Posted by blueberry on May 19, 2006, at 16:34:23
In reply to Long term amino acid therapy, posted by Meri-Tuuli on May 19, 2006, at 8:51:32
Good question. I asked my naturopath the same thing and she really didn't know.
There have been people that got good results from 5htp but then relapsed in 3 months to a year. I remember only one guy who was still doing well with it about 2 years later.
Tyrosine in a way scares me for longterm use because it is similar to taking a prescription parkinson's med like sinemet. History shows that over time as the brain gets accustomed to the extra dopamine, more and more is needed and eventually other meds are needed to boost the effects. Sometimes parkinson's symptoms actually get worse.
Some sources say it is better to take a balanced amino acid supplement that has 20 aminos in it, including phenylalaine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. Or if it doesn't have tryptophan, then add some 5htp or tryptophan on the side to the balanced amino acid.
There are some good books out there on the subject and some of them have case reports of actual patients. The problem is they never tell you how those patients were doing years later.
poster:blueberry
thread:645841
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060428/msgs/645991.html