5-HTP is a precursor to serotonin and taking it for about a week before your experience allows your body to synthesize more to replace all the serotonin that gets used during the experience.
For more information look into "pre-loading" for MDMA experiences.
> 5-HTP is a precursor to serotonin and taking it for about a week before your experience allows your body to synthesize more to replace all the serotonin that gets used during the experience
This is not true at all.
Serotonin turnover in the brain is measured in hours, not days or weeks (Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10543... ) 5-HTP also has a half-life of around 4 hours, so you're not going to have any 5-HTP or Serotonin build-up.
The rebound from drugs like MDMA isn't simply about "using up" your serotonin. When you take a drug and induce a huge spike of activity, the brain's negative feedback loops are put into overdrive in an attempt to steer things back to normal. When the drug leaves your system, it takes some time for these feedback loops to move back toward a more normal state. It's basically "paying back" the highs with some rebound lows.
It's possible that taking 5-HTP in the days after the drug could maybe counteract some of the lows, but it's not a magic bullet.
5-HTP will do nothing to your serotonin levels if you are healthy. That's mostly anecdotal evidence from communities that are usually looking into using it with more frequency that what most experts agree that you should be using it.
It is recommended as post-loading by psychiatrists but also based on their anecdotal experience with patients.
Agree with this. It also must be taken at least 24 hours afterwards in order to ensure that you've finished metabolizing the MDMA or else the newly available serotonin will make the drugs effect more continuous.
For more information look into "pre-loading" for MDMA experiences.