5-HTP

5-HTP for a calm brain, and a racing mind at night: questions and answers

April 16, 2021 By Trudy Scott 39 Comments

5-HTP is an amino acid, made from the seeds of an African plant, Griffonia simplicifolia, and used as a supplement to ease low serotonin symptoms. With low levels of serotonin you’ll experience the worry-type of anxiety with ruminations, obsessing, panic attacks, insomnia (often lying awake worrying). This type of anxiety is different from the low GABA physical/tension type anxiety. Other low serotonin symptoms include low mood/depression, late afternoon and evening carbohydrate cravings, pain, digestive/IBS symptoms, PMS, irritability, rage and anger, TMJ, low confidence, imposter syndrome and perfectionism.

When I share my low serotonin blogs on Facebook I receive so many great questions about 5-HTP. Today I’m going to share some of these questions and my answers so you can get the benefits too.

Gail asks why 5-HTP stopped working for her when it had been working so amazingly well:

I took 5-HTP and it worked amazingly….for about 6 months. Then it did nothing. Any idea why?

I took 100 mg per day. It’s hard to explain, but it calmed my brain down. I wasn’t so quick to blurt things out during the day and at night I was able to sleep because my mind wasn’t racing. Nothing else changed at that time. That was a few years ago, I think I’ll buy more and try again

I would guess that something did shift around the 6 month mark and would try and identify what it was so you know for the future. It could have been accidental gluten exposure (from the diet or even cosmetics), hormonal shifts (perimenopause or menopause), adding collagen or gelatin on a regular basis (this can lower serotonin in susceptible folks) and/or changes in thyroid health.

If you have pyroluria and were exposed to major stresses (life stresses or toxic mold etc.) you’d lose vitamin B6 and this could affect serotonin production. The addition of the birth control pill and antidepressants can also deplete vitamin B6. I share some possible reasons for low serotonin on this blog on imposter syndrome (as mentioned above, imposter syndrome is a common sign of low serotonin).

With these wonderful benefits Gail experienced, trialing 5-HTP again is worth considering. Because 5-HTP works so quickly she’ll feel that sense of calm right away and she won’t blurt things out during the day (possibly caused by lack of confidence and/or irritability and/or anger?). Also, her mind won’t race at night, she’ll fall asleep quickly and will stay asleep, waking rested, calm, happy, confident and optimistic.

And in future if something like this happens again, I’d try to identify the cause and bump up 5-HTP temporarily.

Wendy asks about headaches as an adverse effect:

What do you recommend if 5-HTP gives you headaches?

Headaches are not a common adverse effect with 5-HTP (compared to the amino acid tyrosine which is recognized to cause headaches and migraines in susceptible folks).

Even if you are seeing benefits – for the worry-type anxiety and other low serotonin symptoms – with 5-HTP you don’t ever want to push through with something like headaches and continue to take it. I have clients use less 5-HTP and observe if they still see the benefits with no headaches.

We also make sure low serotonin is the issue. If it’s not then any amount of 5-HTP will either do nothing or cause adverse effects. If the issue is low serotonin then I have clients do a trial of tryptophan.

If the 5-HTP is being used to ease low mood/depression caused by low catecholamine or low endorphins depression then neither 5-HTP or tryptophan is going to help and may cause adverse effects. And tyrosine and/or DPA are better choices.

Gerry asks this question after my interview on Your Best Sleep Ever Summit:

Great talk Trudy. When you want to increase serotonin, do you take both 5-HTP & tryptophan or just one or the other?

They can be used alone or both can be used together. I like to have clients add one new amino acid supplement at a time so we know what is working before confounding things with another one. I typically start with tryptophan for low serotonin support simply because I have such good results with it and because 5-HTP can raise cortisol in some folks.

We start with tryptophan mid-afternoon and evening (after doing a trial earlier in the day to make sure it helps). If tryptophan causes adverse effects or doesn’t work then we do a trial of 5-HTP and then use it afternoon and evening (when serotonin levels tend to drop).

