Posted by Racer on March 22, 2007, at 16:53:12
In reply to dopamine, posted by pearlcat on March 22, 2007, at 9:32:05
The dopamine theories have a certain amount of support behind them, but there's still a good deal of uncertainty about the precise mechanisms. For instance, there was a study done not too long ago using DAT knockout mice which showed that they still responded to Ritalin. This suggested that it wasn't the dopaminergic effects of Ritalin which produced the beneficial effects, but more likely some mechanism related to the ratio of the three catecholamine neurotransmitters.
Increasing dopamine on its own is unlikely to produce the effect you're looking for. It might be part of the answer, but it's unlikely to solve the problem.
I don't know what ADs you've tried, but many of the TCAs, as well as Wellbutrin and the SNRIs, will affect the ratios of serotonin to norepinephrine/dopamine. That might be a better solution than an SSRI, but even the SSRIs are sometimes thought to work by downregulating the serotonin receptors, to up the relative concentration of dopamine in the brain.
Besides, if you're going to place that much stock into the dopamine theory, remember that it includes schizophrenia as resulting from too much dopamine.
What might be much more helpful to you, is to list the symptoms you're trying to address, which medications you've taken and how they affected you, and how long you were on them. Sometimes htat shows you something helpful about possible medication options.
Good luck
poster:Racer
thread:743144
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070320/msgs/743273.html