Posted by Sarah T. on March 28, 2005, at 0:47:37
In reply to Thanks, Sara » Sarah T., posted by Chris O on March 27, 2005, at 23:15:13
Hi Chris. I was a bit scared myself when I read that comment by Wurtman. I was definitely going to buy 5-HTP until I read that transcript. It's very interesting that he had a vested interest in Redux. I often wondered about that drug. I think it was nicknamed "Phen-Fen." It was a combination of a serotonin releaser and a stimulant that caused heart valve problems in many users. I wondered how that was different from the ssri+stimulant combinations that many doctors prescribe these days. Often, patients start on an ssri, and when the apathy sets in, doctors will rx a stimulant of some kind. The fenfluramine portion of redux was not an ssri per se. It was a serotonin releaser. I'm not sure whether that means that the combination with a stimulant would be more dangerous or not. After all, once the serotonin is there, the body doesn't know how it got there, does it? The body doesn't know whether the serotonin got there via release or via blocking the reuptake. I don't know what to make of it. I guess I shouldn't worry about it since I can't seem to tolerate anything anymore. I just don't know what I'm going to do. I get hopeful about things, and then I either read about them or try them, and end up feeling worse. My kitchen cabinet looks like a shelf at the health food store, with bottles and bottles of supplements I've tried once or twice and had to abandon for one reason or another.
As far as your stopping the 5-HTP, I don't know what to say. We could use Wurtman's argument against almost anything we take. Just about all of these meds are not naturally found in the body. It didn't sound as if you were suffering from any ill effects from the product. I guess we just have to do more research on it, and I hope Larry puts in his two cents -- or more.
poster:Sarah T.
thread:475892
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050323/msgs/476551.html