Ended a Dry Spell with supplements

[evildoctor]

Hi, I had a few weeks off from work over Xmas - which was GREAT as I got to sleep in late ALOT and managed to record 4-5 vivid dreams a night in my journal plus one LD which led to a OOBE. Then when I went back to work on Jan 5th - disaster! Could barely remember anything other than the breifest of fragments. Work nights I tend to go to bed at about 11:30, asleep by 12:00 or so, then get up to an alarm at 4:30am. I thought that maybe I have just been too tired overworking after my time off to get any quality REM sleep. Last night I used some new supplements to see if this would help. At the weekend I normally use 2 caps of 5-HTP, 3 caps of L-Trytpophan and one cap of N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine taken together about 30-60 mins before sleep. Last night I did this Took 1 * N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine with evening dinner. Then the following 30 mins before sleeping: Took 300gm L Theanine Took 200gm 5-HTP Took 5mg Melatonine Took 300gm Trytpophan Went to bed at 10:00pm - asleep by 10:30 after reading an LD book for 15 mins then 15mins or so of DILD affirmations etc before falling asleep. RESULT I was really surprised. I thought the Melatonine and 5-HTP would knock me into a good deep sleep - with some good REM rebound hopefully an hour or so before my alarm went off at 4:30 - OR I would just extend the "deep sleep" part of my cycle until the alarm went off. I actually awoke at 1:15am sharp after a very long/vivid/epic dream - including a huge amount of flying content - but sadly did not become Lucid (great fun though!). Went back to sleep and woke again at 2:30am with another very long/vivid dream, then another epic dream again at 3:30! Strangely I then slept dreamlessly until the alarm went off at 4:30 (of course I may have been dreaming - alarms can be pretty intrusive) Really wasnt expecting to enter REM sleep so early - especially on top of being tired after work AND the double effect of the 5-HTP and Melo. Will probably repeat Thursday night, and again Friday but as no work Saturday morning I might set my alarm for 2:00am then take some glutemine, Theanine and Choline with Mugwort and try a WILD. Thoughts?

[Firewalker]

It is possible you were dreaming in other stages of sleep than REM. It has been noted that people on anti-depressants such as SSRIs often have extremely vivid dreams, and this may not be because of REM rebound. There is an internet site that discusses this, if I can find it again, I'll post the link. It discusses how people who have high serotonin levels 24hrs a day because of the antidepressants, and are as a result deprived of REM sleep are reporting very vivid dreams. It is also possible that the brain is converting some of the Melatonin, 5-HTP, and Tryptophan into DMT. This is discussed also on the site, as some people are also having waking dreams and dilusions similiar to what happens with DMT, and since they all have a trypamine core, it is theoretically possible for the brain to convert these substances into DMT,

[evildoctor]

Thanks, Im still new to the science behind this - especially supplements. I had assumed dreaming takes place in REM sleep only. I decided to experiment a little more : Wednesday night I took one N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine with dinner and nothing else - I did dream - not particually vivid (at least on recall) - but good enough to write a page or 2 in my journal. Last night I took one N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine with dinner, then 5mg of melatonine and 2*100mg caps of 5-HTP before bed (approx 10:45pm). Annoyingly I was woken up at 12:00 by our car breakdown service. My wife had problems with her car (cold related - ITS REALLLLLLLLYYYYY COLD in chicago - minus 20F) and as so many other people had issues the breakdown service didnt turn up to after midnight. Felt really spacey and sleepy and was a real chore to stay awake as the guy looked at the car. Got back to bed at 12:45. Had an intensely vivid dream that actually woke me up with a start at 2:10am which I recorded. Then slept peacefully until my alarm woke me at 4:30am (did feel a bit spacey still - fixed this with some strong cups of joe). Tonight Im going to really go for it with supplements. With my disrupted sleep last night I should have a head start. I dont work Saturday so can go WBTB with followed by WILD or MILD (TBD). Before bed I will take: 1 * N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine with evening dinner 300gm L Theanine 200gm 5-HTP 5mg Melatonine 300gm Trytpophan At 3:00am I will WBTB and take : 4000mg L Glutemine 300mg Choline 200mg Theanine All washed down with a big strong cup of Mugwort

[Firewalker]

One other thing, while Theanine is a good dream aid, it does lower serotonin levels while raising GABA and Dopamine, so it would be in effect working against the 5-HTP. However I'm not sure this is bad, perhaps it could cause the 5-HTP to convert into DMT instead of serotonin, not sure, just experiment. I take them both, though usually not at the same time. I believe I have low serotonin levels anyway because I get headaches sometimes, and 5-HTP relieves these usually. Anyway I took 200mg of L-Theanine this morning, planned on a WBTB but didn't get to go back to bed. Soon I started getting a headache, I believe this is because theanine lowers serotonin, which it is proven to do. So I took 100mg of 5-HTP, the headache eased, but I notice I don't feel sleepy like I usually do when I take this much 5-HTP, so the Theanine appears to have offset some of the 5-HTP. Tyrosine also increases dopamine and norephinephrine and may be good with 5-HTP, it is added to some 5-HTP products as is Theanine. Be careful with the Tyrosine though. I like it for lucid dreams as it has helped be a few times, but it can raise blood pressure. Mine was high, I managed to get it into the normal range, and tried Tyrosine again a few times, and then it was pretty high again, so I can't use it now.

[evildoctor]

Thanks - I will take your approach and not take Theanine before bed - and increase the dose slighty (by 100mg) at WBTB Cheers

[evildoctor]

WORKED! Had a nice OOBE after WBTB as planned. I drank way more than I wanted too - our daughter had a sleep over at her freinds and my wife wanted to party - so was actually quite drunk on whiskey and coke by the time I took the supplements and went to bed. Was therefore supprised to have had any success. Woke at 4:45 - took the supplements and Mugwort at 5:15am - BTB at 6:00am - had the OOBE at approx 6:45am Strangley - after the OOBE I went back to sleep = but went dreamless until I woke at 10:00am.

[moonshine]

[QUOTE=evildoctor;1001934]WORKED! I drank way more than I wanted too - our daughter had a sleep over at her freinds and my wife wanted to party - so was actually quite drunk on whiskey and coke by the time I took the supplements and went to bed. QUOTE] Booze suppreses REM and so causes Rem-Rebound.