If tryptophan is working in the afternoon and evening, and additional support for worry or ruminations or panic or anxiety is needed earlier in the day, we may consider 5-HTP which can often also help improve focus. We may also consider tryptophan earlier in the day too.

It’s very individualized and we may mix and match to find the ideal combination and dosing based on trials and symptom resolution. It’s important to be aware that some folks do better on 5-HTP and some do better on tryptophan.

Here are some useful blogs related to low serotonin and the amino acids:

You can see all the low serotonin symptoms here.
Fibromyalgia: tryptophan or 5-HTP for anxiety, depression, pain and insomnia
You can see the 5-HTP and tryptophan products I use with my clients here on the supplements blog.
You may find this helpful too – GABA for easing physical anxiety and tension: some questions and answers.

As always, it’s not only the low serotonin we need to address. 5-HTP offers quick relief but we must always do a full functional workup looking at diet, nutritional deficiencies, digestion, all hormones, toxins and infections (and so on) so we can address all possible root causes – and why serotonin is low in the first place.

Thanks to these folks for asking good questions and for allowing me to share here.

What questions do you have about 5-HTP?

Which low serotonin symptoms can you relate to and has 5-HTP or tryptophan helped? Or have you found success with a combination.

Feel free to post your questions and feedback in the comments below.

Night eating syndrome: is low serotonin a root cause and is tryptophan a solution?

April 9, 2021 By Trudy Scott 28 Comments

According to this paper, Circadian Rhythm Profiles in Women with Night Eating Syndrome, “Patients with night eating syndrome (NES) – first described in 1955 – demonstrate a phase delay in the circadian pattern of food intake, manifested by evening hyperphagia, nocturnal awakenings with food intake, and morning anorexia.”

I would start by asking this question: is low serotonin a root cause and is tryptophan a possible solution? I’ll share why below and where to start in order to find a solution.

Before I do that let me explain the terminology used in the above quote: Circadian means it happens every 24 hours, hyperphagia is obsessive food-seeking behavior, nocturnal awakenings are waking in the night and anorexia refers to restricted eating in the morning.

There is no research supporting the use of serotonin support with either tryptophan or 5-HTP for night eating syndrome but I would still start here for the following reasons:

this behavior happens in the evening and at night and it’s well recognized that serotonin levels are lower later in the day and at night
carbohydrate cravings and addictions occur with low serotonin and cravings are most intense later in the day (typically afternoon and evening)
obsessive behaviors are common with low serotonin
insomnia or night-time waking is a common symptom with low serotonin
doing a trial with either of these amino acids will very quickly confirm if low serotonin is a contributing factor or will rule it out

I would also have my client look at other low serotonin symptoms which would help confirm that low serotonin may be a factor for them: worry-type of anxiety, ruminations, PMS, irritability, rage or anger, TMJ, panic attacks, perfectionism, depression, low self-esteem and so on. You can see all the low serotonin symptoms here.

We typically start with a trial of tryptophan simply because so many of my clients do so well with it. The other reason is that 5-HTP can raise cortisol and cause a wired-tired feeling. That being said, some folks do better on one vs the other so if tryptophan doesn’t help then we trial 5-HTP. You can see the products I use with my clients here on the supplements blog.

I would love to see tryptophan or 5-HTP being more extensively – because it works so effectively and quickly, and is addressing the root cause – but also because there is research that does support the serotonin connection to night eating syndrome:

Night eating syndome has been associated with “depression, emotional eating, sleep problems, and food addiction as well as with being overweight or with having obesity (especially as people age)” – all low serotonin symptoms.
Night eating patients are “responsive to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment” (antidepressant/SSRI treatment)
Bright light therapy may help with night eating because of it’s “serotonergic antidepressant mechanisms of action.” Night eating syndrome also shares features with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and it’s not uncommon to experience both. The winter blues or SAD is common with low serotonin. I write more about SAD and bright light here.

