Dopamine

I need to feed my mind with info on this.

I need to know
- how it effects sex drive
- how to have healthy levels of it
- what symptoms indicate low levels
- which supps could help elevate it
- what the evil things that lower it are

I heard funky things about healthy dopamine levels so naturally I am interested.

I also noticed it being mentioned here recently which added to my curiousity.

Enlighten me please

Thank you

If I answer you I’ll have people come down on me like a ton of bricks. Oh hell…

The short answer is higher dopamine works with free testosterone to produce higher libido. Plenty of things raise dopamine, the problem is finding one that isn’t addictive and doesn’t deplete your body’s own ability to produce dopamine. Like heroin for example—people initially take it to feel good, then they are forced to take it to keep from feeling bad.

Low dopamine is characterized by depression, loss of pleasure, loss of meaning, loss of passion.

I’ll say it and then I’ll get in a two-hundred post debate, I suppose—even though things like eating saturated fat, meditation, non-competitive moderate aerobic exercise, being in love, etc., all raise dopamine, the easiest and most effective natural way to raise dopamine is to increase omega-3 fatty acid intake. And the easiest way to do that is to take fish oil.

Dopamine receptors take a shit starting about 30 years of age from what I heard. Isn’t dopamine off the charts on schizophrenics or something?

People who are taking blood-thinning medication like Coumadin or are on aspirin therapy, or who take lots of OTC pain relievers, or who are scheduled for surgery or who are allergic to seafood or who have defibrillators should not take fish oil.

There isn’t a full consensus on that, because there isn’t a full consensus on what actually constitutes schizophrenia.

http://www.schi zophrenia.com/s … ves/002397.html

BTW, omega-3 fatty acid consumption actually helps schizophrenics.

Chain smoking and drinking sick amounts of coffee slow the gradual downward spiral of shitting dopamine receptors.

Parkinson’s drug linked to gambling addiction; Initial studies still shaky
The psychopathology of Love
11 steps to a better brain
Male sexual circuitry
Interesting research on Love’s effect on the brain
The origins of happiness
List of Amino Acids
Gene-blocking therapy turns lazy monkeys into workaholics; poop flinging up 50%
Injections make rats monogamous
Smart Drugs (nootropics)
Genes linked to high-risk personalities
What Problem?
New patch will stop you wanting to drink OR smoke. Still no cure for cancer
Scientists Find Potential Easy Path to Erections
Men "in love" are really men "in lust" after all, research says
Pothead alert!: Down some coffee to perk up that burned out sperm
Epilepsy drug may treat cocaine addiction

Nootropics
Male sexual circuitry

All mentions of it as a search word start here:
/forum/search.p hp?searchid=497 … 17&pp=25&page=1

I thought schizophrenics had low dopamine. I (barely) remember a psych course from 25 years ago in which it was reported that schizophrenics were treated with L-dopa, a precursor to dopamine, to treat their disease.

Thank you for chiming in.

I tried fish oil several times before but never consistently, and not recently.

I took good brands and paid great attention to quality (I’m a supplement nut).

The problem I had with fish oil is that it gave me throbbing headaches. Right away I got them and they put me off.

Granted, I was taking Super Max fish oil with 360 EPA and 240 DHA per softgel, and later even more concentrated softgels from Life Extension. BUT I only took one a day, not more…

I’d love to take fish oil but those damn headaches… grrrr!

Maybe it’s just normal for this to happen at first but then the headaches subside when things settle down? Maybe I should try a low dose and see how that goes…

I get headaches if I take more than 3.5g of arginine or NO supps too by the way. A bit of a high blood pressure maybe? Not sure. I’m still 25 years old in human years…

I eat a lot of meat (steak, locally caught fish, etc)

I’d like to experiment a bit and see whether modifying dopamine levels does something and improves some things in my body.

I had been on anti-depressants in the past for a lon time when I was sick but nowadays I only take Sedoxil (Mexazolam) at a very low dose (1mg tabs) just before bed to make me sleep (we’re talking just 1 tab and 1/4). Not sure if that affects dopamine in a bad way or whether my levels might be messed up a bit from the shit the doctors gave me in the past.

Also, what other supps besides fish oil mess make the body produce healthy levels of dopamine? I’d like to experiment a bit.

And I guess there are other neurotransmitters that work with/are related to dopamine in the body like serotonin, norepinephrin, epinephrin, etc, etc, right? So it’s a bit of a complex thing and finding the right balance might be difficult…

Thanks for the links twatteaser. Just saw them now after I posted above

I think you are right.
http://www.medi calpost.com/mpc … T/3727/19A.html

There is some kook condition with high dopamine though. Of course I forget. Does that make me senile (again)?;)

Fish oil increases nitric oxide. I have heard mention from one other person that she heard that the occasional rare person would get headaches from fish oil consumption. Not sure what to tell you. Certainly don’t take fish oil if it gives you headaches.

Very interesting twatteaser. I appreciate the link. That’s one of the things frequently thrown at me, that I’m out to turn everyone schizophrenic.

The only downside to taking the fish oil gel caps for me is that I’m burping up a fishy taste later. Is there a better way of ingesting this stuff where I don’t have the taste of skanky pussy with me all day, not there is anything wrong with that (:

BG, I used to take fish oil that never gave me the burps. I used to take it just before meals and with fat.

The softgels I took smelt fresh and didn’t have that nasty fishy odor to them that is often associated with lots of fish oil supps. It’s important to keep them refridgerated 24/7 and choose the right brand also.

But I’d take fishy burps over the potential benefits of fish oil supplementation any day!!

—-

Back to dopamine…

In twatteaser’s post here it says dopamine is derived from tyrosine.

Now I remember why I had bought that bottle of tyrosine :D I still have it…

Had done some reading on this topic in the past but forgot what I had read. I might try taking some of this tyrosine, eh?