5-hydroxytryptophan and Dizziness: What Users Say

• Mar...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 13, 2019

5-hydroxytryptophan for Anxiety "I took one 5-HTP 100 mg capsule on 10/12/2019 at 9:45 pm, hoping to relax and get some sleep. Twenty minutes later, I was having difficulty thinking, and then I became severely dizzy, had severe numbness in my hands, arms, and face. I couldn't breathe or focus and had severe chest pain, which made it increasingly hard to focus. I barely made it to the staircase to our bedroom to call for help. I started sweating profusely and blacked out for a minute on the stairs and woke up vomiting the capsule and contents of my stomach, and started to feel better almost instantly. 911 was called, and I was taken to the ER, where I was told that I was having a severe allergic reaction to the supplement. I will never purchase another supplement again or ever try 5-HTP because I could have died. I'm a 53-year-old woman who is going through menopause, and I don't take anything other than a multivitamin daily."

• Sad...
• April 12, 2019

5-hydroxytryptophan for Anxiety "Took 5-HTP 100 mg at night with magnesium, to calm my mild anxiety and sadness, help with sleep. I was post-concussion and being treated for autoimmune disease. At around 6 months, I increasingly noticed I was waking at night, I started getting more anxious, suicidal thoughts. During this time, I also did a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) treatment of antibiotics, which probably helped my gut work better, and then started low-dose naltrexone for my autoimmune disease. I started to have heart palpitations, sweating at night, depressed thoughts, panic attacks which I never had before, where you get arrhythmia, continuous bad thoughts, tingling in your fingers, and feel dizzy. When withdrawing from 5-HTP, I had a horrible time. I had to withdraw slowly, as I had a lot of the symptoms of SSRI withdrawal. My brain and thoughts were so disturbing. I would be very cautious using this drug long-term and continuously. Study needs to be done on low-dose naltrexone and 5-HTP. Or post-concussion and 5-HTP."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 30, 2021

5-hydroxytryptophan for Anxiety "I’ve been dealing with some intense anxiety and sadness. Pretty sure all my symptoms point to anxiety. I started a supplement with 5-HTP in it. Took it for 2 days and had a massive dizzy spell, so I stopped taking it, thinking it was the supplement. Started a week later, and it’s been four days, and I honestly feel my symptoms are much worse than before. It’s 50 mg of 5-HTP, I’ve researched the other ingredients in the supplement, and no other ones seem to make my symptoms worse. I will take a break and see what happens."

• Sty...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 30, 2020

5-hydroxytryptophan "I went to a nutritional store for 5-HTP after doing some research on it for mild chronic depression. The nutritionist suggested 200 mg. Took it at night for a couple of nights, and my stomach woke me up. Had pains and diarrhea. Took it after breakfast two days later and ended up with severe nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, sweating, pale, and weakness. Was terrible. I am going to try the smallest dose I can get and take it on a full stomach. See what happens. Otherwise, it's not going to work for me."

• ogo...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 23, 2019

For Anxiety "Started taking 5-HTP for general anxiety based on web info gushing about its effectiveness, bought NOW brand 100 mg. Label said to take 3x per day with food, which I did. After 48 hrs, started getting bad diarrhea, along with a dizzy/weak feeling much like the bout of anemia I used to have. Another 24 hours and the problems persisted, stopped taking the 5-HTP and they resolved within a day. There were no warnings on the label about these possible side effects, but a quick Google search showed that these were the most common side effects of this product... why would the producer of this product fail to put these common side effects on the back of the label??? Are they that greedy that they can't give informed full disclosure? Pretty much cost me 2 days of sickness to try their product."

• Bil...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 13, 2021

5-hydroxytryptophan "5-HTP for SIBO as a prokinetic. I have been using 5-HTP for 4 months in the form of Motilpro to stimulate the Migrating Myoelectric Complex (MMC) for SIBO, 100 mg at night (2 capsules). I had mild adverse side effects at first but continued to use it. I have now had to stop, my side effects are waking up in the night with a racing heart, nausea, sleeplessness, vivid unpleasant dreams, also sweating, dizziness, and fatigue that lasts during the day. I cannot function while taking this drug anymore. It was worth trying out, I believe it is effective. My FP advises some people's serotonin levels rise very fast, I believe I am in that category. I hope this helps someone else decide whether or not it is for them. I do not suffer from depression and didn't notice any enhancement of my mood."

• Rit...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 8, 2021

For Insomnia "Will never, ever take 5-hydroxytryptophan 100 mg again. It has given me near-constant liquid diarrhea, numbness in the face, dizziness, confusion. Never again."