Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

Please slow down as you read my comments. You are mixing things up.

[So just using drugs to make your brain work... yeah this really sucks.]

Do you eat so your brain has sugar and other nutrients?

5-HTP is to take the place of the SSRI. It is not a drug. It does not heal anything. Your body already used 5-HTP. It makes it from Tryptophan. If the brain is not requesting enough tryptophan to convert to 5-HTP, you will have a serotonin and melatonin deficiency.

The only side effects from 5-HTP comes when you take TOO much, usually much more than 500 mgs a day. The therapeutic value comes at dose much less than those that cause side-effects.

What are the Lexapro side effects like? It list the same side effects as the paroxetine that I took. YUCK.

Many labs have a broad range of 'normal' for B-12 and folate. The injured brain often needs the high end of the normal range.

B-12 range is often listed as 200 to 900 picograms per milliliter (pg/mL). I try to stay at 1000 at my doctor's recommendation. I take 2000 mcgs of Methylcobolomin B-12 twice a day.

Folate should be 20 or more.

B-12 and folate help maintain the blood brain barrier.

I had struggled with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, chest palpitations and such on and off since I was 10 years old (1965) when I had my worst brain injury.

I did not get any help until the early 1980s. I learned how to help my brain function better with nutrition and other supplements.

Another event in 1998 and 2001 magnified my problems.

The 5-HTP helps with the anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, chest palpitations. I would get triggered into severe anxiety attacks by over-stimulation. I have rescue Klonopin and propranolol for those events. I have not needed it since I switched from an SSRI to 5-HTP.

You must decide that you are your best help. Doctors cannot do much. They prescribe meds that have limited effectiveness.

There are many injuries and illnesses that cannot be cured or fully healed. Try breaking an ankle badly. I know many people who broke their ankle and ended up needing to have their foot and lower leg amputated. Bones are supposed to heal...... But not always.

Yeah. Life is not perfect. But, we can decide to move on.

If you get stuck in a pity party, I can point you to YouTubes of people who have severe disabilities who get on with their lives. Check out Andy Detwyler at the Harmless Farmer channel.

We may need to just accept our limitations and find new ways to get on with life.

Originally Posted by SilenceIsSacred

If you're going to do HBOT there's no reason to get a SPECT scan. You know you're injured and it will just increase your odds of a brain tumor later along with the CT scans. What the SPECT scan shows won't affect your HBOT routine. Just get a home chamber setup from Summit To Sea and you'll spend a hell of a lot less than 16k and you can do as many dives as you want. The DTI sounds like a good idea but won't inform you as to treatment, it will only tell you where the white matter damage is.

For stem cells, Dr. Hughes in Colorado is where I went. I've had positive and negatives come from it. Several people I've talked to feel they've benefited a lot. If you're really that desperate, his protocol is far more comprehensive/aggressive but you'll pay $12k after factoring in travel and other expenses. There's also the Vielight.

HBOT is the place to start though. You will almost certainly get something out of it.

I went to Cognitive FX as well but only benefited modestly from it.

As to the future, SB623 stem cells by San Bio are now being tested on brain injury patients for motor deficits. These cells have allowed paralyzed stroke victims to begin moving their paralyzed sides the next day in some cases. After the cells are approved for motor impairment it is likely they will be tested on other parts of the brain. The cells have a wound healing gene which is active in the brains of newborns which recover much better than adults after brain injury. The recovery we will get from treatments like this will likely far surpass what we can imagine today.

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

DrainBamaged, (That is an inside joke)

5-HTP is not a healing agent. It helps the brain work the way it is supposed to work without the need for an SSRI. It only takes the place of the SSRI and maybe helps you live without the benzo, too.

It has NO side effects other than needing to not take it and an SSRI at the same time. Taper the SSRI and add the 5-HTP.

I would go the natural route long before I tried the HBOT and other expensive and unproven (works for some but not for others) protocols.

My psychiatrist recommended 5-HTP as a way of getting off the Paxil/paroxetine/SSRI. Is is cheap at $10 a month for 200 mgs a day. It will take 2 to 3 months to see if you benefit from 5-HTP as you wean off the SSRI and onto 5-HTP.

Hmmm. A supplement that is naturally produced in and used in your brain with no side-effects or a synthetic drugs that screws with your serotonin modulation system and causes a page full of side-effects. Let me think about it.

I waited far too long. I was looking for a psychiatrist who would monitor my transition for SSRI to 5-HTP because the prior psych retired before I was ready to try to switch.

If the natural brain support does not work, you can always go back to the synthetic drug/SSRI.

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

5-HTP is standardized. I get mine from Vitacost.com Walmart sells Nature's Bounty. I shop for best price. I don't go for the high priced up sells. I am not placebo influenced.

I was on maximum dose SSRI Paxil for 14 years. I tapered over 2 months and started adding 5-htp after getting to 1/2 dose.

Some try L-Tryptophan to help with taper off an SSRI. It is a precursor to 5-HTP.

SSRIs and Benzos are not good for the brain.

Originally Posted by braindamage

Good to hear from you. I've been wondering how you have been doing since the stem cells. What, again, were your symptoms prior to HBOT and stem cell treatment? Did you have heart palpitations, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and oversleeping/feeling like you're in a coma? And how have they gotten better? And what kind of stem cells did you get again? I am definitely going to do HBOT. Then maybe 5htp if that doesn't heal me that well. I'd like to do the stem cell thing if all else fails and I have no other options left. Because I am not taking klonopin and SSRI's for the next 50 yrs til I die. It's ridiculous. Either the place you mention or in Norway that I hear people have had wonderful results from. It's call EmCell in Kiev ukraine. It won't me post links just yet on the forum but look up the god cells: full documentary.