DOSE:	50 mg	oral	Tryptophan - 5-HTP
	100 mg	oral	Tryptophan - 5-HTP
	2 g	oral	GABA
	4 g	oral	GABA
	1 g	oral	Tyrosine
	2 g	oral	Tyrosine
	1.5 g	oral	Phenylalanine
	2.5 g	oral	Phenylalanine

BODY WEIGHT:

145 lb

Since fighting depression for two years, I realized that any depressants either gave too many side effects, or stopped working in a month of use. So after experimenting with my diet, and activities, I got my emotional depression, and lack of energy (somewhat) under control. But my focus and some-what lack of energy was still a mystery to me.

So I decided to try nootropic/smart drugs to see if I could find the right substances to curb the chemical imbalances in my brain. This report was compiled over two weeks. And each of these dosages were tried 2-3 times each for the sake of science and statistics.

5-HTP

At first, I tried 5-HTP, which goes as follows: taken with Sertraline (zoloft) it greatly enhanced my (assumed) serotonin levels, to the point I could feel the serotonin increasing and acting my brain. SSRI users know this feeling as a bunch of yawns, a numb apathetic feelin. The dosage and results goes as follows (without Sertraline). Each of these scenarios were experimented several times each.

• 50mg (bedtime): Sleeping is easy, but significant increase of dreaming, especially 'weird' and vivid dreams. Woke up feeling much better and less groggy.
• 100mg (bedtime): Sleeping is more difficult than without 5-HTP, very restless. And once asleep I was prone to wake up 3 or so hours later because of the dreams. Woke up feeling very weird and paranoid.
• 50mg (daytime): Decent boost of energy, and slightly enhanced focus (not enough though). No mood enhancement though.
• 100mg (daytime): Typical Serotonin yawn episodes every 10 minutes, slight lethargy, and a very pronounced 'fried-out' feeling not limited to staring off into the distances.
• 50mg (daytime, with sertraline): Though the serotonin effects were far more pronounced, my symptoms were alot less severe with this combination. 5-HTP also seems to counteract the sexual side effects of Sertraline. But alas, cognition was still lax.

I recommend 5-HTP over any pharmaceutical any day for general depression. And if you use other drugs, 5-HTP was a great suppressant for post-ecstasy crashes. And also boosted the effects of cannabis (especially the effects such as racing thoughts).

GABA

Secondly, I tried GABA in hopes of improving my cognition.

• 2000mg (by itself): No real effect, however every 30 minutes it felt as if I was not getting enough oxygen, and I began hyperventilating. Nothing too scary though. Episodes lasted about 20 seconds.
• 4000mg (by itself): No real effect noticeable still, I still have a foggy mind, but I seem to think a tad bit faster. And the breathing episodes increased in duration.

GABA also appeared to make my cannabis highs become a lot mellower and slow paced, and the peak high was slightly longer lasting. Also, after the fourth or fifth time with GABA 4000mg, the breathing difficulties ceased entirely.

L-Tyrosine

Thirdly, I experimented with Tyrosine.

• 1000mg (by itself): Slight mood lift, and cognition was noticeably sharper. I like where this is going. No other side effects.
• 2000mg (by itself): A better mood lift, nothing really heavy, but it helps. Cognition was the same as 1000mg.
• 1000mg (with 5-htp): This combination works great, with the cognition, mood, and energy enhancement of both - though not as effective as first few weeks of any anti-depressants SSRI or not.

L-Phenylalanine

Last I tried Phenylalanine, which is a precursor to Tyrosine.

• 1500mg (by itself): Same effect as Tyrosine(1000mg), but this kicked in much later.
• 2500mg (by itself): After 3 hours, I noticed some positive effects. But not as good as Tyrosine 2000mg. or Tyrosine/5-HTP combo.

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 85473
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 18
Published: Dec 3, 2013	Views: 26,253
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Pharms - Sertraline (88), Tryptophan - 5-HTP (196), GABA (362), Tyrosine (363), Phenylalanine (445) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Unknown Context (20)