Comment · Wed, November 28, 2012 · Ceretropic
Been taking 5-HTP for 3 months. How worried should I be about heart valve damage?
Original post in this thread
mintmuse · 16 points
I hope this is the right place to post this.
I've been taking 5-HTP for about 3 months now, because I had read about it's effects with helping with depression (heard about it through the book, The Mood Cure). I started off with 150-200mg a day, taken in the evening and night before bed. In the beginning of October I started taking a vitamin b-complex (this one) in the morning. About a month ago I started feeling a slight vertigo once or twice a day. I went off the 5-HTP for about 3 or 4 days and it went away, so then I started taking just 50mg at night before bed. I know now I really should of just stopped taking it, but I didn't. I haven't had problems with the vertigo since, but I did not know until now about the link between 5-HTP and heart valve damage and cardiac fibrosis (just found out today reading through this sub).
I've also been taking:
Gaba Calm in the morning for about 2 months.
500mg-1000mg DLPA in the morning, off and on for 3 months.
And 500mg-1,500mg of L-Tyrosine for about a month (didn't seem to help with anyt…
What they were answering
Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
5-HTP is converted to serotonin by aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AAAD). The problem is that enzyme is found in your stomach and periphery. If you do not inhibit it in your stomach, then a portion of your 5-HTP will get converted to serotonin in your periphery. Since serotonin cannot cross the blood brain barrier, it will remain in the periphery and can cause issues with your heart valves and digestion.
Taking vitamin B6 with your 5-HTP just speeds up this process. Ideally you would take a B6 supplement in the morning, then dose your 5-HTP at night to avoid this.
To inhibit AAAD, you should always take EGCG (green tea extract) with your 5-HTP. EGCG has been shown to be a good inhibitor of L-amino acid decarboxylase.
You also need to take into consideration that AAAD is also responsible for creating dopamine from L-DOPA. If you are constantly saturating that enzyme with 5-HTP, your dopamine levels can fall. So I would only suggest 5-HTP short-term, or dosed along side an L-tyrosine supplement.
So either 5-HTP with EGCG, short-term.
Or 5-HTP with EGCG and L-tyrosine long-term.