So a little story that just happened to me. I was taking 5-HTP to help stave off carb cravings during my cut and to help me sleep better at night. The stuff is OTC and some bodybuilders swear by it so why not give it a go?
Saturday I hit legs. Sunday I take a road trip with a friend. Cooped up in a car for 7 hours after leg day I expected to be a bit sore. Oh boy the pain I experienced was the worst ever. I'm thinking "holy crap did I really crush it in the gym?" So I pop some ibuprofen and get a massage. My friend says these are tightest muscles she's ever felt and this massage is FAR from fun. Every muscle is killing me. I try and get some sleep that night but it doesn't come. Monday I head to work still tight and sore as ever. I'm thinking this is day two and the DOMS should start to subside anytime.
Again not much sleep that night. Tuesday I'm all over the internet looking for ways to reduce muscle pain. That night I try pretty much every thing Epsom salt baths, cold shower, foam rolling, ben gay rub, nothing is working and it late by now.
I'm thinking urgent care when it opens. This has been going on since Sunday so it's not an "emergency". Well I hit urgent care as soon as it opens and within a half hour they kicked me over to the ER because the tests I need done surpass their capabilities.
The ER runs the battery of bloods and such. Everything comes back fine. Well nothing that would suggest this reaction. So the Doctor does some digging and in his findings he comes across a report of very rare cases of people having an adverse reaction to 5-HPT. These rare cases the subjects muscles start eating it's self. We'll thats the laymans terms he used. The actual medical term is L-Tryptophan Related Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome.
Bottom line is the mother effer hurt like nothing I've felt before. Took a couple days for the 5-HPT to clear my system and muscle to stop hurting. I will say EVERY muscle in my body felt like it was on fire. From my temples to my toes. It was awful.
Just because it's OTC doesn't mean you wont have a bad reaction to a supplement. This is why it's SO important to add one compound at a time instead of stacking a whole bunch. If you have a bad reaction how are you to know which compound you're reacting to?