Posted by owensmar on August 29, 2004, at 17:18:01
In reply to A possible explaination., posted by linkadge on August 29, 2004, at 16:33:58
> What you are saying is very true. Dopamine itself is not the magic pleasure chemical. What we do know is that activation of the D3 receptors (which are loaded in the nucleus accumbens which is supposedly one of the pleasure centers in the brain) seems to improve anhedonia fairly reliably.
Please tell me how to activate the D-3 receptors. Do low doses of the dopamine antagonists (as in the previous post) do this? Or do you need a dopamine agonist instead?Anhedonia is such a severe problem for me. I feel that my life is wasting away while I sit on the couch, unable to find pleasure or reward in anything at all.
I am on Effexor xr 37.5 mg day (low dose because of side effects & medication sensitivity).
The only time I feel pleasure or motivation to engage in any activty is when I have taken hydrocodone. That drug seems to turn on the reward center in my brain and makes even unpleasurable tasks (doing my taxes) fun. (I severely limit my use of this drug, though, figuring it probably makes the problem worse in the long run.)
If I could experience pleasure in normal, everyday life, well, then, I'd actually have a life - instead of an existence.
Hopefully awaiting the answer to all my problems,
Marsha
> But boosting dopamine in other areas of the brain can cause apathy, dark moods, paranoia, guilt, jealousy, anger, grandiosity, and other strange states of the human condition.
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> Anyhow, one theory that I heard is that neuroleptics *can* increase pleasure by blocking some of the bad dopamine regions and allowing more dopamine to reach pleasure centers (ie d3 receptors)
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> I have found this too. If I take ritalin or coffee then I am oftentimes anhedonic, but neuroleptics seem to improve anhedonia. Stimulants plus neuroleptics can enhance the anti-anhedonic effect (but the combination is way too funky for me !!!)
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poster:owensmar
thread:383680
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040825/msgs/383776.html