How to increase dopamine?

[Fernando Almaguer]

How do we increase dopamine sensitivity or the amount of receptors ?

Remember to be careful with supplements like dopamine precursors. They can contribute to lower levels if abused and not cycled. Also, Ice baths ... the literature is pretty solid that ice baths in the morning can give a steady rise in dopamine through the day. Also dopamine fast like Dixie wrecked mentioned is paramount!

do you mean showering with cold water ? it's also the optimum way to reduce glucose. I kinda very much agree with this. Need to do it more often.

Cold showers are great and also an effective way to get adapted to cold. They do work it's just the data points to cold water submersion for metabolic benefits you mentioned, fat loss, stress adaptation and dopamine release. 11 min per week. You can make that happen however you'd like. I do a trough with water and some ice. Also combining this with sauna on other days for maximum mitochondrial health!

 

[newuser]

Meditation, fasting or restriction of anything what give us pleasure.

How do we increase dopamine sensitivity or the amount of receptors ?

 

[JYD21]

Subbed. This is an issue I'm having after quitting nicotine and porn. My girlfriend is understanding, and with her help, I'm looking at a plan to get through this low period more efficiently without using AD's.

 

[Fernando Almaguer]

Subbed. This is an issue I'm having after quitting nicotine and porn. My girlfriend is understanding, and with her help, I'm looking at a plan to get through this low period more efficiently without using AD's.

I too have the same issue. Nicotine and porn simultaneously

 

[Strengthandlibido]

I too have the same issue. Nicotine and porn simultaneously

I've heard horror stories about porn plus c****** and m***.

 

[MIP1950]

You essentially have to do a dopamine detox. You can look it up but it basically means nothing enjoyable for a specified amount of time. Not even music.

When one is already depressed, that sounds like it has the potential to worsen depression to the point of danger. Even if a person doesn't have depression, it sounds extreme.

 

[bixt]

When one is already depressed, that sounds like it has the potential to worsen depression to the point of danger. Even if a person doesn't have depression, it sounds extreme.

You injure your muscle, you rest it and dont use that muscle, it heals.

You injure your brain from abusing porn and/or substances, you rest it, avoid stimulation, it heals and resensitises itself to normal stimuli.

Don't believe me? Wank off to porn multiple times in a row to the same kind of porn. You wont get aroused after a while. Use more extreme porn, it works, and then stops working.
Stop using all porn, and normal lesbian stuff becomes arousing again.

Abstainance = resensitisation to normal stimuli

 

[MIP1950]

You injure your muscle, you rest it and dont use that muscle, it heals.

You injure your brain from abusing porn and/or substances, you rest it, avoid stimulation, it heals and resensitises itself to normal stimuli.

Don't believe me? Wank off to porn multiple times in a row to the same kind of porn. You wont get aroused after a while. Use more extreme porn, it works, and then stops working.
Stop using all porn, and normal lesbian stuff becomes arousing again.

Abstainance = resensitisation to normal stimuli

@DixieWrecked spoke, specifically, of avoiding anything pleasurable, including music. I listen to music when I'm in the car and at home on YouTube. I watch movies. I walk on the beach. I play with our cats. I cook. I've read that people in long term solitary confinement develop psychiatric problems from being isolated and without any stimulation, such as music.

Avoiding porn is specific and I understand that. Depriving yourself of anything pleasurable, especially when you have depression, can push someone to suicide. @DixieWrecked and I have chatted, so let him clarify his post. Meanwhile, going for a walk on the beach and check out the women.

 

[bixt]

@DixieWrecked spoke, specifically, of avoiding anything pleasurable, including music. I listen to music when I'm in the car and at home on YouTube. I watch movies. I walk on the beach. I play with our cats. I cook. I've read that people in long term solitary confinement develop psychiatric problems from being isolated and without any stimulation, such as music.

Avoiding porn is specific and I understand that. Depriving yourself of anything pleasurable, especially when you have depression, can push someone to suicide. @DixieWrecked and I have chatted, so let him clarify his post. Meanwhile, going for a walk on the beach and check out the women.

Google the concept of a dopamine fast. Hard music, youtube, binge movies are no-no. Highly stimulating.

