• HEALTH & RECOVERY
    Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules Thread Directory 1 Thread Directory 2
    Mindfulness Links Addiction & Mind
    Sober Living Partner Program (SLiPP)
  • H&R Moderators: VerbalTruist

Replenishing seratonin & dopamine with diet/lifestyle post drug use

J

jess046

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Messages
217
This goes out to all the people who use drugs that act on receptors such as serotonin and dopamine that need replenishing after drug use. Now I know, the golden rule is to give it time for the receptors to replenish before using drugs again, but wouldn't it be better to make a conscious effort to tailor one's diet toward the need for serotonin and dopamine after a period of drug use than not at all, and simply waiting for the brain to return to its natural state. I'd rather take a break and also be consciously trying to improve my health (without supplements). After using these drugs periodically, even once to twice a month, I also believe that it's possible the receptors can still downgrade anyway.

Also this could be a useful resource for people who have abused these type of drugs heavily and are trying to recover through diet/lifestyle.

And those of us who are just vulnerable to depression/mood swings in general.

I've read a lot about supplements such as 5HTP and L-DOPA as a means of artificially doing this, but I really don't like using either of these supplements and would prefer to do it naturally. There's plenty of threads on that stuff anyway.

Serotonin food sources (from tryptophan) include:
- Bananas
- Dark Chocolate
- Cocoa
- Eggs
- Turkey
- Milk
- Cheese
- Fish high in omega 3s
- Meats like beef, chicken & pork

Does anybody know which of these foods are the best and highest source? I would also like more information on how to aid the process of conversion of tryptophan to 5HTP as I've read that most tryptophan does not pass the blood barrier. Are there things we should be doing to help amp up the conversion process, such as eating a high tryptophan food source with a carb? (I read this online, but don't know much about it's truth). Or perhaps something vitamin B rich? Are there certain times that are better? Should it be spread out over the course of a day or can you pack in lots of tryptophan in a smoothie for example or is that just entirely pointless?


Dopamine (Tyrosine) Foods

- Protein (egg whites, meats, milk - much like serotonin I guess)
- Apples (contains quercetin which stimulates dopamine production)
- Bananas
- Cottage cheese
- Salmon
- Turkey
- Soy products
- Avocados
- Almonds
- Yogurt

Obviously these foods are super healthy considering there are many overlaps. But how do we get the tyrosine and tryptophan to convert to the next precursor? That is the hard part that I would like more advice on.

Also consider daily exercise and exposure to sunlight to help stimulate the production of serotonin and dopamine. But should we be eating banana smoothies and other tryptophan and tyrosine rich snacks whilst taking a walk in the morning sunlight? Do we need to be doing these two things together to aid the conversion process? What's the key here?

Obviously antioxidants play a key role in neurotransmitter health, but I'll leave it to the dieticians and scientists to take that on. Apart from taking supplements as a pre-load and post-load for drug use I don't see how they would be important to serotonin and dopamine production. But if I'm wrong feel free to explain.

And upregulating receptors, lastly. Can we be doing anything in our diet or in our lifestyle to help upregulate our receptors? I don't want to take Saint John's Wort or anything else that does this. Just wondering if there are any minor things we can implement into our diet and lifestyle that would help.

Anyway, that's as much as I could glean from reading stuff on the internet, more informed people can take it from here or people with anecdotal reports.
 
Last edited:
heres some more food you missed, idk if theyr dopamine or serotonin

Chicken
Sour Cherries - Raises Serotonin levels + Melotonin , Helps you sleep.
Pecans
Pineapple
Eggplant
Spinach
Walnuts
Roasted pumpkin seeds
dry sunflower seeds
Oats
Kidney beans

i dont think it matters when you get sunlight and exercise, it just helps to exercise daily to boost dopamine i think and i usually exercise before i eat

if i lived alone i think my shopping list would be entirely serotonin/dopa foods
 
Last edited:
good question, raw would have more nutrients logically, i just copy pasted from darksidesam's mdma food pre roll routine blog post
 
Hi Jess046 welcome to Bluelight, I have experienced a bad reaction to untested molly last year and resulted to a long term comedown. I ate all the foods you listed above but I believe that what really helped me get better is the amount of exercise I did.

I would also like to add yogurt as part of the list as this also will help with the dopamine production.

IME, supplements have also helped me specifically magnesium and b-complex vitamins to help with the brain function. Magnesium helped with alleviating my brain zaps and it also helps with my anxiety.
 
Interesting, how much exercise did you do Maya? I do yoga ever second day or so and walk about 40 minutes to an hour every day. Figured that was enough.

Didn't know about yogurt and dopamine. I'll add it to the list.

