How To Increase Long-term levels of Dopamine?

[rich123]

Hi,

I was put on an SSRI a couple of years ago for a misdiagnosis (I thought I was being treated for minor tics, he was treating me for "anxiety"), leading towards a wide variety of problems which I now know comes from the fact of lowered dopamine levels (decreased sexual functioning, immense problems with cognition, inability to experience any emotion/enjoyment).

My question is this: How does one increase long term levels of dopamine?

Assuming you were short of dopamine in the first place, which based on my previous 17 years, I can definitely say that I am, how would I go about increasing my dopamine levels without the effects of DOWNREGULATION, under the assumption that I do indeed have lower levels of dopamine than normal?

If I hypothetically took Tyrosine, a dopamine precursor, would there be tolerance immediately, or would there only be tolerance once I reached the level of homeostasis? If there was some sort of downregulation, how much time would have to occur for it to disappear?

Mind you, I just want to get back to the way I was before, homeostasis, and never use any sort of artificial medication, regardless how bad some of these movements may be.

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

sounds like you might have a bit of a complex. i suggest you not use chemicals to try fix your head. even if you were not being kind of crazy, modern science just isn't there. when it comes to the CNS, it's mostly semi-educated guess work and trying to treat symptoms. even if your self-diagnosis is correct, the safest treatment is a healthy lifestyle and abstinence from psychoactive drugs. and not obsessing about it.


edit:
though i am not saying you may not have mental health issues that need recognition. just that the idea of obsessing over and trying to chemically counter some self-diagnosed drug-induced damage is not healthy.

 

[rich123]

I'm really trying to understand the basics behind brain chemistry and the pharmacology of certain dopaminergic drugs. God knows I didn't do my research on SSRI's and it ended up costing me 4 years of my life (until now, I thought all these symptoms were part of mental disease: slowed cogntion, sexual dysfunction and apathy and anhedonia). Yes, doing nothing is certainly an option, as you eventually hope that the mind will be able to get back to homeostasis, but in my experience it may take years, and maybe not even get back fully to were I was before.

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

SSRIs don't directly effect dopamine levels, although they probably indirectly do.

Reduced or eliminated sex drive is an extremely common side effect of SSRIs, I don't think this is due to issues with dopamine levels, but I could be dead wrong.

In the end, Bluelight can't really give you a diagnosis either...

 

[FlippingTop]

Best piece of advice I can think of it to get as fit as you can and work out in the mornings and just ride those endorphins

 

[Seattle_Stranger]

Ah, I know how you are feeling. I remember trying to play psychologist, feeling just so damn lost, helpless, out of it, damaged, etc, that I would relentlessly search the internet, reading forum after forum, websites, articles, papers, EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in search for some kind of answer. The more informed I became, the more convinced I became that I CLEARLY had a deficiency in dopamine because all my symptoms lined up. After a few more years of life, experience and knowledge gained, I realized that even the most informed doctors and scientists out there know very little about our bodies and brains, and my little internet search wasn't going to suddenly understand the human central nervous system, nor was it going to guide me to an accurate self-diagnosis.

I feel like I'm on the tail end of a several-year-long depressive/anxious phase that I entered once I turned about 22. My doctor put me on a medicine called Lamictal because he thought I was such a severe case. I never felt like the medicine helped, it merely would put me on rails to where I couldn't be very happy nor very sad. I eventually became fed up and just stopped taking it. I became a bit of an emotional roller-coaster after, however it immediately became apparent that I could now achieve a much higher level of happiness without the medication in my system. Also, because Lamictal has some opioid receptor affinity, my opiate tolerance chopped in about half when I stopped the meds, which was a nice added bonus.

After about a month or so, I started leveling out, and now, I can honestly say I'm much, much, MUCH better than I was simply because I found ways to overcome my depression instead of cover it up. ADAPT and OVERCOME my friend. It's the only way, I promise you that,

I wish you the best, depression sucks ASS!!

 

[rich123]

It's not necessarily depression/anxiety that I am worried about. I've been experiencing Parkinson-like symptoms (gait, cognitive difficulties, motor disturbances), in addition to apathy and anhedonia. Hell, when I learned that I was closed to being expelled from my university, it was actually a pleasant experience because it was probably the first time in four years I felt actual emotion. Maybe it's just me personally, but I would never take medication for anxiety/depression b/c that's IMO part of the normal human expreience, but for symptoms ressembling Parkinson's, along with anhedonia and apathy, I may be more inclined to do so.

Does anyone know how tolerance works, in addition to dopamine up/downregulation? Perhaps, this thread would be more suitable for Advanced Drug Discussion.