Does anyone supplement their diets a la The Mood Cure?

[melissel]

I'm giving it a try, taking 5-HTP, tyrosine, cod liver oil, and other supplements. I'm not sure if I'm feeling a difference in my emotions at all, but I'm experiencing a few noticeable side effects: I spend the day a little sweaty and flushed (I'm not sure if that's a bad thing, because I'm usually feeling chilly, even in the house), and my hands and feet are swelling ever so slightly after I take my morning regimen--but I don't take anything in the a.m. that I don't also take later, and I don't feel the swelling then!

Anyway, I'd love to hear about others' experiences, good or bad. I have high hopes for this plan, but I also want to be realistic too.

Thanks!

[susie in tx]

My nutritionist worked with Julia Ross in the research portion of this book. However, Ms. Ross may or may not have taken my nutritionist's advice. ;)

There are many really great ideas in the book. Play around with them. Personally, I have trouble with 5-htp. At the time the book was written, IIRC, tryptophan was hard to find. You may want to try tryptophan instead of the 5-htp. Tryptophan is the pre-cursor to 5-htp. Also, if you are using amino acids, make sure you are getting enough b vites and c. They are co-factors to the aminos and you need to have the correct balance.

Finally, how are your vitamin d levels? It's a great idea to get this checked via a blood test. You'll want to have the 25(OH)D test done, not the other one. I can't remember the name. If you are in the US, there is a huge chance that you are not getting enough vitamin D from the sun 9 months out of the year. And, those other three months of the year, you need to be getting sun exposure on your stomach/liver area, during the heat of the day, without clothes. I know that most of us aren't doing that. You'll want a test result around 55. I would also be remiss if I did not mention fish oil. It's a huge part of the mood cure plan, and should be addressed as well.

I studied up on this quite a bit several years ago, let me know if you have other questions.