Walking on the beach is fine, calming. Nobody suggested solitary confinement, not sure if you are taking this concept too far or being sarcastic.

 

[MIP1950]

Google the concept of a dopamine fast. Hard music, youtube, binge movies are no-no. Highly stimulating.

Walking on the beach is fine, calming. Nobody suggested solitary confinement, not sure if you are taking this concept too far or being sarcastic.

Not being sarcastic. If you've never read any of my posts, I'm 71, have a 17 1/2 year history of treatment resistant bipolar illness(rapid cycling/mixed state, but now, predominantly depression). Erectile dysfunction after I relapsed in mid 2004, but was fine before my relapse. Non-restorative sleep.(Sleep was fine, too, before relapse) Dysfunctional marriage. My wife was diagnosed with dementia this past summer and she's declining. She has poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes. Doesn't want my suggestions or help, so I'm watching her die. There is little joy in my/our life.

Truly, thank you for your reply. I know your response is sincere and meant to help.

 

[DixieWrecked]

Not being sarcastic. If you've never read any of my posts, I'm 71, have a 17 1/2 year history of treatment resistant bipolar illness(rapid cycling/mixed state, but now, predominantly depression). Erectile dysfunction after I relapsed in mid 2004, but was fine before my relapse. Non-restorative sleep.(Sleep was fine, too, before relapse) Dysfunctional marriage. My wife was diagnosed with dementia this past summer and she's declining. She has poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes. Doesn't want my suggestions or help, so I'm watching her die. There is little joy in my/our life.

Truly, thank you for your reply. I know your response is sincere and meant to help.

The concept of dopamine detox is that in today's society we are dope fiends and we are constantly rewarded for unhealthy behaviors like eating junk food, Jacking off to porno, receiving text messages, etc. The dopamine rewards for these behaviors are totally unnatural and our dopamine system gets burnt out and we no longer feel satisfaction like we should or out in the effort to achieve great things. To correct this one would need to avoid all pleasurable things for a short period of time and then resume a lifestyle where we receive a dopamine hit from doing things that are hard or natural, like the way nature designed it. For example, building furniture, catching a fish, get laid, achieving a promotion, a hard workout, climbing a mountain, walking on a beach, watching a sunset

 

[bixt]

In terms of physiology, when you flood the brain with dopamine (be it drugs or hard stimuli) the dopamine receptors decrease in number over time, if a break is not taken.

Then you will not feel normal stimuli to be pleasurable, as even normal levels of dopamine dont have enough receptors to activate. The walk on the beach will be boring and dull.

A dopamine fast on the other hand, involves taking a break from all dopamine releasing stimuli. With no acute release of dopamine, the brain increases the number of receptors, and the existing receptors become sensitised.

When normal activity resumes, it will be once more pleasurable. The walk on the beach will be refreshing, the sun will be bright, the grass will look greener.

 

[nippy]

For how long have you been doing this Gene? I have used Caber with some success too, but I don't like the idea of dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome (DAWS), so I stay of it.

I found that using pramipexole intermittently (if you can handle the sides) made a huge difference in terms of motivation and libido. It is really hard to find a dosage (and getting used to it) with the side effects it provides though.

Where did u get the pramipexole from

 

[MIP1950]

The concept of dopamine detox is that in today's society we are dope fiends and we are constantly rewarded for unhealthy behaviors like eating junk food, Jacking off to porno, receiving text messages, etc. The dopamine rewards for these behaviors are totally unnatural and our dopamine system gets burnt out and we no longer feel satisfaction like we should or out in the effort to achieve great things. To correct this one would need to avoid all pleasurable things for a short period of time and then resume a lifestyle where we receive a dopamine hit from doing things that are hard or natural, like the way nature designed it. For example, building furniture, catching a fish, get laid, achieving a promotion, a hard workout, climbing a mountain, walking on a beach, watching a sunset

If a dopamine fast has helped you, I'm glad for you. In different or multiple ways, many of us are looking for ways to restore physical function and emotional balance in our lives

My brain has been malfunctioning since I was a child, when Tourette's Syndrome emerged at 3 years old, followed by severe anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, attention problems, learning problems. Depression, I realize, was with me, too, since I was a child. My teen years weren't any better. I began having suicidal feelings when I was 19, followed by yearly, 3 month depressive episodes that left me unable to function. After my father died in late 1989, my depression jumped the fire line and I began having severe mood swings and by the end of 1990, I was on my way to in-patient.

