On Sun, 20 Feb 2000, Stephen Black went:
> The evidence for serotonin in slow-wave sleep led to attempts to
> increase cerebral serotonin to induce sleep. Serotonin doesn't cross
> the blood-brain barrier but its precursor, l-tryptophan, does. The
> hope was that tryptophan might act as a natural sleeping pill (e.g.
> Hartmann, 1978; Schneider-Helmert & Spinweber, 1986). It was reported
> to work, but the effect doesn't seem particularly strong.
In 1987, when tryptophan was available over-the-counter and I was
prone to insomnia, I tried it a couple of times. It felt, for want of
a better word, kind of _trippy_. Every few minutes it produced what I
described as a "wave of exhaustion/euphoria"--combined with a feverish
feeling and what seemed like a cardiac arrhythmia (though that was
probably illusory). It was pretty alarming at the time. In hindsight,
I'd diagnose it as a mild serotonin syndrome. A couple of my friends
tried tryptophan and had similar experiences. I don't think it
shortened our sleep latencies--because it made us feel too weird.
--David Epstein
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
