Dopamine stimulants as mood enhancer

[ivarboneless]

Hi

I'm new to this forum, and have been reading for some time before I registered. Thank you for membership.
I have a TBI that has left me with problems focusing, concentrating, anxiety and reduced short term memory.
In addition I believe I suffer from mild/moderate depression.

The hospital decided after 16 years to but me on Ritalin. It gave me more energy but made me somewhat irritable, and didn't do much for my cognitive difficulties (a bit better concentration but memory got worse).
They then tried me on Dextroamphetamine. After a couple of days I had side effects with a more tunnel vision mind, so I stopped after the 5th day.
2 days after quiting, my anxiety got far worse. I couldn't eat and it was like living in a horror movie in my own safe apartment and it went on for three days.

This is where it gets interesting to me and is why I'm posting this thread;
When I woke up the fourth day, my anxiety was as constant and intense as the previous days after about 10 minutes after I woke up.
So I decided to take10 mg of Oxacepam (I have it in case I get anxiety but I do not use it daily).
I usually gets some relief from oxacepam but not much.
But now I had no noticeabe relief at all from 10 mg.
So after about 3 hours I wondered what to do.
I decided to take 1x10 mg of Ritalin to see if that would help me with what I suspected was withdrawal symptoms from five days on amphetamine.
Now something strange happened;
All my anxiety went away within an hour
But in addition to that my mood got much better for the rest of the day.


It had been 18 years since the accident and I had never in those 18 years had my usual mood back. Not ONE single day in 18 years, and here I was feeling like my old self again.
For a few hours I looked at the world around me with positive perspective, as opposed to what I had done for 18 years. The classic the glass is half full instead of the glass is half empty.
The day after, this feeling was gone and I was back in the «light apathetic zone» again.
I have not tried to experiment in an atempt get it back, partially because I don’t know how.
I find it risky to start combining amphetamines with Ritalin, if that was the combo that caused this raised mood. Perhaps the raised amphetamine level stays increased for days after stopping using it? If so, why was my anxiety so bad? This I don’t understand.


Some say the two drugs will sort of even out each other and that way do little for you.
Some say to increase your dopamine level with amphetamine AND at the same time increase your reseptors sensibility, may lead to overstimulation and cell death in your brain.


I have tried to talk to my GP about this as well as a psychiatrist and a pharmacist. I can see by the look on their faces that this is a question they don’t know how to answer.


There is however an impressive knowledge on this site, both from people with real life experience and/ or formal medical education. In my opinion.


So my question is:Can interaction between Dextro and Ritalin ( and/or Oxasepam)functoin as a mood enhancer (I did not become anything near euforic, just was good old calm positive me again)??


If so what neurotransmitters was involved? Dopamine, glutamate, norephinephrine,GABA, Serotonine?

Thanks.
I wish good healthto you all

 

[d1nach]

Oxazepam is a gaba a receptor agonist specifically at the benzodiazepine receptor site.
Both amphetamine and methylphenidate alter dopamine and norepinephrine. Amphetamine as additional interactions with dopamine at high doses but is complex and idk if it even matters at such low doses.

Amphetamine has a half of like 9 to 12 hours so I doubt you had a significant level after a few days.

Methylphenidate by targeting dopamine and norepinephrine improves focus and alertness but your lower parts of your Brain also express these receptors especially in the reward pathways.

Oxazepam similar to alcohol can sensitize your reward pathways and inhibit you.

Therefore, combining the two likely relaxed you and since the methylphenidate was activating your reward centers your brain was probablying looking at things through the biased lense of I feel relaxed and pretty good therefore neutral is not so bad.

 

[ivarboneless]

Thank you so much for your response!
I was wondering about if that would be the case. Sort of like hitting the brakes of the brain with the Oxazepam and revving it up with the Dextro/ritalin, and thus hitting a sweet spot mood wise.
I have since you wrote this tried a low dose combination of these two, dex and oxazapam, but it didn't do anything for my to lift my mood.
I have tried out different b-vitamins because I wondered if I could could have a malfunctioning signal from my brain to my adrenal glands causing either to much hormones or too little.
Had blood samples taken yesterday, but I've read that when it comes to cortisol at least, the blood analysis is not good enough. Scheduled appointment with dr. in 2 weeks to talk about results.

The only thing I learned from experimenting with the b-vitamins was that I got more anxious from choline. Thought that was odd.
I've had doctors of neurology, psychiatry and psychologists examining me and try to treat me, but all they end up is saying that I'm a bit of a mystery having these symptoms mentioned earlier, because they find me to be a strong individual both physically and mentally. Starts to wear on my motivation to go on, but I'll hang in there for a little while longer. This is not much of a life to continue at present state.
Thanks again, d1nach!

