It's been a huge blessing in my life!!! I'm on very high doses as I have horrific insomnia and since increasing my dose, my pain levels have been incredibly low.

Here's a link to a seminar put on by Dr. Rodger Murphree, a chiropractor who specializes in treating fibro and CFS. In the third installment on he discusses 5-htp:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPGdqpMxU24

Wow, thanks!!! Yeah, I have sleep problems too... Can't fall asleep plus I have apnea... right now I take 100 mg at night... How much do you take?? and how long have you been on?? Thanks for the link!!!!

I take anywhere from 400 to 800 mg a day depending on my sleep. 400 mg is my normal dose as I've had bipolar 2/depression issues since I was in my early teens and am now almost 55 so the way I see it, my body needs the serotonin. The only side-effect I've had is a bit of diarrhea when I first got up to 800 mg, and other than that, my pain level is incredibly low as serotonin blocks the pain neurotransmitter Substance P.

I have sleep apnea also but have been able to stop using my CPAP machine as the type I have is caused by low serotonon levels. Hubby says I snore once in a while, but nothing like I used to.

The amino acids have been what have really helped me get feeling better as so much of fibro is due to our brain chemistry being out of wack.

Here are a couple of articles by Dr. Murphree dealing with brain chemistry:

http://www.drmurphreestore.com/newsletters_letters/healthnews3_21_07.html

This is the accompanying brain function questionaire:

http://www.drrodger.com/brainfunc.html

I can not thank you enough!!! I LOVED the videos and everything he says made perfect sense!!! I sent this link out right away to everyone I know with Fibro and they too LOVE the video!!!

How long have you been on 5-HTP? I started taking it 11.20.2010, so not that long. But I'm wondering when I should start to notice anything.... so I know the right dose....
Thanks!!!

I am so glad you guys are discussing this one. I have all the amino acids in my swanson shopping cart, so I would love to try them. I'm just waiting to hear back from my rheumatologist if it would be safe. I'm giving Cymbalta a try out of desperation, but I would MUCH rather use the amino acids. May have to wait until I see an osteopath???

Oh my god!!! Thank you for posting Dr Murphee's link. I am in tears, good tears, and it was reassuring that he gets it, and the last line in the clip, that it's the flu from hell. NAIL ON THE HEAD!!!!

I'm almost ready to go buy everything, but I would love to know who started you guys on the 5-HTP, and if you were taking other medications when starting it. (I saw that as a big NO with Elavil)

I take 5-htp and I'm so glad I do! I was doing some research on it when I also viewed the video from Dr. Murphree. I ordered right then and there. I took 100-400mg in the beginning and now I take 100-200mg at least 3-5 times a week.

I could always fall asleep but would never stay asleep. I was waking up every 2-3 hours every night. Now that my sleep is better my pain level is much lower too. I don't take any meds at all.

Kitty, if you want to try this, you'll have to go off the Cymbalta. Cymbalta is an SSRI and blocks the reuptake of serotonin. 5-htp helps your body produce serotonin so it's not good to take them at the same time.

I love this stuff and I order mine at vitacost.com. I've found that this site has some of the best prices for health food store quality vitamins and supplements. I never get any of mine from stores like Walmart or drug stores.

Sara, I've had NO bad experiences from this supplement at all. Nothing but postive and I've been using it for about a year.

I've been taking it for about 3 months. It has helped me, but I still think I'm not on enough to really enable me to get more than 3-4 hours sleep. I'm going to increase my dosage. I learned about it from the board and a kind poster on here and started researching
. I slowly tapered off Cymbalta about a year ago after many years on it and no improvement. I[ for one] cannot tolerate the anti depressants. I have had horrible side effects, but we all react differently.

Hoping you will find the right combination.

I've only been taking Cymbalta for a few days but it's already giving me headaches. I have no problem not taking it. I see my rheumie tomorrow, so I will ask. I am trying to find a new psychiatrist, because I'm not sure what doctor handles what now. I would much rather take the 5-HTP, but I take Elavil, and apparently mixing that with any other antidepressants is bad, ...so confused!!

sarbear, I started taking 5-htp in September of 2007 so I've been on it about 39 months. I upped my dose from 400 mg to between 600 to 800 mg about a month or 5 weeks ago after listening to that seminar when I absolutely couldn't sleep to save myself. Now I start with 400 mg after dinner, and depending on the insomnia, I'll take up to another 400 mg later in the evening if it appears I headed into a night of being up till the wee hours.

