Posted by linkadge on December 19, 2006, at 12:24:08
In reply to Re: Dopamine deprivation - *get some red bull!* » linkadge, posted by kelv on December 18, 2006, at 19:14:50
>How so? Caffeine is a stimulant, while Taurines >a depressant
I am speaking in terms of dopamine release in the frontal cortex.
Anticonvulsant mood stabilizers seem to have the ability to release dopamine in the frontal cortex.
See:
http://neurotransmitter.net/bipolardopamine.html
"We have recently reported that the anticonvulsant mood stabilizers (AMS), valproic acid, carbamazepine, and zonisamide, but not lithium, also preferentially increase DA efflux in the rat mPFC, and that, at subthreshold doses,"
Wheather or no this extends to taurine is speculation on my part, but if so, then caffine and taurine would potentiate eachother. I will try and find the exact study I am looking for.
>In what way?-REALLY a $1 bottle of fizzy drink >helps more than a Sch II drug?Well for starters, amphetamines can cause psychosis or at least exaserbate it in a psychotic patient, while caffine is a lot less likely to do that. In addition, taurine itself has proven to be a usefull treatment for bipolar disorder. It is an anticonvulsant. Caffine increases limbic dopamine a lot less than do amphetamines, and taurine decreases limbic dopamine. So the decrease in limbic dopamine and increase in frontal cortex dopamine might be the reason.
But, theory aside, I have a few friends with schizophrenia who said they were prescribed amphetamine for negative syptoms, but that red bull seemed to overall help them better.
>Tegretol sure didn't make me feel like increased >frontal cortex dopamine was going on, (stims do) >it killed my spirit, and dimmed my brain down to >a 35 watt light bulb from a 75 watt bulbThese are hard drugs. It is necessary however, to separate limbic dopamine increase from frontal cortex dopamine increase. Limbic dopamine increase is what gives the "subjective" well being. Frontal cortex dopamine increase can improve attention and executive function, but its not going to make you feel great.
>If Depakote and Teg increase frontal cortex-then >why arn't they used for ADD/HD?
Actually they are. They are not, of course, first line treatments, but for a number of patients, (who may have bipolarity) low doses of anticonvulsants are often much better at improving concentration and reducing distractability than are stimulants.
(Don't get me wrong, tegretol made me feel like crap too, so it can depend on the person)
(Taurine alone however really helps my concentration)Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:714230
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061217/msgs/715009.html