I use amino acid in lieu of ADs and antiseizure meds to control my bipolar 2 and am thrilled with how well I'm doing on them.

As to how much to take, you'll have to experiment with it and see what works for you. You can take between 300 and 500 mgs a day depending on who you listen to, but since you're still on Cymbalta, be very careful lest you end up with serotonin syndrome.

In my experience, it appears that 5-HTP is cummulative in your body as I ended up with horrific insomnia after being on a very high dose for quite a while. I laid off it and it quickly passed.

Sorry this really isn't very helpful, but figuring out how much to take is something only you can do.

I might add that after I was on it for a while, I started feeling normal again for the first time since getting sick almost 26 years ago. Somehow it fixed my brain....

It has been 5 weeks since I had any cymbalta and based on how horrible I feel I think it is out of my system. I'm just trying to achieve the balance I felt while on it with 5HTP. Thanks for your comment.

I have also read on here about many good results with the 5-HTP. I bought a bottle but don't know how much to take. I currently take 10mg Elavil and 10mg Paxil but I cancelled my doctors appt with my rhematologist. Any suggestions??

GraceAnn:

Be extremely careful since you're on two ADs and could end up with serotonin syndrome.

I've been off prozac for at least 9 months so I don't have anything in my brain preventing the serotonin from being reabsorbed.

I just started taking it yesterday.

Today, I added Bone Solution liquid calcium, magnesium and vitmain D. The liquid doesn't have anything else to digest, unlike the pills, so it instantly absorbs.

I got D-Ribose powder than I am going to take in the morning. It says right on the bottle to take it for pain associated with Fibromyalgia or lack of energy from cancer treatment.

Another thing I'm starting tomorrow is taking ground flax seeds (bought a cheap grinder at Walmart).

I spent an hour and a half at the health food store getting all this new information!

Forgot the link to a good 5HTP site:

http://www.5htp.com/

I had been off of any antidepressants for about 2 months when I started taking 5htp. I started out taking 100 mg in the morning. After about 3 wks I could tell a big difference. I am now taking 100 mg in the morning and another 100 mg late afternoon. For me taking this is really making a differnece. It has not bothered my sleep. I see people talking about having insomnia with this but it is also supposed to help you sleep.

I've posted that 5-HTP caused insomnia for me but I was taking 500 mg a day which is a lot.

I also have discovered that some of my sleep issues are hormonal so I'm doing all I can to treat them and am doing better.

The one thing I want to stress is that in my case, the 5-HTP seems to be cummulative which is why I think I've improved so much as well as why I ended up with insomnia. After a while, you might get to the point you know you don't need it. This is normal and is where I am with that and the GABA I use to control my bipolar 2.

not suppost to take withamatripline paxel and rpobably others.

I went off cymbalta for 60 days, then started taking 50 mg. 5-HTP every night for a week, then went to 100 mg for a week, then 150 mg for a week. 4th week 200mg. I stayed at 200 mg at bedtime. No depression at all. I actually am able to sleep again. I sleep for 6 to 8 hours of uninterupted sleep. Before I started the -HTP I was waking every 1.5 hours every night. I feel so much better now. Also take acai supplements, alpha lipoic acid and green tea supplements. I am so much more active now and pain level is way down. Also has helped to reduce my insulin by half.
Rhonda

I use 100mg in the morning and again in late afternoon, I was really bummed about my weight gain and found that it does help with food cravings, I sleep well, but am finding that I sleep less on it than I did before, so maybe it is helping, it has helped with the tension in my neck, I have herniations that are miserable and were causing alot of pain stress. I cant do antidepressants, unless I want to sleep forever, lol. and that is only 5mg of Elavil. So remember it wont work the same for everybody, and yes I continue to research about it cause there is seratonin syndrome, I havent noticed anything unusual yet.