Posted by Optimist on October 3, 2004, at 11:38:07
In reply to Re: Amisulpride and Prolactin, posted by pablo1 on October 3, 2004, at 10:30:31
I know dopamine and prolactin are inversely related, in that as dopamine goes up prolactin goes down and vice versa.
If your prolactin is too high at the moment, my educated guess is that the amisulpride is lowering your dopamine to cause this effect.
I am a little fuzzy about this drug but if it's used as an antipsychotic for schizophrenia then my guess is that it's lowering dopamine at some level. If I recall correctly, it has variable effects on dopamine depending on the dosage.
I know drugs like bromocriptine are dopamine agonists and thus raise dopamine resulting in lowered prolactin levels. But if you're already taking a drug that lowers dopamine I'm not sure if you would want to take another drug that raises it.
A common side effect of SSRI's is higher prolactin levels. This usually results in lowered dopamine, which is responsible for a lot of the sexual disfunction people experience.
I know one function of prolactin is to produce breast milk in women. Another function I know of is it prolongs the refractory period for men after ejaculation. I'm sure there are a number of other functions of prolactin but I am unsure of them at this point.
poster:Optimist
thread:397861
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041002/msgs/398512.html