I’d also consider low blood sugar as a contributing factor. We would need to rule out the use of the sleep medication Ambien/Zolpidem which has been shown to cause amnesia and sleep related eating disorders which resolves when the medication is stopped.

As always, it’s not only the low serotonin we need to address. Tryptophan or 5-HTP offer quick relief but we must always do a full functional workup looking at diet, nutritional deficiencies, digestion, all hormones, toxins and infections (and so on) so we can address all possible root causes – and why serotonin is low in the first place.

I share some possible reasons for low serotonin on this blog on imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is another common sign of low serotonin.

Have you been diagnosed with night eating syndrome or do you feel you possibly fit the profile? Does it happen every night and what foods are you drawn to? Which low serotonin symptoms can you relate to and has tryptophan or 5-HTP helped? What about light therapy? And was an antidepressant prescribed?

Feel free to post your questions and feedback in the comments below.

5-HTP in Parkinson’s disease: benefits for depression, levodopa-induced motor complications, anxiety and sleep issues

March 19, 2021 By Trudy Scott 37 Comments

Research shows that the amino acid 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan), the intermediate metabolite of tryptophan in the production of serotonin, offers benefits for Parkinson’s disease patients. It has been reported to ease depression and to reduce levodopa-induced motor complications. This was reported in two separate studies by the same research team at the University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy. They were small studies and considered preliminary. However, given what I know about the effectiveness of 5-HTP (for depression, anxiety and insomnia), I consider it a major step forward for Parkinson’s disease patients.

In this study, Efficacy and safety of 5-hydroxytryptophan on depression and apathy in Parkinson’s disease: a preliminary finding, 25 individuals with Parkinson’s disease were enrolled and “patients received placebo or 50 mg of 5-HTP daily over a period of 4 weeks”

The findings were as follows:

a significant improvement of depressive symptoms during the 50-mg 5-HTP treatment compared with placebo.

In this study 5-HTP was not shown to reduce apathy symptoms. This is not surprising to me, given that we typically see the amino acid tyrosine help with apathy symptoms associated with low catecholamines, rather than low serotonin.

In this study, Efficacy and safety of 5-Hydroxytryptophan on levodopa-induced motor complications in Parkinson’s disease: A preliminary finding, 12 Parkinson’s patients who were diagnosed with levodopa-induced dyskinesias (involuntary, erratic, writhing movements of the face, arms, legs or trunk) and motor fluctuations were included. Patients received placebo or 50 mg of 5-HTP daily over 4 weeks.

The findings were as follows:

a significant improvement of levodopa-induced dyskinesias during the 50 mg 5-HTP treatment.

The study authors make the serotonin-dyskinesias connection, stating that “Several studies have indicated that altered serotonergic neurotransmission may contribute to the motor features commonly associated with Parkinson’s disease drug treatment such as levodopa-induced dyskinesias.”

Both studies were single-center, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over trials, and both recommend larger studies, longer treatment duration and different doses in order to corroborate these early findings.

Sleep disorders, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and anxiety in Parkinson’s disease

As reported in this paper, Spectrum of Non-Motor Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease

Despite their significant clinical importance, the awareness of non-motor symptoms is quite negligible. Sleep disorders, gastrointestinal dysfunction, olfactory disturbances, anxiety, and depressive episodes are some of the most common non-motor presentations.

5-HTP helps with depression, anxiety, sleep issues (more here: Sleep promoting effects of combined GABA and 5-HTP) and digestive issues.

Given what I know about the effectiveness of 5-HTP in my clients with anxiety, low mood and sleep issues, I consider this research a major step forward for Parkinson’s disease patients who may also experience anxiety, depression and sleep issues.

5-HTP also improves focus and when to switch to tryptophan

I was surprised to read that it has been hypothesized that ADHD and Parkinson’s disease share “several overlapping anatomical and neurochemical changes.”

As you can see from these blog posts, in addition to boosting mood, 5-HTP also improves focus and ADHD symptoms:

One caution with 5-HTP is that it can raise salivary cortisol and cause a “wired-tired” feeling. When this happens we switch to tryptophan, always starting with a trial in order to figure out the ideal dose.

