5-htp

[crillmom]

Has anyone used this amino acid in treating anxiety or moodiness. My son has it in his becalm'd in a small dose i was thinking of buying the supplement alone in a higher dose. Is it safe? has anyone used it? Right now he is taking 25mg. a day. I would like to increase it to 50

[~ free * spirit ~]

Hi Crillmom. I also had a low dose of the 5-HTP in the beCalmd. I have taken it as a supplement alone (only for about 2 weeks) at 100mg daily and it did not work out for me (but thats because I dont have low serotonin) How much does your son weigh? Maybe try increasing the 5-htp dosage by only 10mg weekly instead of jumping right to 50. There could be side effects such as headaches and sleepiness. 5-HTP is supposedly safe to use daily in dosages higher than 50. If your son needs serotonin (which it sounds like he does) than it should be fine. 50mg 5-HTP should be taken with 10mg B6 so it can work properly. It cannot be taken with anti depressants and you should not use other serotonin enhancing products while he's taking it.

The side effects I had while taking 5-HTP alone in larger doses were:
1. Headaches
2. Zoning Out
3. Moving very slowly
4. Sleepiness

[~ free * spirit ~]

Here's some info I just found:
www.chiroweb.com/find/tellmeabout/5htp.html

Most conditions take 50-100mg or a little bit more daily to be effective (adult doses) So depending on how big your son is 50mg should be fine.

depression.about.com/library/weekly/aa011199.htm

If you can talk to a doctor who is knowledgeable about supplements or even a nutritionalist that might be good.

[catatonic]

There is some fairly decent research indicating the success of 5-HTP in helping symptoms of depression. (5-HTP is an amino acid, a seratonin precursor). Be very careful, though. Too much will cause both liver and brain toxicity. In addition, impurities in HTP supplements have been proven to cause eosinophilic myalgia syndrome, which is fatal.

There have been no studies conducted that evaluate the safety of 5-HTP for pediatric use. For an adult, the normal dose is 50mg given from 1 to 3 times daily. (Maximum suggested adult dose of 150mg daily.)

Be very careful if you use 5-HTP. Amino acids in general are easy to misuse and generally it's safer and more successful to have medical guidance on this. Different forms of ADHD have different types of amino acid imbalances and giving the wrong one will make things worse.