Posted by zefdie on June 19, 2006, at 16:06:43
In reply to Re: Is this statement true (about 5-htp) ?, posted by zefdie on June 19, 2006, at 15:55:29
To get it into the brain more quickly. I was operating on the hypothesis that you end up with more serotonin in the periphery if you take it by stomach than if you take it under the tongue.
> I posted about this elsewhere last night but I thought this might be a more appropriate place for it.
>
> I've been looking into sublingual 5-htp to bypass the stomach and get the 5-htp into the blood and then the brain more often. I found a sublingual by Carlson's that includes coenzymated b6 as well.
>
> I'm curious (taking the theory of 5-htp possibly causing cardiac damage seriously...I'm not very concerned about it but am considering it in this context) as to whether this form of absorbing 5-htp directly into the bloodstream might be safer...or worse.
>
> I've read the study that found 5-htp without a decarboxylase inhibitor to be just as good as 5-htp without. I've also read a study about the enzymatic breakdown of 5-htp and l-dopa, suggesting that little gets into the brain.
>
> But I can really, really feel the 5-htp taken sublingually. It doesn't take long to feel the effects. I've taken it by capsule before and didn't get the same effects, so I am hypothesizing that a good amount of sublingual 5-htp gets into the brain.
>
> This doctor suggests that 50 mg daily is a high dose:
>
> http://www.raysahelian.com/5-htp.html
>
> I found that I had to take high doses by capsule to find any effect at all. The sublingual tabs (there are a few brands out there, the Carlson's is the only one I've found with pyridoxal-5-phosphate) are 50 mg and with some care you could probably split them in half to start.
>
> I feel safer taking this low dose and taking it sublingually but am curious what some of you think. It works very well...I am diagnosed bipolar II and it has a great energizing effect without any SSRI-like side effects, which is why I am trying this first (along with Lamictal).
>
> I'm also wondering if the pyridoxal-5-phosphate might be converting it into serotonin too quickly.
>
> Slightly off topic, while perusing PubMed I came across a study that found that pyridoxal-5-phosphate (active B6) alone produces 20% extra 5-htp in the brains of rats. Maybe some people don't even need the 5-htp? Most of the brands don't even add B6 to their 5-htp anyway.
poster:zefdie
thread:595605
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060601/msgs/658780.html