I just wanted to report in on this because it might helps people. I've been psych meds for depression for years, lastly Effexor, but found my depression was still there and that I was flat and unmotivated. In combination with birth control pills, my sex life has sucked for most of my adult life, too. So, I weaned myself off of Effexor last year, and since I was 49 and pretty sure I was in menopause, I stopped the BCPs. I started taking supplements like 5-htp and Sam-E because I had read they could help.

I was then really having trouble with anxiety and anger, and I guess in part menopause was truly showing it's ugly face, lots of insomnia, self-esteem in the tank, not interested in doing much of anything, even things that I used to enjoy. Someone suggested I had ADD so I pursued testing, because my concentration and memory problems were really distressing. The testing revealed I did NOT have ADD, but that I did have OCD and anxiety along with depression. I always thought depression was my primary issue, but now I realize it was secondary to GAD. There's a lot of GAD on my mom's side of the family, and my grandmother was manic-depressive. The doctor told me the good news was that meds could make it all go away, and he got my hopes up. He said there were sex-neutral meds, since I had told him my concerns there.

So, I went to a p-doc, and she put me on Viibryd. The first week on 10 mg wasn't too bad and my anger/irritability came down. Then I went up to 20 mg and OMG it was awful! Despite being "sexually neutral" my drive was even further in the tank and I became unable to orgasm at all! It was like dead wood down there - unable to hardly feel at all! PLUS, my anxiety took on a life of it's own - I felt like I was having adrenalin rushes for no reason, and my insomnia got worse, awake and fretting hard over things that I hadn't been as concerned about before. So, I quit.

I then learned of The Mood Cure by Julia Ross, began reading it. I didn't even realize you could get L-tryptophan again! I haven't finished reading the whole book but really like the fact that she goes over what supplements can help with which conditions and why, as well as how much and WHEN to take them.

I already feel so much better! My anxiety and irritability are way down compared to before. I am still waking up at night but mainly because I've got some tendonitis that is really bothering me and is worse in certain positions, but when I do wake up, I'm not having obsessive/anxious thoughts like I was before, and I do fall back asleep.

I still have negative thoughts flit by once in awhile but they don't stick around - I don't obsess, and I let them go more easily.

I have had therapists give me tasks to do but I find I keep forgetting to do them - I am still not great in regards to planning and following through with goals, so that's a work in progress, but at least I don't feel so down on myself about that "failure." So, I have to say that using the supplements I am using in a more planned fashion have been greatly successful! And I love the idea that after a period of recharging my brain chemicals and hormones, I might be able to discontinue the supplements, or at least some of them.

I think in my case that L-tryptophan works better than 5-htp even though they are related. When I was using the 5-htp my anxiety was up as well as my irritability, but that may be because I was taking too much and/or not at the right times.

At any rate, I just wanted to share this for all of you wondering about supplements. It is much better to use them with a plan like Ross outlines rather than trying them willy-nilly like I was.