Posted by JohnL on March 16, 2001, at 4:31:11
In reply to Re: Please help! latest... adrafinil trial » JohnL, posted by JonW on March 11, 2001, at 18:46:28
> Thanks for taking the time to respond, and all the good advice! I agree that dopamine has been somewhat overlooked, and my intuition as unscientific as it may be tells me dopamine is an important player in my problems. It's my understanding that the drugs you suggested lower dopamine. Why not try drugs that raise dopamine? I've read Dr. Jensen's book and I don't seem to have much in common with those who typically suffer from dopamine elevation, but I do believe that any chemical imbalance can cause any problem. I'm concerned about lowering dopamine and sexual dysfunction. Would zyprexa + bromocriptine cancel each other out? I recently stopped adrafinil due to a significant elevation of blood pressure, but I may give it a go again at a later time. I tried lithium alone today and it made me very depressed and I startled more easily than usual. Klonopin seemed to remedy the situation somewhat. I'm curious if this reaction to lithium is an important piece of information? Thanks again for all your help! The world would be better off if there were more people like you! Or at the very least, if my doctor was more like you :)
>
> jonHello Jon,
Thank you for the nice comments. I wish there was something we could do real fast to fix things. But I guess the best we can do is the best we can do, right? If that makes any sense.As far as lowering dopamine or elevating dopamine, I'm not sure there is any way to predict which might be helpful to you. And most of the drugs have such wide range mechanisms nobody really knows for sure what they do. Dr Jensen speaks of antipsychotics as dopamine reducers. However, I don't think that is accurate, depending on the drug in question. For example Zyprexa. Zyprexa affects serotonin, NE, and dopamine, but nobody really knows for sure exactly how. For example, does it raise dopamine at low doses but block dopamine at high doses (similar to Amisulpride)? Just based on my own experimentations I think that is the case. But there is no scientific evidence I'm aware of the clearly shows Zyprexa's effects at different doses. In all honesty, I get the feeling it does both, that is, it raises dopamine in some parts of the brain and lowers it in others.
No matter, it just seems that these dopamine drugs work well when everything else hasn't provided the desired results. Zyprexa as I see it is a Cadillac of mood enhancing drugs. Exactly why or how I have no idea, and I'm not sure anyone else does either.
Concerning Lithium, it has effects on serotonin and norepinephrine. Why it made you more depressed I don't know. There is a clue there, but I don't know what it is. In your shoes the best I would be able to do is say forget that one. Next. :-)
John
John
poster:JohnL
thread:56006
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010310/msgs/56633.html