The severe manias I had for several years after my relapse in 2004, have likely damaged my brain, as well the neurotransmitter balance. Yes, there is neuroplasticity but I've not experienced any evidence of improvements. Trying lithium, again, for the 8th time. Also trying low dose niacin(100 mg).

 

[bixt]

If a dopamine fast has helped you, I'm glad for you. In different or multiple ways, many of us are looking for ways to restore physical function and emotional balance in our lives

My brain has been malfunctioning since I was a child, when Tourette's Syndrome emerged at 3 years old, followed by severe anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, attention problems, learning problems. Depression, I realize, was with me, too, since I was a child. My teen years weren't any better. I began having suicidal feelings when I was 19, followed by yearly, 3 month depressive episodes that left me unable to function. After my father died in late 1989, my depression jumped the fire line and I began having severe mood swings and by the end of 1990, I was on my way to in-patient.

The severe manias I had for several years after my relapse in 2004, have likely damaged my brain, as well the neurotransmitter balance. Yes, there is neuroplasticity but I've not experienced any evidence of improvements. Trying lithium, again, for the 8th time. Also trying low dose niacin(100 mg).

I wish you all the best man, I can empathise with you and what you are going through.

I really hope you find the solutions you seek for yourself and your wife. Never give up hope.

 

[MIP1950]

I wish you all the best man, I can empathise with you and what you are going through.

I really hope you find the solutions you seek for yourself and your wife. Never give up hope.

Thank you.

 

[DorianGray]

I've been taking a Life Extension supplement called Dopa Mind. I find it mildly calming with a very slight, almost opioid effect.

 

[xcpatr922]

The concept of dopamine detox is that in today's society we are dope fiends and we are constantly rewarded for unhealthy behaviors like eating junk food, Jacking off to porno, receiving text messages, etc. The dopamine rewards for these behaviors are totally unnatural and our dopamine system gets burnt out and we no longer feel satisfaction like we should or out in the effort to achieve great things. To correct this one would need to avoid all pleasurable things for a short period of time and then resume a lifestyle where we receive a dopamine hit from doing things that are hard or natural, like the way nature designed it. For example, building furniture, catching a fish, get laid, achieving a promotion, a hard workout, climbing a mountain, walking on a beach, watching a sunset

This is such a great advice. No wonder when I detached everything and just enjoyed secluded Hawaii all the problem gone right away with so much Dopamine boost that I could feel. Also when I feel more grateful my dopamine is rising.

 

[JYD21]

All great input, thank you! So who has a good dopamine detox/receptor reset strategy, schedule, plan that worked for them and can share?

 

[Cataceous]

This thread isn't complete without a mention of selegiline, aka L-deprenyl. It gives you higher dopamine and possible anti-aging effects. Quoting this article:

Selegiline is a MAO-B inhibitor (in regular doses), it inhibits the enzyme monoamine oxidase type B that oxidizes dopamine, [and] as a result the user keeps a higher level of dopamine. ...​

...​

Selegiline (Deprenyl) provides selective protection against the age-related degeneration of the dopaminergic nervous system. It protects sensitive dopamine-containing neurons from the age-associated increases in glial cells (non-neuron brain cells) and the monoamine oxidase (type B) that they contain. Selegiline is the first selective inhibitor of MAO-B ever discovered, it is the only one used in clinical practice, and it remains the scientific reference standard for B-type inhibition after more than 40 years.​

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Although the long-term use of Selegiline in normal people as a life-extension and cognitive-enhancing drug has yet to be definitively studied, animal research is extensive. Age-associated decrease in sexual performance and hunger drive in rodents (a dopaminergic function) is dramatically inhibited.​

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The lifespan studies of Selegiline in rodents is equally dramatic—all of the control rats die before the first Selegiline-treated rat dies.​

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The life-extending influence of Selegiline is not mediated through a food-restriction mechanism. Selegiline -treated animals maintain body weight better than control animals.​

...​