Should I supplement with tryptophan?

I do not recommend supplementing with tryptophan or 5-HTP, unless someone finds it very helpful. For most people, 5-HTP does not help, and it often makes people worse because many people already have elevated serotonin levels and they have trouble converting serotonin to melatonin. So they don't need more tryptophan. Instead, they need to increase the methylation of serotonin to melatonin. So taking more tryptophan and increasing serotonin is useless unless they address the conversion issue. I think there is a post in the community about this.

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I typically tell people to avoid taking 5-HTP and tryptophan because most people already have elevated serotonin and low melatonin. Most people don't need more tryptophan. They have trouble converting serotonin to melatonin, and they need to increase the methylation of serotonin to melatonin. However, if you find that the 5-HTP helps you, then you can keep taking it for now. It can sometimes help people who have trauma. But it's still a band-aid approach. If you don't really notice much of a difference from it, then I would just stop taking it.

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I'm not a fan of tryptophan supplements. Similar to melatonin, supplementing with tryptophan will likely interfere and throw off your body's biochemical homeostasis. Through specialized testing, I often see that many sick people actually have very high serotonin. And so they do not need more tryptophan. You can keep taking it if you want because maybe you do find it helpful. But I prefer to fix the underlying biochemical issues so that you don't even need to supplement with it.