I am 46 yrs old and have ADD (for which I have been recieving treatment for over the last 3 years). In addition I have panic attacks, bouts of depression, minor body ticts (shoulder shrugging & some eye blinking). I also have stuttered since childhood but have been able to control it to some degree.

My question is the following: I am aware ADD is from a shortage of dopamine, but what confuses me is I'm reading that stuttering and ticks are caused by too dopamine.



I'm confussed?!

It depends on which type of dopamine is involved and in which areas of the brain. ADHD is more centered in the frontal lobes while tic disorders like TS are more centered in the basal ganglia, and ocd in the cingulate gyrus....It's really more complex than that but the idea is simple enough....different disorders affecting different (but sometimes overlapping) areas of the brain. Because there is some overlapping you encounter people who have combinations of disorders like ADHD and OCD or TS and ADHD, etc...

Here is a writeup on the neurology of TS for example: http://www.emedicine.com/med/byname/Tourette-Syndrome.htm

here is a long writeup on ocd

http://www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=999


and here is a writeup on the neurobiology of ADHD...

http://www.adhd.org.au/neurobiology.html


With all of that in mind it is kind of easy to see why some people develop tics when they take stimulants....


ME :D

The brain is an increadibly complex organ. Its probably not JUST dopamine defficiency.

Heres something to think about. What if everyone had your symptoms. And I was the only one who didn't have the symptoms. Am I then the abnormal one?

We'd have been too busy inventing poetry to invent the internet, or rather we would invent it and then never get around to building it.