I wasn't seeing any doctors when I started using amino acids. I had been so mistreated and humiliated by the medical profession that I decided there wasn't anything they could do for me so I started treating myself based on what I read from Dr. Teitelbaum and Dr. Murphree. If something sounded like it applied to me, I tried it. The great thing about using the amino acids is that not only have they helped normalize my brain chemistry, if I'm feeling a bit up or down [have bipolar 2] I just take whatever one I need and am usually feeling better within a day unlike when I had to call my Pdoc, have her decide if I needed to change meds, etc., etc. Now I make my health decisions--especially as most doctors are so incredibly dismissive and abusive to fibro patients--why endure the stress??

When I first started on the 5-htp I immediately started feeling normal again as one of my initial symptoms early on was an internal jitteriness/shakiness where it felt like I had excess adrenaline coursing through my veins like a raging river. It was awful--I always just felt weird. I have absolutely no idea why the 5-htp healed that, but it did!!

kitty, don't expect your doctor to be supportive in your desire to take 5-htp. I'm sure you'll be treated like a nut or worse for not wanting to be on meds. Keep in mind that doctors aren't trained to do much more than know that if you have symptom X to give you prescription A, for symptom B you go with prescription Y and so on. If they didn't have their magic prescription pad, most doctors would have no reason to be in business.

I also buy my supplements from vitacost.com. Their housebrand NSI is pharmaceutical grade and I've done very well on them. Might add my hubby can't take amino acids--course his brain doesn't need them either so it's no big loss.

Segulley....what amino acids do you take? Do you get those at vitacost? I like the NSI brand too. I did a lot of research on the company that does the research and formulation for the brand. I think it's a quality company.

Oh and I concur about what doctors say about taking any kind of supplements. I was told by my rhuemie that people just want to take a pill and feel better. That's the excuse he gave me for not telling me about supplements that could help me.

Shari, I take the following:

--5-htp for depression, sleep and pain
--GABA to control the hypomanic phase of bipolar 2
--DL-phenylalanine [DLPA] for depression--puts dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain
--L-taurine for my crazy sleep disorder where I flop and twitch as I'm dosing off--think it's a type of sleep starts
--L-tyrosine in a thyroid supplement to stimulate the thyroid to produce thyroid hormone

All my amino acids are the NSI brand. I've done very well on them, but my hubby can't tolerate them--course he can't tolerate most supplements for some reason....

I am a graduate psychology student and I actually discovered 5-HTP by reading some research on depression. 5-HTP is a precursor to serotonin. It is the building blocks which the body needs to produce serotonin. I started taking it before I knew I had fibro and it lifted my mood tremendously. That was the only benefit I have experienced but it is worth it. I see others in this forum have sleep benefits also from 5-HTP.

Oh dear. I was so hoping it would replace my gaggle of pills to sleep. Still worth a try. I am giving everything a fair shot now.

segulley - Your earlier comment about doctors hit it right on the nose for me as well!! I've waisted so much money going to different doctors... and none of them helping me. Heck I even went to UofM the leading hospital for Fibro, the doc I seen there was a moron!!! After I had a sleep study done and it indicated I had apnea the doctor says, "Well now what do we do?" Are you kidding me, hes asking me.... your the doctor, you tell me, oy!
I also have stopped seeing doctors, they really are a waist when natural supplements is really all you need... in my opinion.. I felt like crap the whole time I let docs tell me what to take, and now that I only take supplements, I feel great, not perfect, but a hole heck of alot better then when I was listening to the doctors!!

I'm going to have to try the L-taurine... and yes, its called sleep starts... this happens at the hypnogogic stage..
If your thyroid levels are normal... would L-taurine mess them up,
[I took Armour thyroid before (which worked fine), but then they stopped making Armour so they put me on Synthroid and the Synthroid messed my thyroid all up (T4).. made my hair all nasty, straw like. And I wasn't taking Thyroid med because of my thyroid, thats a normal range.]
I'm going to have to check out vitacost.com you and theshari talk about where you get your supplements... right now I get all my stuff from vitamin world...

And to kittysims: No doctor has ever suggested anything that I take now, everything I take is from research I have done along with talking to support groups such as this one. I have gone to many doctors, but none helped, and I have been on just about every med under the sunl, including the Cymbalta your one, nothing worked. I have only found relief in supplements... MAKE sure you do your own research after a doctor tells you something or tells you to take something, they are just making educated guesses...

Tonight I'm going to go from 100mg to 200 of the 5-HTP, wish me luck all!! :)