SJW or 5-HTP - what to take? by Martina (+3 replies) [Archive]

Kelly

19th February, 2006, 04:36 AM

Topic Title: what to take? - March 27, 2002
<table width=100% cellspacing="1" cellpadding="5" border="0"><tr> <td width="26%" bgcolor=#dddedd valign=top> <table width=100% cellspacing=0 cellpading=0 border=0><tr valign=top><td align=left>
martina <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/faces/PeterPuppy.gif" border="1" width="32" height ="32" ></td><td align=right> </td></tr></table></td><td width="74%" bgcolor=#dddedd> <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/icons/sad.gif"> "what to take?" , Wed 27 Mar 13:38<HR SIZE=1> I've been in and out of depression for about 12 years. I tried prozac about a year ago and it was a miracle! I felt so much better and saw my real self coming out for the first time in so long. After three months I felt I was cured and stopped taking it. I felt fine until recently a few small things have gotten me down again. I've been down for about a month and a half now and i'm thinking of taking something more natural. I've been reading about SJW, SAMe and 5-HTP. Which one should I take? I feel this may have to be long term so I'm not sure if 5HTP has any side-effects after a while.

<HR SIZE=1>Posts: 2 | | Registered: Wed 27 Mar 2002 12:58</td></tr></table> </TD></TR><TR><TD bgcolor=></TD></TR><TR><TD bgcolor= >
<table width=100% cellspacing="1" cellpadding="5" border="0"><tr> <td width="26%" bgcolor=#eeeeee valign=top> <table width=100% cellspacing=0 cellpading=0 border=0><tr valign=top><td align=left> Epyx <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/faces/Sonic.gif" border="1" width="32" height ="32" ></td><td align=right> Home Page <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/home-1.gif" border=0> </td></tr></table></td><td width="74%" bgcolor=#dddedd> <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/icons/posticon.gif"> "Re(1):what to take?" , Thu 28 Mar 14:32<HR SIZE=1> Martina, most people recommend starting on SJW, and there's lots of good reasons for that: it's well-studied, cheap, tolerated well, low side-effect profile etc. Since you had a positive result from an SSRI (Prozac), you could consider jumping straight to 5-HTP. 5-HTP is the direct precursor of serotonin, and since you had a beneficial result from a serotonin therapy before, it would be logical to try it. SAM-e is also promising, but it's outrageous pricing puts it out of many people's reach. It is well-supported in clinical studies, but most of those used an injectable form so the results aren't necessarily transferrable to the oral form we buy in the shops. I don't mean to sound like it's no good, quite the opposite in fact; I just think SJW and 5-HTP would be my first choices. I hope you have success with whatver you choose to take. As you probably already know, you need to allow 4-6 weeks for any of these to show positive effects. Epyx
<HR SIZE=1>Posts: 111 | | Registered: Mon 3 Dec 2001 22:11</td></tr></table>
<table width=100% cellspacing="1" cellpadding="5" border="0"><tr> <td bgcolor="" width="6%"> </td><td width="20%" bgcolor=#dddedd valign=top> <table width=100% cellspacing=0 cellpading=0 border=0><tr valign=top><td align=left>
martina <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/faces/PeterPuppy.gif" border="1" width="32" height ="32" ></td><td align=right> </td></tr></table></td><td width="74%" bgcolor=#eeeeee> <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/icons/faq-1.gif"> "Re(2):what to take?" , Thu 28 Mar 14:35<HR SIZE=1> Thank you very much for your advice! What about the negative reports on the contaminants in 5HTP? Do you know of any reports or studies that show it is safe?

<HR SIZE=1>Posts: 5 | | Registered: Wed 27 Mar 2002 12:58</td></tr></table>
<table width=100% cellspacing="1" cellpadding="5" border="0"><tr> <td bgcolor="" width="10%"> </td><td width="16%" bgcolor=#dddedd valign=top> <table width=100% cellspacing=0 cellpading=0 border=0><tr valign=top><td align=left> Epyx <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/faces/Sonic.gif" border="1" width="32" height ="32" ></td><td align=right> Home Page <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/home-1.gif" border=0> </td></tr></table></td><td width="74%" bgcolor=#dddedd> <IMG SRC="http://www.sjwinfo.org/forums/graphics/icons/posticon.gif"> "Re(3):what to take?" , Thu 28 Mar 14:50<HR SIZE=1> I'm very skeptical of negative reports about effective herbals in general. There's a lot of animosity between those who favour pharmaceuticals and those who favour natural therapies, and a lot of medical journals seem to be predisposed to running disparaging stories about herbals, usually based on a handful of anecdotes ... or even just one anecdote! But I digress. The scare about contaminants in 5-HTP is based on a single letter written by Mayo Clinic researchers to a journal (notice a pattern yet?). They detected a trace chemical which many years ago was implicated in the scandal surrounding L-tryptophan. Of course, it's a crock of s**t. The L-tryptophan contamination of 1989 was caused by simultaneous changes in production and filtration methods at a single supplier. 5-HTP is extracted from a plant seed and so it's virtually impossible for amplified contamination to occur. Epyx
<HR SIZE=1>Posts: 113 | | Registered: Mon 3 Dec 2001 22:11</td></tr></table>
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