Select a community
All Communities
Home > Community Treatment Reports > 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) Treatment Report

See More Treatments

See all treatments in the PatientsLikeMe system shared by patients just like you.


5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) Treatment Report

Brand Names: NSI 5-HTP

What is 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)? 5-Hydroxytryptophan or 5-HTP is a naturally-occurring amino acid marketed in the United States and other countries as a dietary supplement for use as an antidepressant, appetite suppressant, and sleep aid.

See more information, including instructions, precautions, side effects, and interactions.


Reasons taken

66 patients in the community are taking or have taken 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP).

Top 10 (Show all)

Reason # Patients Percentage of patients
Other 11 16%
Treat my mood condition(s) 10 15%
Depression 5 7%
Slow my ALS progress 4 6%
Mood 3 4%
General health 3 4%
disease-related symptoms 2 3%
Anxiety 2 3%
Fibromyalgia 2 3%
Difficulty sleeping through night 2 3%
Cognition 1 1%
Constipation 1 1%
Serotonin levels 1 1%
Irritability 1 1%
Stress 1 1%
Calming-Insomnia 1 1%

Other treatments patients are taking for Other include Walking Stick/Cane, MRI, and Levothyroxine.

Dosages

Based on the patients currently taking 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP).

Top 10 (Show all)

All (Show top 10)

  100mg as needed daily 2 daily 14 mg daily 300 mg weekly 50 mg daily 60 mg daily 100 daily 100 mg daily 150 mg daily 200 mg daily 300 mg daily 650 mg daily
  1 Number of Patients: 1 1 Number of Patients: 1 1 Number of Patients: 1 1 Number of Patients: 1 1 Number of Patients: 1 10 Number of Patients: 10 1 Number of Patients: 1 1 Number of Patients: 1 11 Number of Patients: 11 3 Number of Patients: 3 9 Number of Patients: 9 4 Number of Patients: 4 1 Number of Patients: 1  

Duration

How long current patients have been taking 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) or how long patients were taking 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) before stopping.

Currently Taking 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)

0-1 month 1-3 months 3-6 months 6 months-1year 1-2 years 2 years or more
0
2
5
7
5
4

Stopped Taking 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)

0-1 month 1-3 months 3-6 months 6 months-1year 1-2 years 2 years or more
6
5
4
3
2
1
Why Patients Stopped Taking 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) (multiple reasons could be selected)
Reason # Patients Percentage of patients
Did not seem to work 8 36% Did not seem to work: 36%
Other 5 23% Other: 23%
Expense 4 18% Expense: 18%
Course of treatment ended 3 14% Course of treatment ended: 14%
Not indicated 2 9% Not indicated: 9%
Personal research 2 9% Personal research: 9%
Side effects too severe 2 9% Side effects too severe: 9%
Doctor's advice 1 5% Doctor's advice: 5%

Patient Reported Evaluations

Results from 7 patient evaluations. See the overall results and all individual evaluations.

Efficacy (Effect based on reason taken)

Moderate 33% 1
Slight 33% 1
None 33% 1

Treat my mood condition(s)

Side-effects (as an overall problem)

Severe 0% 0
Moderate 14% 1
Mild 14% 1
None 71% 5

Top reported side-effects include: Fatigue, chills, Sinus headache

Summary results are based on 7 individual responses. For more information, see overall results for Adherence, Burden and Cost.

Individual Patient Reported Evaluations (2 of 7)

  • young-and-poz
    Sex: M
    Mental Symptoms: mild
    Physical Symptoms: none
    Advanced Symptoms/Infections/Cancers: none
    633
    VL < 50
  • young-and-poz
  • by young-and-poz
    Aug 21, 2008
  • EfficacySlight
  • Side-effectsNone
  • Depression
Advice/Tips
If you're trying to avoid prescriptions, or you just need a short-term "boost," 5-HTP is really helpful. (Side tip: not that I'm advocating the use of illegal substances, but the "crash" that follows Ecstasy use can be highly alleviated through the use of this supplement.)

  • FlipFlop
    Sex: F
    Depression: 1
    Emotional: 2
    Compulsion: 1
    Anxiety: 1
    Mania: 0
    Physical: 1
    External Stress: Severe
    32 F
    Function: Moderate
    Distress: Low
  • by FlipFlop
    Oct 03, 2008
  • EfficacySlight
  • Side-effectsMild
  • Social anxiety/phobia
Advice/Tips
I always have unusual reactions to medication, so I wouldn't necessarily take my experience as likely to happen to anyone else. Possibly proceed with caution if you are bipolar.

See all evaluation results for 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)

Report created on November 07, 2009.