Posted by blueberry1 on January 3, 2007, at 16:00:14
In reply to Desperately need something for motivation, posted by MIke Lynch on January 2, 2007, at 17:35:52
I have been dealing with the same crippling symptoms for 10 years. Lack of pleasure, no enjoyment, no motivation. Even in times when I wasn't depressed. It's like even those symptoms are part of the overal depression picture, they represent a distinct syndrome all by themselves. They can be there with or without depression.
I have gotten very brief responses that helped, usually in the norepinephrine/dopamine category. I've read that those are the chemicals related to pleasure and reward. But I can't ever get a sustained response past a couple days. If you haven't already, you might want to try tyrosine supplements (start low like 100mg 2X a day, while some guidelines say to take as much as 1000mg 3x day). Or DL-phenylalanine. Other than that it is just pure trial and error with various herbs. I did get a nice boost from gingko biloba which felt rather dopaminergic/noradrenergic to me. It was overly stimulating to me though and created a lot of anxiety...requiring xanax...geez.
Strange, but I took xanax for one week as an emergency for panic attacks at a company meeting with hundreds of people. During that week I had a profound increase in pleasure and motivation. I expected xanax would do just the opposite. I am benzophobic but I keep thinking about retrying it. It doesn't make sense. But heck, whatever, right?
poster:blueberry1
thread:718608
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20061218/msgs/718960.html