does adderall affect your dopamine levels?

[sarahsweets]

If seen a few members state that adderall affects your dopamine. If it does how does that work? I am not sure that understand this. If it affects your dopamine negatively does that mean long term use is unsafe?

[SquarePeg]

From what I know (which isn´t a great deal) adderall blocks dopamine reuptake so instead of the dopamine being returned to the neuron to be used again, it is got rid of. So I don´t know if it means the eventually more adderall will be need or not.

I´m also not sure if this deficiency occurs in people with adhd taking recommended amounts of the drug or if it occurs in people who have abused the drug.

Then again I could be completely mixing up this info with something else as it was something a friend´s sister told me who is a psychiatrist and I tend not to remember stuff very well but we had a pretty long conversation about meds.

[Phoenix Ash]

There are two ideas at work here. The basic, intended mechanism is that amphetamines (like Adderall and others) force your brain to push more dopamine from the neurons out into the synaptical space. At the same time, amphetamines also block reuptake of dopamine back into the neurons. Thus, a greater amount of dopamine than usual hangs around in the synaptical space for a longer period of time. Your brain gets more use out of it that way -- it isn't gotten rid of.

Once the amphetamines wear off, then the neurons are unblocked and can reabsorb the dopamine.

Sometimes, particularly in cases of abuse and addiction, continued long-term use can cause something called Dopamine Depletion Syndrome. The brain basically gets burned out and its ability to do all of the above is compromised.

Ideally, though, if your usage of amphetamines is kept to strictly therapeutic levels and well-monitored by a doctor who knows what they're doing, this shouldn't become a problem.

Of course, we don't live in an ideal world, and there's still a lot we don't understand.

[Galactica75]

It's actually a lot more complicated than dopamine levels, because dopamine is easily replenished by the body.

The main problem has to do with the receptors and their down-regulation. Meaning that you can have really high levels of dopamine but your brain will still react as if you have normal or even low levels of dopamine. This study explains it in detail http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12727693

These data suggest that dopamine receptor function linked to adenylyl cyclase is partially desensitized in the striatum of human methamphetamine users. Decreased dopamine D(1) receptor function might underlie part of the known (drug withdrawal syndrome) or expected (drug tolerance) consequences of methamphetamine exposure in humans.

[kiosk]

any question intended purely at a single NT cannot be answered effectively as brain chemistry hardly works in isolation.....its also individual to many extents as well......
even if talking dopamine alone, you still have to consider the effect of action on multiple brain systems, such as the limbic system (ie, parkisons for deffiency) or the pre-frontal cortex (ADD for deficiency or schizo for excess)......

the other unfortunate thing is, no one can measure NT levels in the brain as of yet......serum measurements are useless

[oneup]

An additional problem is if your dopamine is too high, it can form free radicals that are toxic to the dopaminergic neurons, leading to neuron damage / death. This is usually mentioned in the context of methamphetamine abuse though, but I could see this occuring if the rx is too high, or if you have certain health conditions.

I've tried to read about how it specifically affects the transporter proteins, storage of dopamine, and dopamine release, and how this occurs in the absence of amphetamine, but when I do it starts to make my head spin a little bit. At one point I found a webpage that broke it down...if I can find it later I'll post it for your reference.

[AlphaOne]

i wonder about how adderall and dopamine blockers works together because it looks like one is trying to out-do another. i listen to anatomy of epidemic and what it says about neuroleptic is horrific

[Voyaging]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

If seen a few members state that adderall affects your dopamine. If it does how does that work? I am not sure that understand this. If it affects your dopamine negatively does that mean long term use is unsafe?

No this is not what it means.

Adderall does increase dopamine levels in the brain as its main method of producing effects (it also increases norepinephrine). After taking it for long periods of time, your body can down-regulate dopamine function to compensate. However, this is less apparent if your medication is taken as prescribed and not abused.

This does not imply danger to the brain (though it can if the drug is abused). Most of the effects are reversible if the medication is stopped for a long enough period of time.

[Rams88]

One thing I notice for sure, is if I am finishing a product and up all night and taking my doses as recommended (adderall XR 30mg x2 daily) then I get severely depressed when it wears off.

Might be withdraws or might be because the brain isn't getting the same level of dopamine as it was before on the medication.