Has anyone tried 5HTP for insomnia, does it wo... - Thyroid UK
Has anyone tried 5HTP for insomnia, does it work and would it be safe to take with Levothyroxine...many thanks.
I take 5-HTP. It did help me with insomnia but the effect wasn't like a sleeping pill. I had to take it for about three weeks before I noticed a reduction in the time it took me to get to sleep. I actually took (and still take) the 5-HTP about an hour before bed to ease my depression and it worked for that quite effectively.
If you want help with getting to sleep I would suggest melatonin. It can only be bought online. I bought 3mg tablets of melatonin and found a whole pill didn't get me to sleep - it just gave me a dreadful headache instead. I found what worked for me was breaking the pills in to four bits and just taking one bit while I'm lying in bed, and just before I turn my light out. I can't take melatonin every night - I have to give it a break fairly frequently because it gives me headaches.
Having said that - some people can only sleep with 10mg pills and continue to take that for years with no problems. Everyone has to find out what works for them.
Sorry for being thick, but what us 5-HTP???? I am struggling terribly with insomnia and desperate for sleep. Thank you. 
I wrote a reply on another thread about 5-HTP a few days ago. I've copied it below :
"5-HTP is (in full) 5-Hydroxytryptophan. It is a supplement that can be bought in the UK and in many other countries around the world without a prescription. Holland & Barratt and GNC sell it on the high street, and it is available on Amazon, Ebay and from many online supplement sites.
It is made from a plant. It is usually sold in dosages of 50mg or 100mg. It increases levels of serotonin and melatonin in the body/brain. As a result many people find it helps with depression and sleeping. I usually take 50mg per day, but occasionally I will add an extra dose. I have read of some people taking far more than me - up to 350mg per day.
You can find loads of info about it around the web.
In the dosages that I use I have no side effects when I go on to 5-HTP and no withdrawal effects when I come off it. I will sometimes come off it during the summer and then go on it again when the clocks change in October.
I wouldn't be without it."
Thank you so much humanbean for the information, I much appreciate this. Is this insomnia part of thyroid issues or do you think just coincidence that many of us suffer?
I think in my own case my insomnia was caused by adrenal problems, more than thyroid issues, but I couldn't generalise and say this is true for everyone.
Hi, do you find that when you go off the tablets that you suffer from 'insomnia again? Because my only concern atm is that if I do start taking these tablets my serotine and melatonin levels will be used to being that high and when I come off, I would struggle with sleep again
I've struggled with insomnia since I was a child and I'm now nearly 60. I think my problems all stem from excessive production of cortisol. If I could fix those and keep them fixed then I think my insomnia would disappear.
If you were to take 5-HTP and it helped you (it doesn't help everyone), but never found the underlying cause of your insomnia then you would probably be back to square one again if you came off it. But if you used the time you were on the 5-HTP to work on other problems like optimising your thyroid meds, your nutrients, your adrenals, and your diet, then if/when you came off the 5-HTP you might find your insomnia was less bad or had gone away. There are simply no guarantees, sorry.
Thanks for your info I will definite try this. I went to visit Dr Skinner (god bless him) and I increased my levo from 100 to 175, huge difference in my well being, however I'm back to having insomnia again and I tend to eventually sleep every third night...I'm fit for nothing. Strangely when I go away and that's quite often I sleep perfectly well, then I get home and the insomnia starts again. Tempted to increase my dose of levo again but reluctant as my TSH is extremely low. Perhaps I'll try the 5HTP for now, on e again thanks.
Ok I'm probably a little biased (I'm a clinical hypnotherapist) but the medical answers are not always the best or appropriate for everyone. If you could learn to relax at bed time using a relaxation recording or learn some self hypno - it gives your own receptors the chance to take away the chemicals that are keeping you awake.
I don't often have a problem sleeping, but Gregorian Chant really helps me when I do.
Oh good to hear Harry - I use Native American flute music as a background to a relaxation CD I recorded - now I just have to hear the music and it does it for me lol
i love it, I almost wish it didn't help me sleep so I could just listen to it, but it does! I think it's about the fact that I can't understand the words. If i listen to music with English words, I end up following the words, if not singing along! 
Inside Health on Radio4 the other day had a section on use of CBT for insomnia.
One claim was that most medicines, having been used for a year, end the patient pretty much back where they started.
Rod
Hi Rod - I'm not a great fan of CBT. Its the pick of the day for the NHS but theres growing evidence that its no more effective than any other talking therapy and in fact many people initially helped by it are back in therapy 12-18 months later. In keeping with NHS ethos it provides strategies rather than tackling the root problem.
I purposely made no comment either way, because I know nothing of the reality of CBT.
It is interesting to read your comment. Makes me wonder what will happen with this approach over time.
My own take is that getting to the right level of thyroid hormone, and (in my case, at least) taking it at bed-time has improved my sleep considerably. To the point where I no longer even think about it. (With the very odd night where it isn't so good - but isn't that the case for most people?)
Rod
I have been a psychotherapist for 13 years and hold a diploma in clinical hypnotherapy too. I'm integrative in my approach - tapping in to several models best suited to client needs. I have only found CBT to be helpful alongside other methods. Unfortunately since its profile has been raised I find clients coming to me asking for CBT as though its the panacea for emotional health.
Having been in psychotherapy myself, I am worried by the NHS move towards CBT. In my opinion it is being touted as a cure all because it is fairly short term, and therefore cheap. Long term therapy is the only way for certain problems, and I mean years in some cases, and the NHS simply isn't able/prepared to do that. All I was ever offered was anti depressants, which have a place as a support mechanism, but all my therapy I've had to fund myself.
And here we go again with thyroid treatment!! Makes you wonder, don't it 
...you're so right there! The bouts of depression I've had throughout my life I can see now were thyroid related - when all the other symptoms were also more evident yet undiagnosed. How much money could be saved by just treating the condition sufficiently :/
Interesting to hear your comments. Well another terrible night listening to soothing music to no avail. Decided I will increase my levo now from 175 to 200 and I have now ordered 5HTP. Wouldn't even contemplate visiting my GP...how miserable.
Hi elspeh! I take 5-HTP (100mg at night) and it's been brilliant for me. I had chronic insomnia before - tried melatonin which did absolutely nothing, tried all the relaxation stuff, etc, but was just being driven stir-crazy by not being able to sleep. 5-HTP has been wonderful. It gives me a "natural" kind of sleep. I'm still a very light sleeper - I reckon a pin dropping would wake me up - and I still have periods of "thrashing about" some nights, but it's still helped me feel much better than I was.
I'm not on any thyroid meds though (new to this, and my doc is useless) so I can't comment about whether 5-HTP is OK to take with those or not.
Many thanks Caroline...thanks for taking the time to reply..how encouraging, can't wait for it to arrive. Fingers crossed for tonight, I find very often by the third night I tend to have a little more sleep. X
Hi Caroline...thanks for taking the time to reply. That sounds like brilliant news and I hope it works for me too. Can't wait for it to arrive. Let's see what happens tonight. Spent two hours listening to soothing music last night but did nothing for me. Got to sleep at gone 4.00 and was awake at 7.00am? Thank god I don't go to work, don't know how people manage. X
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