I have just started using 50 mgs 5HTP at bedtime for insomnia,low mood & anxiety.It is helping already,alongside taurine & theanine.( I am on T3-only)
I have read many posts on here from folk who have found it helpful.Now I have come across a post saying it is not good for Hashi's.
Does anyone have any information on this?
Do you have a link to that post? If you are feeling better, trust your body, I would say.
Sorry don't know how to do links.If yoo tap in "Serine recommendation" posted 3 years ago by Giagal & read the responses yo will see the reference to 5HTP & Hashi's.Or tap in "5HTP & Hashimoto's"sorry for spelling yoo,the letter yoo has sddenly stck
A few thoughts here.
5HTP should not be the first thing to try for sleep. Should be one of the last. Could lead to serotonin syndrome without close monitoring. I was on it a month and my 5-HIAA went up so high my doc thought I might have a carcinoid tumor. I didn't. Going off it normalized my labs.
Next, low mood and anxiety. How's your gut health? A large proportion of neurotransmitters are made in your gut. Are you on a gluten free diet? Maybe dairy free, too? And low sugar? Do you have candida or an intestinal parasite or bacterial imbalance causing poor digestion and nutrient deficiencies? What are your levels of folate and B12, which can greatly impact mood? Other Bs? Vitamin D, ammonia, glutathione?
While you're looking into the above, for sleep, how's your progesterone level? I've seen many 35 and over women start taking Prometrium, a bioidentical progesterone before bed and start sleeping well.
If that's not it, here's what I'd try, adding one at a time, in this order, 30 min before bed...
Magnesium glycinate, citrate, orotate, or taurate - up to 800Mg or bowel tolerance
Melatonin start at 1, up to 3-6
Glycine 1-2g
Taurine 1-2g
P5P (B6) 30-150mg
Seriphos 1g
Theanine 100-400mg
Pregenenolone 10-150mg
They all work great with Hashimotos, trust me. 😉
This all said, I'm not a doctor, just an experienced patient, so if you want medical advice, be sure to consult your doctor.
Good luck!
many thanks for your response.I will attend to researching all of these.
I was trying 5HTP for depression following an episode of acute anxiety.Waking up throughout the night started at the same time.I will be testing for cortisol & low progesterone.
I supplement with magnesium biglycinate,taurine,theanine,P-5-P.Will up the taurine.
So you have not seen reference to melatonin being contraindicated in Hashi's?
I am GF,but am beginning to think I need to be dairy-free,too.
I was on as much as 30mg a night for 18 months while going through cancer treatment due to its anticancer properties, with no problem, under the supervision of 2 excellent doctors who are up on all the research and well aware of my Hashimotos.
Eventually, we cut back to 3mg as I am cancer free and the high dose began to make me sleepy during the daytime.
There's a lot of cross reactivity with milk in gluten sensitive people, so a good thing to try going dairy free too.
I've found that changing when I take various supplements has made a difference in my sleep , especially nighttime waking.
Also, for me, I went from 180mg to 400mg of P5P under doctor supervision, which I know sounds alarmingly high, but my body seems to need it, and it has made a big difference in the quality of my sleep. So, it's important to find what your body needs of the various supplements.
All the best to you...
5HTP should not be the first thing to try for sleep. Should be one of the last. Could lead to serotonin syndrome without close monitoring. I was on it a month and my 5-HIAA went up so high my doc thought I might have a carcinoid tumor. I didn't. Going off it normalized my labs.
Learner1, SSRIs and some pain killers might lead to serotonin syndrome as well, but it doesn't stop doctors from prescribing them.
Obviously you had a bad reaction to it so it didn't help you. But Naomi is already getting benefits from it so why try and put her off it and tell her to take 8 different things instead?
If you go and look for reviews of 5-HTP products on Amazon there are literally thousands of them, and the vast majority are positive. So, in my view, it is well worth trying, and not as a last resort.
