O K....O K..... What the heck is 5htp and where do we get it?

5 HTP is short for 5-hydroxytryptophan, a supplement that enhances seratonin activity in the brain. It's currently being used in some applications as an alternative to Prozac.

There is an explanation of it here: 5 HTP

Karen

Here's another link:
http://www.smart-publications.com/books/5htp/toc.html

I took 500mg/day of 5htp for 2 years for depression. I slept better, had no cravings for alcohol, the only other side effects I had, was that I was tired in the begining until my body adjusted to the dosage. Nature's way 5htp with B6 &C is guaranted pure and free from all impurities including peak X, (I'm assuming you read the article listed above). It is also enteric coated so that the pills do not get broken down until they reach your small intestine, therefore no stomach upset.

By the way I no longer suffer from depression.

Thank You for the info.... I think I'll wait for long term testing.... and maybe opt for the "potato" instead. Too many scarey stories there for me, I am a medical chicken, when it comes to taking things that have not been tested long term. The information was appreciated, and it 's explination was very thorough Osuzana

I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. We have just passed our 1st anniversary of Lizzie's death (she was 14). And she lived with my mom and me until i left home when she was 10 and she had liver failure. I couldn't even get the blasted day off work to go with my mom and sister to the vets.

I know how you are feeling. I do have another dog now she's three and she is our "baby" i don't care what anyone says.

I'm sooooo grateful for this thread it's done me the world of good.

I've tried to think about how i'm going to solve my "problem".

I've thought about this many times , usually in the morning and said "never again!" and not only if i'd been absolutely drunk, just when i wake up feeling rough and then realise i had 3/4's of a bottle of wine the night before.
So i decide i'm never drinking again EVER.

Then 3 or 4 days of being really proud of myself i say ok then i'll change the goals to Just a glass at weekends! That one is the best i've done yet (1 week!).
But then i go out for a meal with friends and i think well it's a special occasion, so i have one or two glasses and have no pudding so food wise i don't feel guilty and on the way home i get a bottle from the off licence!!! (thinking : it's ok coz i didn't have a pudding so i've restricted myself there!!!!

What a FOOL!
Soon it's ok to open a bottle with our evening meal and finish it off.Tom also asks me not to drink too much because he knows i open a bottle and pretty much will try and finish it. It doesn't help that it seems the "norm" on TV or at work or friends house's to have a glass of wine or a beer whilst watching tv or sitting in the garden.....but it's having just one that is my real problem

Saying all this - i haven't had a drink for 2 days and i'm trying really hard with my Body for Life program / low carbing so why shouldn't my initial goal be 12 weeks (or 9 weeks as i'm on weeks three already)! ! Till the end of my first challenge.
NO CHANCE!
That's what i think, but i'm trying to think of something that will give me a light at the end of the tunnel (if u know what i mean!)

But something which isn't TOO easy....if it's just drink every other day then i'll have twice as much every other day so i'll not benefit from that but if it's something i have to make a conscious effort at , then maybe i can really stick it out.

I don't know what i'll do yet, but for now i'm just avoiding it and thinking of my carbs and exercise more.

Right that's my nonsense for today all the best to everyone.
Speak to you all soon.
Phoebe x x

You're seven hours ahead of me, so I'm wondering how you're doing this evening!

Phoebe, I'd say your problem is very similar to mine, but take heart, low-carbing may actually be the solution for that too.

I've been doing some version of carb control for nearly four years now, with varying amounts of dilegence and success. At the same time, I've noticed that progressively, I haven't been able to drink the same amont I used to without getting unpleasantly drunk (although until recently I've kept on trying ).

Then someone on this thread (yes, this one!!) turned a light bulb on in my head when she said that since she started LCing, she can take or leave alcohol, because the effects are so much more pronounced. And it hit me -- wihout all the carbs in your stomach to absorb the booze, it just gets funnelled straight through. NO WONDER I feel so awful when I try to drink as I used to!!!

Anyhow, for the last week or so, I've paid careful attention to how I feel after each glass of wine (or drink), and I've discovered that the perfect amount over the evening seems to be two. Any more and I start feeling unpleasant.

So I'm going to continue to go to my ladies AA meetings (Just in case! ), and at the same time I'm going to take a lot more care with my drinks.

I'm also going to start doing something with my evenings so I'm not stuck in the same routine that allows me to do nothing but read or watch TV until bedtime.

It's all very interesting, but the correlation between lower carb and less tolerence is striking. Why didn't I see it before?

All the best,

Joanna

Well, I just got on the net this morning and ordered a bottle of 5-htp. I'll keep you all posted on what happens. One of its effects is to lessen carb cravings, which I would say I almost never experience--except that alcohol is a form of sugar, isn't it, so it might be helpful that way.

