Posted by med_empowered on September 21, 2005, at 21:37:58 [reposted on September 23, 2005, at 19:34:57 | original URL]
In reply to 5 htp vs. sam-e, posted by spiritgirlhere on September 21, 2005, at 21:26:08
well...SAMe is more expensive, but may work faster (at least in some people). Plus, it doesn't really have very many side effects. 5-HTP worked well for me at least (better on anxiety than depression, but it did help depression). The problems are...3X daily dosing, adjusting the dose properly, upset stomach, and sedation (which might be a good thing). I think I ended up up dividing it up into 50-50-100mgs segments; the PM dose helped somewhat with sleep with minimal hangover. The upset stomach thing only lasted a little while for me, but I think some people stop taking it b/c of that. The SAMe has been linked to a couple cases of mania, but..unless you're bipolar, I wouldn't worry too much about that. In terms of tolerability, I'd recommend SAMe first; if you're looking for a bit of appetite suppression, help with sleep, and don't mind the 3X daily dosing, 5-HTP could be a good 1st option. You can also mix them, since 5-HTP affects serotonin and SAMe affects *LOTS* of things (for the better). Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:558676
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050812/msgs/558677.html