Hi Turbo
St John's wort and 5HTP can cause serotonin syndrome when combined together - rather don't use them together, use one or the other. I recommend 5HTP, because it is a direct precursor of serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, a substance released from one nerve cell (also called a neuron) toward another to form a connection between nerve cells. The purpose of a neurotransmitter like Serotonin is to cross the synaptic gap between nerve cells, continuing the message that was activated somewhere else in the brain in other nerve cells. This activation can have numerous causes. When you listen to a paraliminal, your thoughts and feelings activate nerve cells and one of the purposes of serotonin is to make sure the 'feel good' messages get across to other interconnected nerve cells. Creating more good feelings.
Your experience of the supplements only helping after two weeks, is thought to be caused by growth of nerve cells which takes a little time, about 2 or 3 weeks. But once it's going more growth of nerve cells continues. Creating nerve cells takes energy, the supplements provide some of that energy, the rest the body provides.
Here is my theory of what happens when you use paraliminals and 5HTP together, when you are slightly depressed: Old brain circuits are suppressed due to stress or negative events in your life, the serotonin is suppressed because you are suppressing the positive feelings. Why should you feel good when life is so bad - kind of thinking - it's a bad cycle. That's why people use supplements like 5HTP, to break the cycle. You were lucky enough to have the paraliminals break the cycle. Some people get so depressed that only antidepressants break the cycle, and thought change makes a minimal difference without aid from medication. If you are using paraliminals as well as 5HTP, new neurons and new circuits, will form on the added strength of the 5HTP. If you have the fortune of being able to come off 5HTP, without negative effects, it will be due to new circuits formed with your paraliminal work. These new circuits might sustain you for a long time after you have come off 5HTP. A wise lifestyle change is sometimes also enough to be able to come off 5HTP.
If I'm not mistaken, the latest research shows that people are born with either short or long forms of 5HTP in their genetic coding. One of those forms of 5HTP causes a person to be more susceptible to stress than a person with the other form of 5HTP. The persons with the susceptible form get depressed more easily. So the genetic makeup of a person susceptible to stress can cause a person to have to take many more steps of prevention than those who are not likely to get depressed. If you take as many steps as is sensible, you are likely to keep depression at bay.
* By all means use 5HTP and the paraliminals together, there is a good synergy between them.
* Learn about serotonin syndrome, and how to prevent it.
* Learn which strategies you can wisely combine when treating your depression.
Hope this is what you were looking for.
Kind Regards
Grant
