Posted by Girlnterrupted on August 11, 2006, at 1:30:23
Recently I met a guy who is recovering from cocaine addiction. I've never done cocaine in my life, but it's weird because the symptoms he described while on cocaine withdrawal are exactly the same symptoms I have NATURALLY without doing any drugs.
He described feeling anxious, paranoid, self-conscious, angry, irritated. He said he was walking down the street and would get really pissed if someone slightly touched him while walking, if someone made a face he'd be furious, he was angry looking at all those cars on the street thinking "why all these people have nice cars and I don't!!??", he had sudden panic attacks, he felt anxious and would freeze in social situations, etc. His personality was totally different before this, he was totally calm and outgoing and wouldn't care about any of this. It's been a year from the time he stopped the cocaine and now he got back to normal and can see the difference.
But my point here is: my friend's cocaine withdrawal symptoms are my NORMAL state without doing any drugs! I mean, of course not severe, but bad enough that it's disrupting and totally ruining my life.
So why would the symptoms of cocaine withdrawal would be similar to my symptoms of depression?
As far as I know cocaine triggers dopamine. So could it be that I suffer from dopamine deficiency?
How could I restore my dopamine to normal levels? This is like living a nightmare. I'm constantly losing jobs, staying away from people and living a miserable existence because of how angry, annoyed and anxious I feel all the time. And none of the antidepressants I've tried have helped with these problems.
Any help would be appreciated.
poster:Girlnterrupted
thread:675561
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060810/msgs/675561.html