# Tyrosine Supplementation - Does it really work?



## pema

I want to get information on L-Tyrosine. 
Of course I found information but not exactly what I wanted...

I know how it is said to work, e.g. l-tyrosin-->l-dopa->dopamin. But in can also result in other products (L-Triiodthyronin or L-Thyroxin or Tyramin).
But this is not so interessting for me. I wanted to know what it does to the persons who ingested it. I wanted to get some experience reports because big parts of the information I found were contradictory. And I don't trust the information found on the websites of amino acid vendors...
Sometimes I read that L-tyrosin had a calming effect. But others wrote that it gave them new power.

I read that it really helped some people during opiate withdrawal. Some people claimed that it helped them when they had absolutely no power during withdrawal.
Other wrote how splendidly it helped after acute withdrawal when PAWS was really dreadful.

So I tried to find some more experience reports. Especially because I still did not know it it acts more calming or more powerful.
Usual dosage was 300-1000mg daily for most people who experimented with tyrosine.
I cannot really believe that it is possible to feel an effect from that dosage. I don't know the persons who tried that but it seems for me, that some of those people felt something what actually wasn't there. It really looks like lots of placebo effects.
There are some foods that are high in tyrosine, e.g. Gruyere cheese. 100g shall contain around 1776mg tyrosine. That is really a lot, because usual tyrosine supplement capsules contain 500-1000mg. If some people felt an effect from only 1-2 capsules, I should also felt an effect after I ate more than 100g Gruyere cheese. But I never felt anything from eating old, ripe cheese.
And then L-tyrosine is also sold as bodybuilding supplement. Bodybuilders sometimes take a lot larger doses - up to 3-5 gram a day. I searched bodybuilding forums where they discussed tyrosine as supplement. But noone of those bodybuilders ever reported any mental effects.

So does tyrosine really work? - Yes, probably it "works" but is it also possible to feel an effect after ingestion of 1 or 2 capsules?

For me l-tyrosine would be interessting as supplement for opiate withdrawal. If it would calm me down a little bit when I am all churned up inside, that would be great. If it would help when I feel totally powerless and have absolutely no motivation to get up from my couch, that would be great, too.
And maybe it could really increase my dopamine levels in the brain during withdrawal. Perhaps it could help during PAWS time with depression, anxiety, cravings, ...

Who took this stuff? How much did you take? And what did you feel? Nothing? Or did you feel an effect that was for sure more than placebo effect?

And how should tyrosine be ingested?
When it is converted to L-Dopa, L-Dopa cannot cross the blood brain barrier. This is why persons who suffer from Parkinson's disease don't get only L-Dopa. They also get a decarboxylase inhibitor. This is responsible for that L-Dopa does not gets converted to dopamine in the body. It first crosses the blood brain border and then gets converted to dopamine.

But what is with tyrosine? When it gets converted to L-Dopa, I probably have the same problem. L-Dopa must not get converted before it crosses the blood brain barrier...
Some vendors sell L-tyrosine combined with vitamin b6. I know that vitamin b6 and ascorbic acid are said to be cofactors for the conversion.
Vitamin b6 is probably needed for conversion from tyrosin to l-dopa, I think. But I don't know what exactly is the role of vitamin c.
I also don't know if the combination with vitamin b6 is so desirable.
In case of 5-HTP (which is often combined with vitamin b6 by the vendors) it is absolutely not desirable because I don't want the 5-HTP to be converted to serotonin in the body. This shall only happen in the brain.
So what with tyrosine and vitamine b6 and/or vitamin c?


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## 23536

If I may piggyback on this question: does anyone have data on how much tyrosine is in food?  I can find tons of data on which foods have tyrosine, but not how much tyrosine is in these foods.  I'd like to know how much tyrosine I already ingest daily.

And please: the same question for choline.


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## paranoid android

I took L-tyrosine along with vitamin b-6 when i was also taking bupropion. It should be noted that i was also on lamotrigine, clonazepam and risperidone in a effort to help my bipolar disorder. I was also taking morphine and gabapentin for pain. I tried L-tyrosine to see if it would lift me out of a long period of major depression i had been going through. It certainly gave me a lift as never in my life have i been so hyper and that is saying alot. I would get up in the morning if i had slept at all and go running on the treadmill or clean the house from top to bottom. It felt like i had so much pent up energy that i could not stop moving or doing things. I would go for a hours run, do weights, clean the house even if it was already spotless, go for a walk to see my buddy and then spend the rest of the day smoking cannabis in a effort to try and chill. So yeah i got a lift from it for sure.

 I think it's safe to say that it did something because it was only a few days after i started taking it that i went manic. It was mostly full blown regular mania that i had but i also went into mixed states now and again and those aren't fun. Actually mania in general is not fun at all. In the end i had to go on a wack of anti-psychotics for a few weeks just to bring me back down to earth. Normally 2mg's of risperidone will make me a walking zombie but while on the L-tyrosine it barely effected me. I even tried taking 4mg's of risperidone and even that did not do away with the mania completely so that gives some indication of how high strung i was  . After maybe a week or being on 2mg's of risperidone in the morning and 300mg's of seroquel at night (i think that was the cocktail i was on) i could finally sit still for 5 minutes.

 I don't know if it does much alone but combined with bupropion and b-6 it definitely does something. Bupropion is a norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor so maybe it allowed for more dopamine reuptake from the bupropion thus increasing the effects? Then again it could always have been a fluke i guess.


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## Epsilon Alpha

1) tyrosine supplementation works but it develops a quick tolerance
2) There's not that much tyrosine in most foods, and when consumed with other amino acids its absorption is reduced and prolonged resulting in less noticable effects.