I didn't have a bad reaction. It actually helped, but my doctors were concerned about the risks - I'm passing on the concerns of 2 expert doctors. They advised some of the other items on the list.
5HTP is too easily taken by too many people, and there is cause for concern. I take a lot of supplements and have learned some are safer than others. Serotonin solutions carry some risk.
The list I gave goes from safer to more risky.
I've been taking 5-HTP for nearly 6 years now. It made my treatment-resistant depression decrease dramatically.
I wonder if the doctors you see are concerned about the side-effects of SSRIs? Do they do blood tests to check for the drugs having an effect? I suspect not. SSRIs have dozens of side-effects, including massively increasing the risks of someone committing murder or suicide. I've never heard that said about 5-HTP.
The problem with 5-HTP is that it can't be patented. It comes from a plant. Doctors are probably as brainwashed about 5-HTP as they are about T3. It doesn't make pharmaceutical companies any money. So doctors discourage its use.
I accept that it isn't suitable for everyone. But if it helps then people should give it a fair chance.
And what does "5-HTP is too easily taken by too many people" actually mean? Are you an advocate of "Doctor always knows best even when he's wrong" by any chance?
The 5-HIAA test you had done is also offered on the NHS. And it specifically states that 5-HTP should not be taken for three days before the test :
Foods such as avocados, bananas, pineapples, plums, walnuts, tomatoes, kiwi fruit, aubergine and health food supplements containing 5-hydroxytrytophen can increase 5-HIAA and should be avoided for three days prior to and during urine collection.
labtestsonline.org.uk/under...
Did you give up 5-HTP for three days before getting 5-HIAA measured?
Yes, I was off it. Doctor told me to get off it, then tested a week later.
90% of serotonin is made in the gut. Leaky gut can cause serotonin deficiency, which is why SSRIs can poop out after awhile, no serotonin left to keep in the synapse.
Leaky gut can also cause other deficiencies, like B12, folate, B6, B2, B3, inositol, zinc, magnesium, and lipids, all of which can cause treatment resistant depression. Food allergies can contribute.
So, unless someone has a known serotonin deficiency, as you point out the value of lab testing, 5HTP shouldn't be the place to start, or it could lead to unintended consequences.
Patrick Holford in London is a good resource in the UK.
Just because something has worked well for thousands of others doesn't mean it will work for everyone. There are risks involved, even death, with uneducated use of supplements. (Too much of anything can be bad... take water, for example!)
We live in a climate where there are regular articles in major newspapers and magazines warning people off supplements altogether, and the US FDA and other regulatory bodies are happily recording adverse events while large pharmaceutical companies are rubbing their hands with glee trying to patent whatever they can and block access to supplements. For example, the FDA banned pyridoxamine in 2008 in response to a petition from a drug company that wanted to use it in their own drug formulation.
And occasionally, supplements are banned altogether.
In particular, 5-HTP is related to L-tryptophan, which has quite a history:
supplements-and-health.com/...
My health is fragile, and my body depends on access to high quality supplements that are carefully selected by my doctors and me. I have had unexpected effects on occasion, due to my genetics, environmental effects, and occasional problems with the supplements themselves. I have experienced powerful effects from taking them, in oral and IV form. They are to be respected and used prudently.
So, I think a warning about a risk is indicated. People taking things willy-nilly based on recommendations from the Internet without careful thought can put them into a dangerous situation. Careful consideration of symptoms, related labwork, and other factors, like existing toxicity or what other supplements are being taken in combination are warranted. And careful observation of any new symptoms that arise should be made and investigated.
The last thing I want to see is something I need pulled off the market because someone has been careless because of something they read somewhere on the Internet, and then had something awful happen to them, which ruins it for everyone else.
I do appreciate where you're coming from, and glad 5-HTP is working well for you. But, it is NOT for everyone.
Thank you for the respectful discussion on a topic with different points of view.
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