Staff get-together after work today. I know I can do it low-carb but not low-wine. My willpower is just not with me these days, that's why I'm hoping a pill will work, even if it's just psychological.

Janis

I am curious as to the size glass everyone drinks from, The recommended size is usually one--- 4 1/2 oz. glass I personally dont know anyone who only drinks this amount of wine. I use a 7 oz. glass, and usually have 2 and if I'm amongst friends I usually manage to down 3 glasses. This is really too much I am sure, but when I am with friends this always happens.
I am aware that the French people drink wine several times during the day, and are for the most part, pretty healthy, so I have heard! I wonder what their consumption average per person per day is???

I've never seen it, but apparently the French used to have a poster advertising the benefits of drinking red wine, and the caption was: "No more than a litre a day!"

Personally, an average glass of wine for me is somewhere between 4 and 6 oz -- I know, I measured it once. Difficulties arise if my husband tops it up before I'm finished. Then I lose track.

An article in this month's edition of Science is extolling the virtues of red wine in preventing colds. In the study carried out, those who drank two glasses a day had 30% fewer colds than those that didn't drink, and those who drank more than two had 44% fewer colds!

They don't make it easy to give it up, do they?

To your health!

Joanna

That study on red wine and colds was in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

(Science had a study on how having boys rather than girsl can shorten your life!)

I'm fine...though i have broken my "fast" of nil alcohol!

BUT i did it after thought and i was going to a balti restaurant and i didn't want wine because last time i had almost a bottle to myself ........ and i am making conscious decisions with my amounts as i hope i can then be more in control of what i drink or don't drink. So..... i decided i would have 2 cans of cider (i've been known to buy 4 and drink 3 in a sitting!) and NO MORE.

Well it's weird you mentioning it about how such little amounts affect you, because i felt abit tipsy after just 1/2 pint which is not normal! And i actually left a whole glass because i just felt like i'd had loads and loads and i was well pleased to be able to leave some and not be bothered.

So even though i didn't say to myself NO i did think about it before hand and decided to have some but limit it. I am actually proud of doing that just as much as not drinking but i have to stay focused to say no to it tonight as i want to not drink now for another couple of days.

Wish me luck folks

Phoebe

I'm rooting for ya Phoebe!




BTW, job well done for making a plan and sticking to it!! Having control over your intake, and NOT the other way around is a very BIG deal! Congrats!

This is a great thread and I relate so much!!
I've been doing Adkins for some time but not with too much thought...I just limit my carbs and of course stay away from bread/pasta/rice. I don't keep count as I really never had much too lose and just wanted to do something about my fat "gut".
So far the scale says I haven't lost at all but all my size 7 shorts are too big and I now fit into my 5's again!!
I still have some gut and flab but overall I'm happy and not as embarassed to been seen in my swimsuit.
Sooooo all that is good but I too drink my wine (white) and have really noticed how it goes to my head alot faster. This really bothers me and I've found myself thinking about it alot. I don't want to give up the wine yet I find myself "drunk" almost every single night.
Last night I seemed fine until right when my husband came home from work (11 pm). I got up for just one more glass and came back to the couch to talk to hubby. Then just like that I felt totally out of it. And of course I then tried to "control" myself so he wouldn't notice and got myself to bed.
I just don't like that feeling!! Doing LC just doesn't seem to mix with drinking, yet I want to do both.
Anyway, just sharing and thanks for sharing too!!

In a way this thread IS like a AA meeting where we still drink!

What a thread! This is great!

Here's my story...I don't drink, or should I say; I probably have 4 weak 7&7's a year divided into 2 days. Until today, I was considering starting to drink on a nightly basis. Yeah, go figure!

I keep hearing about the benefits of wine. So I went out and bought a bottle a couple of weeks ago, even though "I don't like wine...at all !" Every night I see it and I tell myself I'll start drinking "tomorrow" because "it's good for me". Kind of like medicine, I guess. You guys have helped me kick a habit I hadn't even started!

Amazing........

I come from an alcoholic family. The ones who didn't drink too much were either overweight or diabetic or both. Overweight is my problem. I have always been afraid, and rightly so, of getting to like booze a little too much - and my particular poison is wine.
Susan Powter, that misguided apostle of low fattery, only finally got free of her alcohol problems when she added very good supplements to her diet and - I'm fuzzy on the details here - believe she ate more veggies and fewer grain carbs than she had preached formerly. I do know that she used to keep grain carbs everywhere to feed her constant hunger. Small wonder she also turned to alcohol as well. But once she gave her body what it needed, she finally got control.