have better results from working on lifting the partial methylation cycle block. This partial block affects both the synthesis and the metabolism (breakdown) of several neurotransmitters, and the balance between these two aspects, as well as the balance between different neurotransmitters, is important.

Best regards,

Rich
 

ramakentesh

Senior Member
Messages
534
I also wonder how the cerebral abnormalities found in CFS such as ventricular lactate levels, etc effect responses to neurotransmitters and precursor metabolism/catabolism.
 

xks201

Senior Member
Messages
740
I get the same problem with ssris and 5 htp. I can only hope that oding on active b12 and metafolin will fix it. I think mu problem is low dopamine because any form of serotonin just knocks me out.
 

hixxy

Senior Member
Messages
1,229
Location
Australia
It's unfortunate bh4 supplements aren't more readily available. Could possible be a short term solution while you work on fixing methylation to the point where it can maintain normal bh4 levels on it's own.

hixxy
 

nanonug

Senior Member
Messages
1,709
Location
Virginia, USA
It's unfortunate bh4 supplements aren't more readily available.

OK, this is when I interject and say that "overdosing" on methylfolate is one way to increase BH4. If one then adds a significant amount of vitamin C, then that will help recycle BH3 (oxidised BH4) back into BH4.
 

hixxy

Senior Member
Messages
1,229
Location
Australia
methylfolate gives me major problems at far lower then "overdosing" dosages. There are no one size fits all treatments nanonug.

I fit my homozygous COMT mutations(2) perfectly symptom wise, so I have no doubt of their significance. So bombing myself with methyl donors is not very nice for me.

Also, I'm currently taking 1000mg of magnesium just to keep up with the cruppling magnesium deficiency methylfolate was inducing and this is at only 200mcg 3 times a day!!

hixxy
hixxy
 

nanonug

Senior Member
Messages
1,709
Location
Virginia, USA
methylfolate gives me major problems at far lower then "overdosing" dosages. There are no one size fits all treatments nanonug. I fit my homozygous COMT mutations(2) perfectly symptom wise, so I have no doubt of their significance. So bombing myself with methyl donors is not very nice for me. Also, I'm currently taking 1000mg of magnesium just to keep up with the cruppling magnesium deficiency methylfolate was inducing and this is at only 200mcg 3 times a day!!

The thing with "overdosing" on methylfolate is that you are going to force the MTHFR enzyme to work in reverse, essentially converting a bunch of methyltetrahydrofolate into methylenetetrahydrofolate. In the process, BH2 also gets recycled back into BH4. If you don't take methylcobalamin at the same time as this "overdose" of methylfolate, the methionine synthase enzyme won't be able to do much. In addition, take a good amount of methionine at the same time to cause reaction product inhibition of this enzyme.

EDIT: Whoops! I was so focused on inhibiting the conversion of methylfolate by methionine synthase that I forgot that adding methionine will increase methylation!

By the way, have you tried SAMe? Does it also cause you problems? It should but I am curious, anyway.
 

heyitisjustin

Senior Member
Messages
162
Hixxy, I recently read that taking some green tea around the time you take the 5-HTP (or Mucuna) helps get it into the brain instead of going to the gut right away.

I have been taking 5-HTP successfully for almost 2 years, and coincidentally also take a green/white/black tea pill in the morning, although that is for weight loss.

I did also read that even though B6 is needed, to not take the B6 at the same time as 5-HTP, as others have mentioned.
This is because the EGCG in the tea deactivates the l amino acid decarboxylase enzyme that converts 5HTP to serotonin peripherally