Typical dosing of 5-HTP for low serotonin-type anxiety

I find that using 50 mg of 5-HTP 1-3 times a day is a typical starting dose for my adult clients who have the low serotonin-type of anxiety (mental anxiety, worry, panic attacks, ruminations), low mood, insomnia, sugar cravings, irritability, PMS, anger issues and TMJ.

Keep in mind that in these 2 studies, 50 mg of 5-HTP was used only once a day, and everyone was given the same dose. There is never a one-size fits all approach with the amino acids and we adjust up or down based on symptoms, using a trial approach. I’d love to see this approach used with follow-up studies.

If you are new to the concept of low serotonin and the use of tryptophan or 5-HTP you will find this blog helpful.

Parkinson’s disease and GABA, flavonoids in parsley and insecticides

Here are some other useful blogs on Parkinson’s disease:

Have you or a family member with Parkinson’s disease used 5-HTP (or tryptophan) for easing depression and improving levodopa-induced motor complications?

Have you seen reduced anxiety, improved sleep, better digestion and better focus too?

If you’re a practitioner working with Parkinson’s patients have you used 5-HTP or tryptophan with success?

Feel free to post your questions and feedback in the comments below.

5-HTP benefits both adopted daughters who had prenatal exposure to alcohol: they are happier, more focused and can stay on task

March 5, 2021 By Trudy Scott 10 Comments

A grateful mom, Besty, posted wonderful feedback on the 5-HTP and ADHD blog. She shared how 5-HTP benefits both her adopted daughters who had prenatal exposure to alcohol i.e. exposure to alcohol while in the womb. When using the supplement 5-HTP, an amino acid precursor to serotonin, both girls are happier, more focused and can now stay on task. Here is the feedback Besty shared on the blog:

After listening to Dr. Michael Murry’s interview on your Anxiety Summit, I decided to try 5-HTP on my 18-year-old daughter (a senior in high school) who was adopted at 5 years of age. She has always had some issues with focus, but she has never been medicated for this. She has had some learning struggles. She was exposed to alcohol in the womb, so some of her learning difficulty has been attributed to this.

She started 5-HTP in December and doesn’t ever want to miss a day on it. She says that she can better complete her assignments because it helps her to “stay on task”.

Even on days that she is not in school, she wants to take it, because it makes her feel happier.

Because she has done so well on it, her 23-year-old biological sister (also adopted) started on it. She was also exposed to alcohol while in the womb and has some learning struggles. She is in college. She also doesn’t want to miss a day, because she says that “it keeps her on her toes,” which she says means that it “keeps me focused,” when she is working on her school work.

I am so thankful that I learned about this therapy through your summit!

I thanked Besty for her kind words and for sharing this wonderful outcome both her daughters experienced. I love hearing stories like this and I am sharing this as a blog post so more folks are inspired and have hope.

Prenatal exposure to alcohol: the adverse effects, and impacts on serotonin and dopamine

This 2012 paper, Moderate prenatal alcohol exposure and serotonin genotype interact to alter CNS serotonin function in Rhesus monkey offspring, describes fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD):

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is associated with a range of adverse effects that can be observed in children prenatally exposed to alcohol.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which includes growth retardation, craniofacial anomalies, CNS dysfunction, and cognitive and behavioral impairments, is the most serious of the FASD outcomes of prenatal alcohol exposure.
Alcohol-related neuro-developmental disorder (ARND) is the term used to describe prenatally alcohol-exposed children with problems that are primarily neurobehavioral, including cognitive effects, hyperactivity, impulsivity, reduced attention span, and lack of inhibition.

It appears these young girls may fall into the ARND category with their reduced attention span and cognitive issues, and some possible neurobehavioral issues. I’m not, however, aware if a diagnosis was made. I’m also not aware if hyperactivity, impulsivity and lack of inhibition have been issues too.

