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Increasing Dopamine

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ginkeq

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Hi, was just curious if anyone was familiar w/ methods to raise dopamine levels?
 
^it can help feel pleasure again if levels have been depleated.

you can take tyrosine in the morning before breakfast. i usually do.
 
not at all (whatever your nick is)

if you're eating plenty of protein (~100g a day) then you're getting MORE than enough tyrosine.
 
why do you want to do that? More dopamine does NOT equal happiness or whatever.

_______________________________________________________________________

Did you just graduate from clown college?

Maybe you shouldn't post if you have no actual information to offer.

I'm sorry, but that's just how I feel.


Because... in fact....

Dopamine is widely known as the "feel good" neurotransmitter, as it's also been indicated in conditions like depression and ADHD.

umm.. hello!
 
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You're wrong bro. Well go ahead and take some tyrosine and 'feelgood'. You'll likely just sweat more haha but find out for yourself bro.

I've experimented with it extensively (both tyrosine which is the amino acid before the rate limiting step where a hydroxyl molecule is attached to the compound via a hydroxylase enzyme). And also I've experimented with L-Dopa (which is after the rate limiting step and only requires a decarboxylase enzyme to react with). I do not recommend the latter as its very possible to overload the brain with dopamine (because you skip the rate limiting step which would be where feedback inhibition would kick in) and develop schizophrenic symptoms.

Think about it on a continuum. On one end you have parkinson's disease (low dopamine) where the patient can hardly lift their own arms and become very ahedonic. On the other end you have schizophrenia (which correlates with an overload of dopamine) where the patient spastically moves about and can become very manic.

Manic does not equal euphoria. If you want drug euphoria then you're better off looking into altering the opioid system imo. If you want real euphoria from a drug (ie not necessarily DRUG EUPHORIA) then you're better off taking dimethyltryptamine in the appropriate set/setting.

Or just call me a clown! :D
 
IMO the key thing to understand is that the neurotransmitters are signaling agents in the brain- not fuel in a gas tank.

Feeling "good" has to do with having the proper signals in the proper parts of the brain at the correct times. Try thinking of the brain as an instrument that takes some finesse to play, not a louder=better thing.

Like, having a little extra dopamine in your ventral tegmental pathway feels 'good' because that is a part of our 'reward' circuitry, wheras if you had more in your cerebellum you'd have some completely random effect on your muscle control or something.

~~

Lucky for you, people have been trying to figure out how to "feel more good" for about as long as they've been around, so we're pretty o.k. at it now. Sunyata mentioned a bunch of techniques, and you probably already know about cocaine releasing dopamine. Nicotine does too once your brain gets accustomed to it.

Unfortunately these direct techniques are a bit crude and can have negative consequences, meaning you will probably end up feeling worse after you took them than you felt good taking them- in the long run.

There is open debate as to the superior way to make yourself feel good all the time, but I think a lot of the best evidence points towards involvement in interesting and diverse situations in life. Try looking into the brain expansion, tune up, and stimulation that comes with working/playing hard on engaging problems. Also, avoid malnutrition and disease.

Are you capable living on that level? :p ;)
 
Feeling "good" has to do with having the proper signals in the proper parts of the brain at the correct times. Try thinking of the brain as an instrument that takes some finesse to play, not a louder=better thing.

Like, having a little extra dopamine in your ventral tegmental pathway feels 'good' because that is a part of our 'reward' circuitry, wheras if you had more in your cerebellum you'd have some completely random effect on your muscle control or something.
Click to expand...

Yep. The notion that serotonin and dopamine are "feel good compounds" is a gross oversimplification of a complex system, and although they have their effects on behavior, they also do loads of other things too.

But if you want to increase dopamine, for whatever reason, to elevate mood maybe, to treat a low libido or for some other reason you can eat fava beans. They contain l-dopa, not to mention a bunch of protein. And they taste good. Some people don't tolerate them though.
 
Yep. The notion that serotonin and dopamine are "feel good compounds" is a gross oversimplification of a complex system, and although they have their effects on behavior, they also do loads of other things too.
Click to expand...

So true. To be fair though, we don't really know why the OP was asking. There could be some more complex reason for the question as well.
 
Unknown said:
^^^
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/tyrosine-000329.htm

This article says that tyrosine helps the body increase dopamine. So were getting mixed responses here...

The thing about DMT is that it is a Class I drug. Tyrosine is freely available.
Click to expand...

did you even read my post bro? Of course it increases dopamine levels. Its two steps before dopamine in the biosynthetic pathway. It can cross the BBB and in two steps IS dopamine (after a hydroxylase enzyme and a decarboxylase enzyme reacts with it).

What is naive is to think that increased levels of dopamine = happiness/euphoria.

This is a huge myth, I guess people come to this conclusion because they think "oh methamphetamine = release of dopamine so therefore elevated levels of dopamine must be like meth, ie euphoric!"

Wrong.

But again, go find out for yourself if you don't believe me.
 
create a goal that you give a shit about.
make yourself to act to attain said goal.
That will activate the dopaminergic circuits with which you concern yourself.
 
GP said:
Think about it on a continuum. On one end you have parkinson's disease (low dopamine) where the patient can hardly lift their own arms and become very ahedonic. On the other end you have schizophrenia (which correlates with an overload of dopamine) where the patient spastically moves about and can become very manic.

Manic does not equal euphoria. If you want drug euphoria then you're better off looking into altering the opioid system imo. If you want real euphoria from a drug (ie not necessarily DRUG EUPHORIA) then you're better off taking dimethyltryptamine in the appropriate set/setting.
Click to expand...

While I agree with your overall thesis that high levels of dopamine =! a positive mood, I don't see how you can discount the euphoria derived from using exogenous agents to cause comparatively rapid and massive increases in dopamine. Yes, in such agents, there is some sort of important interaction with NE, but end users tend to prefer agents that are more selective for dopamine (eg, d-meth vs. d-amp).

What is more, such euphoria bears marked similarity to electrical stimulation of the nucleus accumbens in the ventromedial tagmental area.

This euphoria appears intimately linked with desire, and thus bears an endemic imperfection, as there will be a phenomenological 'lack', which will motivate seeking behavior, the most problematic of which being motivation to re-dose (or re-'shock'). But how can we discount its status as euphoric?

Do you think that the euphoria effected by dopaminergic activation in these areas is mediated downstream by some more important or more fundamental set of neural circuits? I mean, I guess that this must be true, given that most everything neural at some point appears to resolve to glutaminergic transmission. . .

And on what grounds do you point instead to activation of opioid circuits? The corresponding inebriants effect a euphoria that is more sustainable and less disruptive, but why would this suggest that they are more intimately involved in 'happiness'?

ebola
 
well, I think the real answer rests in activation of 5HT2a. Moderate activation, not overstimulation. Small doses with the right set and setting. Not just "oh I feel OK I'll dose a psychedelic". But a more cultivated mindset and the right timing/place. THese opportunities don't come around all that often (I only trip once every 3-5 months these days because of it).
 
Elevated levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumblems correlates to an elevation of "mood". Dopamine elsewhere=doesn't. The happy feeling of meth/coke/opiates/other drugs comes about almost solely because of this increase, in this area only. If anything, increasing dopamine all over the body/brain will decrease prolactin levels, raising testosterone (theroetically) which is not always a good thing, particualry in, say, females.
 
From what I've read, a reliable way of increasing dopaminergic function long-term is exercising regularly. And I can certainly vouch for the positive effects on mood, although I don't know whether it's because of effects on dopamine.
 
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