Talk:5-Hydroxytryptophan

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Personal Experience

Call it original research if you like, but I know from personal experience that this drug is DANGEROUS. It caused me extreme serotonin syndrome to the point an MRI gave me the extreme apprehension that my head was about to be shredded off. That does not even mention catatonia I had. Not even that, I was dosed four times the normal dose of Haldol for my weight. If you really want to know with happened to me, look into Samsara (a "sea of suffering"). Please do not do this drug - EVER.

Possible risks or side effects

Changed unsupported conclusion in 3rd para of this section from, "5-HTP can cause hypertension by increasing plasma renin activity", to "5-HTP was found to increase plasma renin activity in rats". The cited article specifically says, "At the doses used, serotonin decreased mean blood pressure and colonic temperature of unanesthetized rats while 5-HTP was without effect. The increase in PRA induced by 5-HTP does not appear, therefore, to be a response to either hypotension or a decrease in colonic temperature." And yes, you can have increased PRA without hypertension, and there is no indication that 5-HTP causes hypertension. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Relavation (talk • contribs) 18:40, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

There appears to be some dispute about side effects. Someone edited the section, adding a few words to imply the opposite intent from the original author, but the result was confusing ('despite' no longer made sense in context) and several sentences are contradicted each other. The cited documents are behind a paywall, so it is difficult to confirm, but the summary of the cited articles suggest that there are not side effects. If someone disagrees with this conclusion, please take a little time to:

1. Edit the entire section so it is internally consistent and grammatically correct.
2. Cite new references if necessary. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jebbidiah (talk • contribs) 04:57, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

Future editors please check the validity of any claims regarding the side effects of 5-HTP. It appears that some individuals are desperate to attribute side effects and risks to 5-HTP. I found the section contained far-fetched speculations unsupported by the papers they referenced. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.235.108.126 (talk) 11:41, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

I couldn't find vivid dreams and nightmares in the linked source. It was added with the following edit without sufficient (to me, at least) explanation.
20:49, 18 December 2015‎ Rjwilmsi (talk | contribs)‎ m . . (18,758 bytes) (+39)‎ . . (→‎Uses: Journal cites, Added 1 doi to a journal cite using AWB (11757)) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.5.2.215 (talk)

MDMA/Ecstasy users and 5-HTP

I was surprised to see this article didn't mention the popularity of 5-HTP in supposedly helping MDMA users 'restock' their Serotonin after dosing with MDMA.

It's a very popular practice among this crowd that's well documented as occurring, even if they're may not be good supporting evidence to show that 5-HTP really works in alleviating post-MDMA dysphoria. I think it should be included in the article to document the practice. If anyone comes about any real sources, perhaps this article could also clarify whether 5-HTP is actually effective in assisting MDMA users to more quickly regain their serotonin again or not.Spudst3r (talk) 01:05, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I totally agree. Just finished reading this article... I think we could integrate a paragraph into the "Therapeutic Uses" section. [MDMA and Antioxidants] Is it Protagoras? (talk) 17:40, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Overstating the bad while trying to ignore the good.

Every time I've checked this article over the years, there's always some part of it that reads like -- and pardon the "conspiracy theory" -- but it reads like the pharmaceutical is determined to get the stuff banned so as not to interfere with their lucrative SSRI industry. Take the following sentence for example:

However, it is noteworthy that many published reports of serious side effects exist, despite that 5-HTP is freely available as a nutraceutical.

I can't be the only person who thinks the sentence reads like someone changed "not many" to "many," given the "despite" later in the sentence. ...and it goes on...

This could indicate that serious side effects are not unheard of with 5-HTP, at least in moderate doses.

Yes, yes, same is true for anything that isn't a placebo, if by "moderate" you mean "large enough to cause problems." You can say the same thing about Tylenol or Ibuprofen.

On the other hand, acute moderate gastrointestinal effects, such as diarrhea and vomiting, are common upon administration of 5-HTP, probably due to rapid formation of serotonin in the upper intestinal tract.

"Common?" Really? Look, I know people on Wikipedia aren't all that into anecdotal examples, but I've taken a lot of 5-HTP, and never experienced vomiting except once when I took 800 mg of the stuff. Granted, that was the worst vomiting of my life, but then I did take a crazy amount of the stuff. Meanwhile, 400 mg just leaves me feeling like I've taken too much. As such, I find it incredibly difficult to believe that the usual recommended doses of 25 to 100 mg are sufficient to make diarrhea and vomiting "common."

