Terrible First Time L-Theanine Experience

[Captain_Coconut]

So I got some L-Theanine in the mail just yesterday.

6pm - take 200mg on an empty stomach.
9pm - "hey this isn't really doing anything...." honestly I didn't notice anything at all from taking it.
11pm - "well let's see if it will help me sleep better" i take another 200mg on empty stomach.

Well here I am now it is 6am, despite spending 7 straight hours in bed doing my best to try and sleep I did not slept at all. I felt extreme skin sensitivity, crawling sensations, itchiness - so much that the one moment I almost fell asleep I was immediately shaken back awake by the itchy allover feeling. Generally I have been sleeping well lately, this is the worst insomnia I have experienced in at least 6 months.

I don't think I'll be taking this again. I read various accounts from other people who have had this same unbearable itch and or inability to sleep from it. Why does it produce this negative effect on some people?

 

[raypeatclips]

I felt ******* weird taking theanine a few years ago. Felt depersonalised/derealised for a day or two after, just didn't feel normal. I'd never take it again.

 

[anyfit]

Theanine can increase NGF - Nerve Growth Factor (Theanine, r-glutamylethylamide, increases neurotransmission concentrations and neurotrophin mRNA levels in the brain during lactation. - PubMed - NCBI)
That can cause over activity in your nervous system, and that's why you feel itching and restlessness (Nerve growth factor, pain, itch and inflammation: lessons from congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. - PubMed - NCBI)

Try to lower the dose and see if you still get it

 

[Captain_Coconut]

Theanine can increase NGF - Nerve Growth Factor (Theanine, r-glutamylethylamide, increases neurotransmission concentrations and neurotrophin mRNA levels in the brain during lactation. - PubMed - NCBI)
That can cause over activity in your nervous system, and that's why you feel itching and restlessness (Nerve growth factor, pain, itch and inflammation: lessons from congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. - PubMed - NCBI)

Try to lower the dose and see if you still get it

I'm afraid to experiment with a lower dose. Maybe someday when I have no consequences over losing sleep. The NGF idea makes some sense, but I also just looked at a list of various supplements that are known to increase NGF and none of the 7 or 8 I have used of those have ever had this effect on me. So either Theanine is way more potent on NGF, or this is something else mainly doing it.

Is it possible it dropped my serotonin so extremely that sleep was lost? Can neural serotonin elimination cause itchiness? My scalp was particularly itchy feeling, even though it has been in good shape lately. I am finally past the itch, thankfully!

 

[anyfit]

I'm afraid to experiment with a lower dose. Maybe someday when I have no consequences over losing sleep. The NGF idea makes some sense, but I also just looked at a list of various supplements that are known to increase NGF and none of the 7 or 8 I have used of those have ever had this effect on me. So either Theanine is way more potent on NGF, or this is something else mainly doing it.

Is it possible it dropped my serotonin so extremely that sleep was lost? Can neural serotonin elimination cause itchiness? My scalp was particularly itchy feeling, even though it has been in good shape lately. I am finally past the itch, thankfully!

Theanine also raises BDNF
One study points out that it is correlated with nocturnal itching ( The Itchy scalp - scratching for an explanation)

 

[sladerunner69]

Hmm perhaps the theanine I take before bed is causing all of these nerve sensations as well as the overall sense of anxiety...

 

[ddjd]

In some situations, theanine really causes me anxiety. The only thing that works to stop it is preg or progst

 

[Waynish]

So many people have these that I think there is really something ignorant about recommend anyone even try it. Here's some reasoning: so many people in the world have drank lots of tea on an empty stomach without even such severe effects are commonly reported with Theanine (and I've experienced myself). Enough people have had enough tea on an empty stomach that they should be having a lot more frequent side effects - if the same amount of so-called Theanine in tea acted the same in the body as the theanine in supplements.

 

[Terma]

High dose will trigger the immune activating properties of theanine