AboutDr. Ravindra Bhaskar Ghooi Expertise I can provide information on drugs and medicines, their actions, uses, interactions and adverse effects. To avoid confusion, generic names of
medicines may please be provided. I am a pharmacologist, having worked
on animal and human pharmacology, and presently I am the Dean of Bilcare Research Academy, where we teach courses on clinical research. We dont work on saturdays and sundays, hence questions reachng me on these days will be replied on Monday, please bear with me.
Question Hello I suffer from anxiety. I wish to know your thoughts on the anxiety supplement 5-htp. Can you give me you opinion of 5-htp and the risk of "serotonin syndrome". I take skullcap herb, valerian, passion flower, hops and niacinamide ONLY! MY QUESTION IS: Would taking 300mg of 5-htp daily with these herbs give me ANY CHANCE of causing serotonin syndrome???
Also can 5-htp be taken with alcohol? And would St Johns Wort be better/safer than 5-htp? Thanks for help.
Answer Hi Gary,
Anxiety is a very simple problem which can be treated easily, and we have a large number of efficacious and safe drugs. The products yo are using are not only poorly studied, they are not even well standardized. Therefore it is dificult to say whether combining these products will lead to intractions within them or with othr drugs. My advice would be to switch over to well studied products, they will be safe and effective. I personally do not advocate the use of such products.
Ravi Ghooi
