I take 200 miligrams of 5-HTP every day and I love love love what it does for me. One time, I stopped taking it for a week to see how well my meds were working or if the 5HTP was doing more, and it turns out the 5 HTP helps me more than my meds do. There aren't any side effects (at least for me) and it kicked in for me really really really fast. I love it!