Choline: unless you drink a ton of alcohol there isn't going to be a night and day difference. But, the best common source of choline that I know of is raw eggs.


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## atrollappears

Tyrosine actually makes me very sleepy, think anti-adrenaline. I'm guessing this is due to autoreceptor activation. I actually find that tyrosine works better for me as my body gets used to it, it turns from a sedative to a slight mood booster. I take 3 grams at bedtime.


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## sekio

I thought tyrosine hydroxylase was the rate limiting step in making L-dopa (and also dopamine), so supplementation will do absolutely nothing in healthy individuals. L-DOPA supplementation is probably what you want (if anything).

I doubt any of these amino acids actually have an effect beyond placebo.


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## 23536

Epsilon Alpha said:


> Choline: unless you drink a ton of alcohol there isn't going to be a night and day difference. But, the best common source of choline that I know of is raw eggs.



Do you know how much choline is in eggs though.  I'm asking because I take choline + piracetam regularly and I'm wondering whether I need to spend money on choline supplements.


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## ebola?

> I thought tyrosine hydroxylase was the rate limiting step in making L-dopa (and also dopamine), so supplementation will do absolutely nothing in healthy individuals.



This was my understanding too.  Maybe this is less the case when people eat really shitty diets (hmm...now which drug using demographic tends to eat the worst diet... ).

ebola


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## atrollappears

sekio said:


> I thought tyrosine hydroxylase was the rate limiting step in making L-dopa (and also dopamine), so supplementation will do absolutely nothing in healthy individuals. L-DOPA supplementation is probably what you want (if anything).
> 
> I doubt any of these amino acids actually have an effect beyond placebo.



Well that would be true in an ideal situation where tyrosine hydroxylase is constantly saturated, but it's probably not, and IIRC tyrosine administration does increase plasma DA/NE. This doesn't seem to translate into much of a psychological effect under normal conditions, but it is definitely doing _something_.

Studies show increased performance after tyrosine administration in conditions of stress (though high doses, 6 grams or higher) and anecdotally many find that lower doses of tyrosine than that very obviously speed up recovery from amphetamine use.

Edit: Some citations for ye
Plasma DA/NE increase
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/57/4/760
Tyrosine aids working memory during multitasking (150 mg/kg =~ 10 g)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091305799000945
Tyrosine aids cognitive and motor performance during sleep deprivation (150 mg/kg)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12887140
Case report of depression ameliorated by tyrosine (100 mg/kg =~ 7 g)
http://web.archive.org/web/20080611200156/http://wurtmanlab.mit.edu/publications/pdf/456.pdf


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## sir_thizzalot

I get effect from it, and not in some huge dose.  One 500mg in the morning would wake me up and give me a little energy, pretty quick after taking it.  If I have a full stomach it doesn't do a lot.  I used to take it (up to maby 6 grams over a few hours) when an amp crash would start, and it'd bring me back up a lot.  I never really do amphetamine now, and I also never really take tyrosine.  If you want a little relaxing buzz it might do the trick, but I wouldn't recommend what I did, as I think it makes some drugs worse for you (wouldn't more DA and NA to release=more overstimulation of receptors?).


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## xapken

I take powder L-tyrosine 250mg mixed in about 6 ounces of water.  The effect is mild stimulation, usually within 20 minutes or so.  I find there is a bit of a mood boost, enough to pull chronic depression up off baseline, but it is quite mild.

I'm in the poor-quality diet category which is likely why I find it effective.


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## ex-amine

take Phenylalanine : crosses the BBB and is transformed there into tyrosine hence l-dopa.


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## fake_blood96

I have taken it to help with restoring dopamine after a night out on speed or coke, does help a lot and i find a significant mood boost almost the same as a small line of coke i find with the amount that i take in the range of 2-3 grams, tolerance does build up quickly though but i don't take it regularly only after nights out


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## Infinite1

I used Tyrosine and DLPA for several years and actually had no diminishing in it's effects, however after taking an AD Fluvoxamine for 16 months it no longer has any effect. I'm guessing that the Fluvoxamine decreased my Tyrosine Hydroxylase...otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the effects of these two.


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## Perico los palotes

Hi.
Sorry for my bad english.

Tyrosine is useful only in cells that produce dopamine. So for much tyrosine you take, it will be useless for tha porpouse.


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## DexterMeth

ex-amine said:


> take Phenylalanine : crosses the BBB and is transformed there into tyrosine hence l-dopa.



5-Hour Energy drink has this and l-tyrosine irrc, amongst other things.


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## HoldOrFold

L-Tyrosine works well in my experience. I bought some yesterday and took 500mg on an empty stomach. Within minutes my focused improved, increased energy and buzz. So I took another 500mg 20 minutes later and then 20 minutes after that had a multivitamin and food. Felt blood pressure rise, more focus, agressive feeling. Had the urge to pump some weights, so I did. Things tapered off a bit towards the evening, I went to a party and popped another gram. Maybe 2grams for my first day was a bit too much cause I got a bit of an anxious feeling as I came back from the party. But felt great earlier on that day.

Today I popped 1g of DLPA then ate some food 20 minutes later with a multivitamin. Felt the effects, more mild than l-tyrosine and gradual. I then popped 500mg of l-tyrosine a few hours later and felt fucking amazing, like I'd just done a few lines of coke or something. The effects lasted several hours and while tappering off. Possibly a synergetic combination. 

If you're going to DLPA + Tyrosine combo, you should take the DLPA first, then wait a few hours and take the the Tyrosine.

Always take both on an empty stomach and wait about 20 minutes before food. I recommend taking with coffee to enhance the effects.


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