 

[d1nach]

It sounds like you are experiencing depression. Im no doctor but "this isnt much of a life at present state" dysphoria "starts to wear on my motivation to go on" lack of motivation "ill hang in there a little longer" struggle day to day. Id highly recommend you possibly see a new doctor and the possibility of suffering from depression. I had major depression and felt like i was struggling to get through the day and didnt feel pleasure in exsisting and ended up attempting suicide. After being stablized on medications i no longer feel like life isnt worth much.

 

[d1nach]

If you are suffering from clinical depression id highly recommend you get talk therapy and try to findd the appropiate drug or drugs for this serious illness under the supervision of a qualified doctor as it is not something to mess around woth and should be delt with with mprebthan vitamins or choline because your life is worth more than experimenting for a cure and needs the best current medical treatments available just as you shouldnt be experimented to experiment to find a cure if u had diabetes

 

[ivarboneless]

Yeah. Probably mild/moderate depression.
Have been asked by doctors if I'm depressed, for the last 18 years, and I used to say "no" , but as the years have passed by, losing my house, being too sick to work, and losing contact with my children, family and friends, I guess I have become depressed, and I've told them that.
Have tried most SSRI's, NSRI's and tricyclics. Just disguised the worry with a feeling of indifference.
thanks

 

[d1nach]

Have you tried therapy. It sounds like you have alot of stuff going on no pill or supplement can fix.

 

[cripkeeper]

I take vyvanse 70mg daily as prescribed for add. Sometimes I find it works wonders... other times it seems to do the opposite and seems to depress me. I've had issues with depression for years even before diagnosed with the add finally at the age of 30.
I find taking the supplement 5-htp daily helps incredibly. Adding that Lil touch of serotonin seems to balance it all out.
IDK if that helps or not just throwing out my experience.
As a side note I also take clonazepam daily as well.

 

[d1nach]

Thats a pretty hardcore benzo does it mess with your focus? I took xanax daily for panic attacks. Didnt seem to effect me but lookong back I dont remember much lmao but i took huge doses like 4 mg

 

[cripkeeper]

It's a good combination for myself. It takes just enough of the anxiety along with vyvanse to keep me quite focused. Especially with 5-htp. That aloNE works wonders.
If I'm not taking vyvanse for a day for whatever reason the clonazepam can knock me into a complete zombie.
I also often drink fairly heavy and smoke kush like a villain.
Idk man I guess it can be a slippery slope no matter what your meds might be or not be.

 

[d1nach]

Lmao smoke kush like a villian made me laugh. Ya its
amazing how much more xanax I could handle on adderall vs by itself. Plus if u drink alot your probably cross tolerant

 

[ivarboneless]

Yeah, I've tried therapy. 2 years (110 sessions). Also thought field therapy (that seemed like wasted money). Have tried kineosology. Also hypno-therapy (wasable to relax me quite a bit the first time but not the next times.
Now I've been referred to a trauma (crisis) psycotherapist. Seems like at capable guy. It's early days yet. The fact that he as a seasoned therapist with lots of experience with war veterans, molestation victims and victims of accidents with PTSD s a resut, tells me that although I have had som pretty heavy things happening to me, it doesn't seem to have broken me, and thus me having all this anxiety and depression is a mystery to him.

That has led me to wonder if there is some kind of adrenal deficiency going on. I get VERY anxious from only a tiny amount of the prescribed dextro. The Ritalin gives me pain in the lower back which is not a uncommon side effect, but it also hurts where the adrenal glands are.
My testosterone is in the higher end of the normal area, and my libido is quite high. It has always been very high and my orgasms has led more than one woman to think I have some kind of seizure. Sorry about mentioning this privat shit, but it's something I think about having relevance. Haven't talked about that with my doctor though. He's not a guy I would get into detail about my orgasms with.
Anyone here with high libido/insane orgasms that have got serious problems with anxiety/depression?

 

[d1nach]

The back pains probably from a unconcious increase in muscle contraction from dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate acting your sympathetic nervous system. Like if you ever saw or are an anxious driver they tend to get backpain because they start flexing their muscles because the stress turns on their sympathetic nervous system. Your libido is probably fine or normal just if your prone to anxiety your probably more likely to think its too high

 

[Will miss Tram :(]

Dopaminergic stimulants are lifesavers for some people.

I find them the most effective treatment for lack of motivation.

But they come with a price...

 

[Scooter60]

From all that I've read adderall increases dopamine production whereas Ritalin is a dopamine inhibitor. To an extent they cancel each other out if taken at the same time. If taken separately take the adderall first then the Ritalin much later. My doc will not prescribe both.