I take a magnesium supplement daily for muscle pain. I might try adding a vitamin b one to see if it helps. I read that vitamin b is needed to aid the conversion process. It's all so vague though, I wish someone with a background in nutrition & pharmacology could explain it better.
 
is it safe to take tyrosine and amino acid supplements with zoloft?
i recently bought something called amino energy has caffeine and loads of amino acids, and 1mg tyrosine daily
 
jess046 said:
Interesting, how much exercise did you do Maya? I do yoga ever second day or so and walk about 40 minutes to an hour every day. Figured that was enough.
Click to expand...

I went almost everyday from the first to the fourth month about half an hour to an hour of cardio exercise/speed cardio then I slowly added situps, weights and other core exercises. I also did some zumba classes, yoga, and tai chi.

Robv5 said:
is it safe to take tyrosine and amino acid supplements with zoloft?
i recently bought something called amino energy has caffeine and loads of amino acids, and 1mg tyrosine daily
Click to expand...

I have read that Tyrosine should not be taken if you’re on medications for Parkinson’s or taking antidepressant supplements or medications, especially monoamine oxidase inhibitors, but it is always good to consult with a doctor to get more information about the effects of combining them.
 
Last edited:
There is not much evidence that food plans and supplements can actually increase serotonin in the brain. The come down is due to down-regulation of the receptors after being flooded with agonists, and not availability of serotonin.

Exercise is good because it makes other neurotransmitter systems kick in, and you get an endorphin kick.

The only real remedy to replenish your serotonin and dopamine systems is abstinence from the drugs causing down-regulation.
 
Foreigner said:
There is not much evidence that food plans and supplements can actually increase serotonin in the brain. The come down is due to down-regulation of the receptors after being flooded with agonists, and not availability of serotonin.

Exercise is good because it makes other neurotransmitter systems kick in, and you get an endorphin kick.

The only real remedy to replenish your serotonin and dopamine systems is abstinence from the drugs causing down-regulation.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured. I just wondered if there was a way to get tryptophan to pass the blood barrier and convert to 5HTP. Because from what I read 5HTP passes the blood brain barrier and converts to seratonin.
 
jess046 said:
That's what I figured. I just wondered if there was a way to get tryptophan to pass the blood barrier and convert to 5HTP. Because from what I read 5HTP passes the blood brain barrier and converts to seratonin.
Click to expand...

You have to understand that down-regulation is a natural adaptation to being bombarded. Your brain converts 5HTP as it needs it. If down-regulation has happened, then your brain will temporarily have a lesser need for 5HTP. The issue is the receptor's sensitivity, not the availability of serotonin precursors.
 
So triggering up-regulation is the key then. As far as I have read the only natural source for that is Saint John's Wort, but I wouldn't touch that stuff.

What causes receptors to up-regulate anyhow...not having enough seratonin/dopamine in the synapses, i.e depression/moodiness/lethargy? Would they not naturally up-regulate a week after using seratonin/dopamine drugs due to the post-drug use depression period that follows stimulants? So at that point in time perhaps diet becomes more important.
 
IME it depends on the drug that you are using and the dosage. for MDMA, if you use wayy too much and resulted in some nasty side effects, you may have to wait for about 6 months to a year to up-regulate your serotonin receptors.

Like what was already mentioned, exercise is one of the best keys to balance your brain's neurotransmitters so get on it!
 
I've never had any bad side affects from MDMA or other similar drugs/stims, but I would like to keep it that way...just figured it's better to be safe and over-cautious than sorry. Yes, I know waiting in-between doses is the key, but sometimes that isn't enough. Might as well help your body/mind in any way you can and promote up-regulation and neurotransmitter growth if it is possible.
 
There is not much evidence that food plans and supplements can actually increase serotonin in the brain. The come down is due to down-regulation of the receptors after being flooded with agonists, and not availability of serotonin.
Click to expand...

Actually, the endogenous synthesis of 5ht is pretty slow compared to DA or NE, and tryptophan hydroxylase places rate-limits on bioconversion of tryptophan to 5ht, so there's good rationale for 5ht depletion playing a role in getting hung over from MDMA and 5htp partially ameliorating such.


What causes receptors to up-regulate anyhow...not having enough seratonin/dopamine in the synapses, i.e depression/moodiness/lethargy? Would they not naturally up-regulate a week after using seratonin/dopamine drugs due to the post-drug use depression period that follows stimulants?
Click to expand...

Typically, receptors downregulate with repeated excitation and upregulate in the absence of excitation (with some weird exceptions, like 5ht2a receptors downregulating in response to antagonism). Your intuition is correct in that receptor expression tends to return to a typical baseline with time; you don't need to do anything to recover but wait. :)

ebola
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top