I'm also quite amused that, rather than claiming (as the article previously claimed last time I saw it) that 5-HTP may lead to serotonin syndrome, we now claim that any ill effects are simply due to serotonin in the intestines. I guess the previous scare-mongering was insufficient as it implied that 5-HTP was actually effective at producing serotonin, implying that at the correct dose, it might actually be useful.

Also, the "possible yet unproven risks" seem far to prominent, as if everything that might be true deserves a mention. Hey, I know! How about on the page about the Presidency of the United States we mention that we have "direct and indirect evidence for possible yet unproven risks" like pneumonia, cholera, cerebral hemorrhage, or assassination. I mean, four presidents have died of assassination and two have died of pneumonia while in office, and that sounds like "direct evidence of a possible risk" to me. Indeed, if we include "indirect evidence of unproven risks" we can probably make it sound like no one should ever want to become president. Indeed, for the safety of everyone, being president of the United States should probably be outlawed.

I'm not saying that the page shouldn't mention anything bad about 5-HTP, but when "several countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom, are currently proposing a law" it's probably a good idea to remember that Wikipedia is considered to be the truth by many. How many politicians do you think, in considering legislation about 5-HTP, will read this article? How many do you think will fail to notice the paragraph about 5-HTP's benefits among the rest of the article about 5-HTP's "possible" risks and side-effects? How many do you think will even consider that anything which isn't a placebo is going to have the potential to do harm? There isn't an over-the-counter medication in existence that won't kill someone if they take too much of it -- why should 5-HTP be any different?

Wikipedia's "truth" can be a real trend-setter. I noticed last year that many web sites claim that the existence of Upper airway resistance syndrome is much in debate in the medical community, yet I could find no evidence of this outside of Wikipedia saying the same thing at the very beginning of the article. I read a lot of what I could find in PubMed, yet of what I could find, there seemed to be no question about the existence of the syndrome. As best I could guess, the many web sites which were saying this were simply getting the information from Wikipedia. So I commented on the talk page, directly questioning a few claims, and providing references to back up my opinions. That was 13 months ago. I suppose it's time I go over there and just make the article say whatever I want it to say, as apparently no one is paying attention to it. The only edit since my comments are from a bot playing with the references.

Anyway, if we're going to mention every little thing that happens to a few of the millions of people who use 5-HTP, we should probably include an appropriate amount of weight for the lack of ill effects it causes for the remaining vast majority of those people. This article, in claiming absurdities like that 5-HTP commonly causes vomiting and diarrhea, fails to even come close to representing the truth about 5-HTP, something which is widely available and fails to cause problems for the vast majority of people who use it. The only thing it "commonly" does is cause upset stomach if not consumed with food, but then a lot of medications are like that, and if you do forget to take it with food, you just eat something or just wait a while and then you feel better.

Also, the article can't seem to say anything good about 5-HTP without following it up with "...but, for all we know, that isn't really true." Even half of the "therapeutic use" section basically says "Oh, BTW, did you know it's no good for treating headaches? Also, there's this one study that determined that there's almost no good studies about 5-HTP, except for two, which, despite giving significant positive results, we'll just say they're not good enough either. ...and, I mean, why should anyone care anyway when there are already so many fine antidepressants to choose from?" Why don't we add "just check out my company's brochure?" to the end of that? We might also mention that it totally fails to cure cancer. That will really help to make it seem pointless, which when combined with how we know that everyone who consumes it ends up vomiting, will provide all the convincing anyone needs to outlaw it.

Even so, I imagine no one intended to turn the article into this. Those drug companies are probably doing just fine giving free samples to doctors and don't need to outlaw anything. Just the result of a bunch of small edits without anyone looking at the big picture, I imagine. -- Philip Jacob Smith (talk) 14:42, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

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Clarification

"A 2020 meta-analysis found oral 5-HTP supplementation had a large effect size on depression symptom severity."

"large effect"? Positive or negative? Use of "size" is unnecessary, an artifact of translation. Read sentence without it. 98.144.238.191 (talk) 10:19, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

OTC Sale of 5-HTP

5-HTP cannot be sold OTC in the US, as "an antidepressant, appetite suppressant, and sleep aid". FDA only allows sale as a "dietary supplement" without claims of treatment for any disease or condition. 98.144.238.191 (talk) 10:45, 8 October 2021 (UTC)