On Klonopin. OK to take 5-HTP for mild depression?

[Northcoast]

I take .5 mg of Klonopin morning and night for anxiety, prescribed by my MD.  I've wondered whether I should be on an anti-depressant on and off for years.  Well, today I was at a health/vitamin shop and asked about any supplements for mild depression.  The sales lady recommended Natrol's Mood Positive 5-HTP.  It has 50 mg of 5-HTP, some B6, B12, Folic Acid and 50 mg of L-Theanine.  She said that she takes it and it works better for her than her old anti-depressant.  So, I bought a bottle.  But now I'm wondering if I have to worry about any interaction with the Klonopin.  I've also recently started taking Vitamin D3 because I've read so much about it's relationship with depression.  I was tested and it came back on the lower end of normal.  I guess I'm just trying to find some relief of my mild depression without resorting to an anti-depressant.  Anyone have any feedback?  Thanks!

[Paxiled]

Actually, the natural approach requires a combination of nutrients plus exercise plus diet plus relaxation practice.  Because no one natural remedy is that strong, they're generally combined for best effects.  The natural approach also attempts to actually heal whatever imbalance exists in the body, so it takes longer than meds to work and, of course, like medication and therapy there's no guarantee it will work.  The best way to do this is to see a naturopath, who can guide you along.  My own experience comes from 18 years managing health food stores and a lot of reading and training from the people who started most of the best health food companies, before it became such a big business.  As for me, I do use a lot of natural remedies, but wasn't able to for my anxiety problem because by the time I learned it I was already on medication, and a bad medication experience has left me pretty much untreatable by anything.  Ironic, eh?

[Northcoast]

Thank you, Paxiled.  Your post is very helpful.  Wish I had posted my question BEFORE I bought this particular supplement.  LOL!  You seem to know a lot about this.  Is it just from personal experience or do you have a background in these matters?  I was laying in bed last night and was thinking that I've recently started taking a women's multivitamin, Vitamin C, the D3, calcium/magnesium, probiotics and now the 5-HTP.  So if I do start to feel better I won't have a clue as to what supplement did the trick.  There's so much information out there about all the supplements to take for anxiety and depression.  And I was just tested as having low white blood count.  So I've been doing a lot of research on what to eat and supplement for all these conditions.  It's almost like I could be popping a different supplement 24/7.  So I kind of wondered it I could be overdoing it by all of a sudden upping my intake from just a multivitamin & caltrate to all these additional supplements.  Thanks for the book recommendation.  I will definitely get my hands on it.  

[Paxiled]

Yes, you can try 5-HTP, but I'm not sure I'd recommend this particular product, though that's entirely up to you.  5-HTP is a metabolite of tryptophan, which, along with cofactors such as B6 manufactures serotonin.  Klonopin works on GABA primarily, not serotonin, so it would be like the many of us who take an ssri with a benzo.  The problem with the product is that, first, amino acids such as 5-HTP and theanine (a quasi-amino acid found in green tea) are usually best absorbed when taken apart from food, whereas the B vitamins are usually better absorbed with food.  As for the D, because people are avoiding the sun these days and work indoors so much of the time it has become prevalent for people to be low on it.  A supplement might in fact help, and should be taken with meals that have some fat, as it's a fat soluble nutrient.  The other potential difficulty is theanine might affect GABA, though it's unknown as far as I know to what extent, so you'd want to take it away from the time you take your klonopin until you become comfortable with it, and you can't if you take these all in one formula.  It makes it hard to experiment with dosage and best time to take it.  For a good book on using natural remedies for this, Natural Highs by Hyla Cass, a psychiatrist at UCLA, should get you started.  But since theanine is weak at best, if you want to try this formula, I don't think it would hurt you any.