This paper also discusses the research on prenatal alcohol exposure and deficiencies in the serotonergic neurotransmitter system, and the possibility that genetic factors might predispose someone to fetal alcohol effects during a sensitive period. These are primarily genes affecting serotonin production. The authors also report that prenatal exposure to alcohol also affects dopamine levels.

Addressing neurotransmitter imbalances with tryptophan, 5-HTP and tyrosine

We don’t often associate low serotonin with ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) and poor focus but the research and clinical outcomes like this one (and the other success story below with 5-HTP melts) is very promising.

If you are new to addressing neurotransmitter imbalances with targeted amino acids you may find these blogs helpful:

Using tryptophan to address low serotonin eases worry, rumination, anxiety and negative self-talk. Keep in mind that some folks do better with tryptophan and some do better with 5-HTP.
ADHD: 5-HTP melts have been a miracle for one of my adopted kids. I summarize the role of serotonin in ADHD, the interplay with dopamine and the use of oral tryptophan (a serotonin precursor similar to 5-HTP). And this is the blog post that Besty commented on.
We typically consider the use of tyrosine to address low dopamine (one of the catecholamines), leading to better focus, good energy and better motivation so you are more likely to finish tasks. It also improves mood.

Questions I still have about the 5-HTP trials

I have these questions I posed to Betsy and hope to hear back as I feel these answers may be helpful as you navigate your trials with 5-HTP (for yourself or your loved ones):

Which product are they using and how much is helping?
Did your daughters make any other changes (diet or other supplements) at the same time?
What have they tried over the years to help with focus and learning issues?
Why did you initially decide to trial 5-HTP with your younger daughter?
Did your younger daughter encourage her older sister to trial 5-HTP too?
Did either daughter have any of the classic low serotonin symptoms too: worry-type of anxiety, ruminations, OCD, fears, PMS, irritability, insomnia, afternoon/evening cravings, anger issues, lack of confidence? And did the 5-HTP help with any of these symptoms too?
Were some of the classic low serotonin symptoms a factor when it came to lack of focus? For example, did the worrying or feelings of fear or insomnia contribute to the inability to stay on task and keep focused?

I’ll report back once I get Besty’s feedback. But keep in mind that dosing/timing doesn’t really matter as the doses that work for her daughters are unique to their own biochemistry and needs.

Additional resources when you are new to using GABA, 5-HTP and other amino acids as supplements

As always, I use the symptoms questionnaire to figure out if low serotonin or low GABA or other neurotransmitter imbalances may be an issue.

If you suspect low levels of any of the neurotransmitters and do not yet have my book, The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings, I highly recommend getting it and reading it before jumping in and using amino acids on your own so you are knowledgeable. And be sure to share it with the practitioner/health team you or your loved one is working with.

There is an entire chapter on the amino acids and they are discussed throughout the book in the sections on gut health, gluten, blood sugar control (this is covered in an entire chapter too), sugar cravings, anxiety and mood issues.

The book doesn’t include product names (per the publisher’s request) so this blog, The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements, lists the amino acids that I use with my individual clients and those in my group programs.

If, after reading this blog and my book, you don’t feel comfortable figuring things out on your own (i.e. doing the symptoms questionnaire and respective amino acids trials), a good place to get help is the GABA QuickStart Program (if you have low GABA symptoms). This is a paid online/virtual group program where you get my guidance and community support.

If you are a practitioner, join us in The Balancing Neurotransmitters: the Fundamentals program. This is also a paid online/virtual program with an opportunity to interact with me and other practitioners who are also using the amino acids.

Wrapping up and your feedback

Have you found that 5-HTP (or tryptophan) helps your child (who was exposed to alcohol in the womb) with focus and ADHD symptoms? Are they happier when using one of these serotonin precursors?

If you’re a practitioner working with children or adults who have had prenatal exposure to alcohol, have you had good results with 5-HTP or tryptophan?

Feel free to post your questions and feedback in the comments below.