Why Did 5-htp Help My Headaches?

[ecstatichamster]

It didn't feel right. I took it a few times. But it did help the headaches that I get.

Since it is basically tryptophan, doesn't it basically turn into serotonin? Sure felt that way in my gut. And yet, my headaches seem WORSE from serotonin, based upon reactions to foods, coincidence of "allergy" symptoms with rectal bleeding and sore butt, gut issues...

I now wonder why lots of people report headache relief from 5-htp.

 

[tara]

But it did help the headaches that I get.

I now wonder why lots of people report headache relief from 5-htp.

Short-term/as needed when headaches are happening, or daily preventive?
I'm not really clear on how the triptans work, but I suspect they raise serotonin and selectively constrict blood vessels. They are the only thing that (usually) can interrupt the migraines that get me. Don't like using them, but the alternative is worse (at least in the short-term).

 

[jaguar43]

It didn't feel right. I took it a few times. But it did help the headaches that I get.

Since it is basically tryptophan, doesn't it basically turn into serotonin? Sure felt that way in my gut. And yet, my headaches seem WORSE from serotonin, based upon reactions to foods, coincidence of "allergy" symptoms with rectal bleeding and sore butt, gut issues...

I now wonder why lots of people report headache relief from 5-htp.

Migrainoids typically have unusually vivid
visual imagery and high electrical activity of the
brain stem; a sudden drop in serotonin level is
considered to be responsible for the swelling
blood vessels that cause the pain, scotoma, etc.
The travelling symptoms described by Reich and
others may indicate that a certain mass of vessels
exceeds the organism's vasoconstriction capacity;

Ray Peat

A Biophysical Approach to Altered Consciousness

http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1975/pdf/1975-v04n03-p189.pdf

 

[tara]

Thanks jag!

 

[ecstatichamster]

Short-term/as needed when headaches are happening, or daily preventive?
I'm not really clear on how the triptans work, but I suspect they raise serotonin and selectively constrict blood vessels. They are the only thing that (usually) can interrupt the migraines that get me. Don't like using them, but the alternative is worse (at least in the short-term).

People take them daily. I took them a few times and they clearly helped. I didn't like the gut effects. Reminded me of LSD, kind of, and how it feels in the gut. Then I read more from Ray and decided it wasn't a good thing. But it did/does work.

 

[tara]

I took them a few times and they clearly helped.

You mean you took them when you had a headache, and it reduced or went away? Or you took it preventatively a few times and it prevented?

 

[DaveFoster]

It's like comparing NO and CO2. Both cause blood vessel vasodilation, but the latter does so without harm.

 

[tara]

It's like comparing NO and CO2. Both cause blood vessel vasodilation, but the latter does so without harm.

What is the harmless way you can imagine to emulate that (maybe opposite) effect of 5-htp or triptans?

 

[ecstatichamster]

You mean you took them when you had a headache, and it reduced or went away? Or you took it preventatively a few times and it prevented?

Reduced or went away.

 

[Drareg]

Years ago before reading Peat I used 5htp, the first time I felt what most people on amazon reviews get from it, sense of calm and peace, noticing things in the environment that I never did before.
It was how I would imagine lsd might be,never done lsd yet so I'm guessing here.

This was an American brand, I never really got that effect from it here in Europe.
did Peat or someone on hear mention before that a sudden increase in serotonin causes the body to increase the enzyme that destroys serotonin??

I'm guessing it has many indirect effects , if Prozac and other ssri increase allopregnenolone as the side effect it could be the same with 5htp initially.
5htp effects the MAOI System, would those who are sensitive to MAOI get different effects from 5htp supplement depending on the which MAOI is effected?

 

[tara]

a sudden drop in serotonin level is
considered to be responsible for the swelling
blood vessels that cause the pain, scotoma, etc.
The travelling symptoms described by Reich and
others may indicate that a certain mass of vessels
exceeds the organism's vasoconstriction capacity

So this might be why some of us get migraines more often when the stress comes off (eg weekends) - stress hormones down quickly, serotonin drops fasts-> vasodilation (maybe blood vessels short on muscle tone and/or energy) -> pain?