I've always been led to believe that 5-htp doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier so it never made sense to me that it allegedly works for people. I prefer to use L-Tryptophan and melatonin for sleep. Most of the time, that works for me. If I can't shut my mind off, I'll resort to 25 mg of diphenhydramine (Sominex, Benadryl, etc.), but I wake up groggy and can't shake the grogginess for many hours. After a few days the medication stops working for me; I seem to build a tolerance to it very quickly. The tryptophan should also help with depression, if the problem is a lack of serotonin. If the depression is related to dopamine or norepinephrine, L-Phenylalanine or L-Tyrosine or mucuna pruriens (a source of L-Dopa) might be needed since all three are precursors to dopamine and norepinephrine.
Proton pump inhibitors definitely reduce how much one absorbs from the food ingested and can lead to osteoporosis as well. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but most of the natural remedy sites seem to claim dilute apple cider vinegar helps treat acid reflux, though I can't see how more acid can help. Also, adding lipases and proteases (digestive enzymes that break down fats and proteins) is supposed to help. Honestly, a low-fat diet should help a lot since fat is acidic and floats on the top of whatever is in the stomach. Personally, I would try everything I could find that isn't a prescription (or former prescription) drug to treat acid reflux before deciding to use a PPI because of the side-effects.
Proton pump inhibitors definitely reduce how much one absorbs from the food ingested and can lead to osteoporosis as well. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but most of the natural remedy sites seem to claim dilute apple cider vinegar helps treat acid reflux, though I can't see how more acid can help. Also, adding lipases and proteases (digestive enzymes that break down fats and proteins) is supposed to help. Honestly, a low-fat diet should help a lot since fat is acidic and floats on the top of whatever is in the stomach. Personally, I would try everything I could find that isn't a prescription (or former prescription) drug to treat acid reflux before deciding to use a PPI because of the side-effects.