Posted by Ron Hill on December 10, 2003, at 20:54:33
In reply to Motivation problems and alternative meds, posted by btnd on December 10, 2003, at 19:06:42
Hi bntd,
> Are there are any alternative supplements/meds that could boost motivation or deal with anhedonia?
Two individual trials of two different supplements (SAM-e and ENADA NADH) each greatly helped my atypical depressive symptoms (anhedonia, anergy, low motivation, etc). However, in both cases the supplements ended up causing severe irritability after about five months of excellent results. Therefore, I have discontinued both.
My layman’s opinion is that when my serotonin/dopamine balance tilts toward low dopamine, I experience anhedonia, anergy, low motivation, etc. Conversely, when my dopamine gets out ahead of my serotonin, I get irritable and anxious. SAM-e and ENADA NADH are both dopaminergic and perhaps, over time they shift my serotonin/dopamine balance too far toward the dopamine side of the equation. I don’t have a clue why it would take five months for the shift to occur. In retrospect, I wonder if I could have solved the irritability side effect by adding tryptophan.
Do I remember correctly that you tried ENADA NADH? If so, did it help?
Another approach that might be worthy of consideration is to take tyrosine together with tryptophan. I blocked, copied, and pasted the following quote from this article: http://www.smartnutrition.info/JamesSouth-tryptophan.htm
<start quote>
Van Praag’s research has shown that for many people suffering depression, combining the amino-acid tyrosine with tryptophan works much better than taking tryptophan alone. These would be Young’s "apathetic inhibited" types, where both the serotonin tranquillity/ well being circuits and the "get up and go" vigorous action dopamine/ noradrenaline circuits are underactive.
<end quote>-- Ron
poster:Ron Hill
thread:288550
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031204/msgs/288588.html