My doctor says that I should check the Certificate Analysis for any product that I'm taking especially 5-HTP. He says that it should be 99.5% pure. His concern was not of strength, but rather impurities.

He has been treating patients with aminos for 12 years or more. He is being very honest in helping me find my own supplements and working with me even though I'm going outside of the published brands for this treatment.

With that in mind, I have to ask the question though: is he setting the bar so high so that only his products will qualify? I suppose I need to find evidence that shows what the impurities are for a 98% or 99% brand. I don't see many impurities on the CA sheets so it appears that they are unidentified.

This may sound like I'm being picky, but also keep in mind, thanks to the protocols (includes htp+tyrosine, cysteine hcl and co-factors), I can tolerate higher medicinal doses of 5-HTP for a long period of time. That means I'm taking more than the typical person.

Thanks for your help... This stuff is really great, I would like to know I'm getting clean products for the right price.

This company explains fairly well I think:

http://www.nutrigold.com/5-HTP

I use their PharmaGABA product. And they are affordable.
You can go on iherb.com and read the various brands of 5-HTP.
NOW and Doctor's Best have always had a good reputation and GMP practices.

Some doctors get a notion about supplement purity... but they
seem to disregard, Brand name drugs which have recently been found contaminated! I've heard them say anything not FDA approved is not pure...things like that.

Do you know what your doctor sells, so I can look it up?

He sells CHK Nutrition brands. NeuroReplete is a good one to look at. This is the first one introduced (after week 1) with 5-HTP. It is the one they will likely keep the entire time.

I noticed the CA does not mention Peak-X. I have the Certificate of Analysis for this one here "CA's for NeuroReplete & CysReplete.pdf" in my folder at http://goo.gl/JwgbO ... I have heard them say there have been more than 7K patient have gone through the program and used those products medicinally.

I did a spreadsheet to compare the costs (see folder, see below). Basically, I gather up the same ingredients and take them in the same proportions as the brands divide costs down to the mill or micro gram then multiply back out to get the cost (few!)... Anyway, is saves about 50%. This is for everyone's benefit. This is real science back by labs. If something like NOW is safe in these amounts, more people can afford to boost serotonin and dopamine.


COST PER MONTH
$61.00 CysReplete CHK Nutrition
$24.27 CysReplete Swanson NOW
$44.91 CysReplete Swanson Pharmaceutical
$44.96 CysReplete Swanson Twinlab
$108.90 NeuroReplete CHK Nutrition
$40.63 NeuroReplete Swanson Best

Here is an interesting copy of a news item regarding CHK Nutrition:

http://www.mdjunction.com/forums/lym...ry-supplements

While it is not exactly what you are asking, it does seem odd they continue to run afoul of the FDA, recently.

I am not finding NeuroReplete at Swanson's. Does it have another name?

By the way, I use to respond really well to GABA. After I started the Cysteine it quit working. I moved to the niacin gaba form Picamilon so I could continue to get the GABA into my brain (probably a safe assumption).

Although this was probably safe and it was working, I just finally gave it up to focus elsewhere. In my case, the anxiety I was treating with the GABA was probably caused by low and high serotonin (different times) and low dopamine. Instead I focused on filling reserves in my brain with serotonin and dopamine so I would not have to treat anxiety at all.

I'm much more stable. I have a good stream of conscience thought as a reminder still: that really use to set me off! The real help in my case was to get enough dopamine and serotonin and the natural GABA balances its self. Apparently the research shows how serotonin are dopamine will fix or disrupt everything else.

GABA got me though some hard times though. It gave me some in-site too in that it seems like it use to cross my BBB but now it does not. I read that GABA typically does not cross the BBB. I know a few stable people that don't response to GABA and I know a few unstable ones that do. This is very limited experience, food for thought though. I wonder what else my brain was vulnerable too before this L-Cysteine (aka CysReplete). By the way, to notice this result I took Cysteine, Folate, and Selenium exactly as they use it in the research, on-time, never missing a dose, and on an empty stomach. I did build up to that amount. I did not want to go full force and find out I have a reaction to it... Also, as you can see above, I do consult doctors to make sure I did not miss anything.

I'll just offer something Dr Kalish said. Basically he said we have gone so far in our thinking that it takes a drug to fix a disease that it is against the law to advertise that a natural product can be used to treat a disease. I share that view. Dr Hinz's Parkenson's research is really impressive and backed by lab test. I would sure like to know why they think this is lacking research. Dr Hinz is also a chemist. He does not have any special potions for each diseases, instead he does 1 thing: balances serotonin and dopamine. It couldn't be easier to prove or disprove. The claims he makes all center around the effects of low serotonin and dopmine with research and patient case examples that show good results. Sure, that promotes his products and testing, but keep in mind, his products are dead simple and can be used at no profit to him at all. This is a very valuable contribution. The controversy is truly a mystery to me...

Just so you know ADHD and weight loss are in the same dose range as Parkinson's....

Do a regular internet search .. you'll find it. It is hard to buy. CHK Nutrition tells everyone that have to see a doctor. It is completely over-the-counter but it is there product and there choice to do this. On one hand they are open with the research, but on the other hand they limit it to trained functional medicine doctors. So far, it is really not that complicated though... It is more like diving a car, you need some training to stay safe.

The PharmaGaba does work... I used it for several months when we had a family emergency last spring. I found 2 a day worked and I could tell when it wore off!

Amazon sells these products by that company for really affordable prices with free shipping over $25.

I think you could get what you need from reliable suppliers and save $$ compared to that one brand from CHK.

The CysReplete does not have methylfolate in it, and that would be much preferable to the folic acid (which is synthetic) and some people cannot activate due to DNA problems.

The FDA will not allow supplements to advertise unless the studies are submitted. Some supplements get approved... SAMe has approval for 3 conditions. Salonpas Arthritis just got an FDA OTC approval for effective pain patch use.
And Robitussin and Mucinex have approval for coughs and mucus congestion.

Great, I'll give that a try then...

You introduced me to a 3rd form, this is quite a topic. Let me first point out that the CysReplete (and my personal tray) uses Folate which is natural.

Here is a great article comparing the too. I can't say it is accurate though but this seems to be consistent with our understanding. One thing I found interesting, the article says that Folic Acid enters the blood and is metabolized in the liver, where as Folate is metabolized in the small intestine. It sites all kinds of problems with having Folic Acid in the blood where it does not belong.

On the topic of Cystenie, my doctor said that he had contacted Dr Hinz and asked him to replace Folate with 5-MTHF. Apparently this is a specific form of the methylfolate you mentioned above. After reading part of this page, maybe he meant to say L-5-MTHF.

He did not give me the amounts to use though so I'm kinda stuck with Folate for now. I have to be sure I take enough with the Cysteine.

A friend told me about Kavinace by NeuroScience. The amazon reviews are very positive. It has gaba precursors that cross the blood brain barrier. I'll be interested to hear if anyone tries it. Pharmagaba didn't work for me.

any results , are yo still taking neuroreplete, been a few years on now ?
One thing I don't see on the net is the thousands of testimonials from people who had great results from Neuroreplete.
In the odd case where results are asked for the threads seem 'spammed' with first time commenters saying how wonderful it is.
which makes me a bit concerned especially when I see the fda action.