On Sunday the 3rd (day before labor day) I took 2 1/2 'mollies'. They were supposedly 100mgs each and I got them from a trusted source...heh, I had promised myself never to do capsules again (don't start, I know, I know) but I did anyways.
I preloaded with 200mgs 5HTP. After a 2.5 - 3 hour weak roll, I took another 200mgs of 5HTP. About half an hour later (not rolling anymore) I started to feel like /shit/. My stomach started hurting and I noticed my eyes were very bloodshot. All of my muscles felt uncomfortable and I started kind of flexing them. About 10 minutes later, my muscles started flexing involuntary...I started to get a bit worried because nothing like this has ever happened to me. This progressed into involuntary twitching (mostly my upper body), then convulsions. At this point I decided to go to the ER (whee). They did nothing for me for an hour and a half then gave me 5mg Valium (iv) which stopped my convulsions almost instantly. I still had some very small twitches, but nothing big.
That's basically the short version of what happened (don't get me started on stupid, ignorant, dismissive doctors). At first I suspected PMA because I had most of the symptoms associated with it...but my tempature didn't rise, it actually dropped (97) even though I felt like I was burning up. So anyways...fast forward to work today. I took 150mgs of 5HTP...a little over an hour later...guess what? Yup. I started to feel like shit and had a few muscle twitches. I had the same symtoms as before, just much less pronounced (thankfully). They lasted about an hour. I poked around briefly online (mmm hypchondria) and looked at this interesting tidbit:
It should be strongly noted that impurities found in L-tryptophan diet supplements have been associated with eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS), a disorder that elevates certain white blood cells and causes muscle pain. An epidemic of EMS with some reported fatalities occurred in 1989; recently similar impurities have been detected in diet supplements containing 5-hydroxy-1-tryptophan (5HTP) -- a form of tryptophan.
