# SSRI and amino acid supplements dangerous?



## thundercats (Mar 12, 2012)

SSRIs usually have a warning that you must not take the amino acid l-trytophan because of the serotonin syndrome. Now I wonder what happens if you're on a SSRI and then take amino acid pills or protein powder which also has l-tryptophan? Could this not also be dangerous? I mean where's the difference if you take it as a single amino acid or if you take it in form of protein powder or amino acid formulas which also contain other aminos?


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## pudderkiz (Jun 18, 2012)

thundercats said:


> SSRIs usually have a warning that you must not take the amino acid l-trytophan because of the serotonin syndrome. Now I wonder what happens if you're on a SSRI and then take amino acid pills or protein powder which also has l-tryptophan? Could this not also be dangerous? I mean where's the difference if you take it as a single amino acid or if you take it in form of protein powder or amino acid formulas which also contain other aminos?


I assume this ain't too dangerous. I took quite large amounts of 5-HTP chronically for a whole month (100-300mg daily) and that's another step up the chain for your body to transform it into serotonin and my only side effect was mild confusion and some high body temperature (witch signifies too much serotonin) after consuming half a gram of 5-HTP in one afternoon. This ain't considered safe by the way.

How much l-trytophan is in it? I take aminoacids with no problems but mild stomach ace that lasts for maybe 5 minutes and it contains barley 56mg of l-trytophan.

100mg of 5-HTP I assume is about equal to half a gram or a gram of l-trytophan.


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