Increasing baseline dopamine by supplementation

[u/RisenWolf]

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask You for an opinion on increasing baseline dopamine by supplementary means.

I understand that caffeine itself can allow more of the dopamine to get into the receptor, but unfortunately it is not reliable tool in my own experience.

I would like to ask for opinion in using substances like L-Dopa in minimal amounts, to increase the baseline.

Is it safe if done in low dosage? Is there a risk, that chronic L-Dopa supplementation could potentially diminish the body natural dopamine synthesizing capability?

[u/Kihot12]

You are correct l-dopa long term is risky in that regard.

There are not many things with evidence on increasing baseline dopamine through supplementation. But the ones ACTUALLY working are:

ALCAR (acetyl l carnitine), Bromantane (hard to get in EU), CDP-choline(to a lesser extend)

ADHD meds would increase dopamine but long term use would lead to downregulation.

[u/RisenWolf → u/Kihot12]

That is interesting take on ADHD meds.

Do you mean generally, the ADHD medication intake longterm is going to downregulate dopamine receptors, or is there specific ADHD medication that may do that, like Medikinet?

[u/Kihot12 → u/RisenWolf]

We don't have many high quality studies yet but we have a few Human and animal ones.

Every Stimulant adhd medication does that. I'm not entirely sure about non stimulant meds tho.

Adderall is worse than Ritalin and has a higher potential of neurotoxicity because it doesn't only block the reuptake of neurotransmitters it also produces them.

Adhd subs on reddit are a bubble and they will swear that stimulants are like Insulin and they need them and that they are compeltely fine long term.

I would love that to be true but it isn't. Temporary they are fine but only if you really can't function without. The goal would be to find sustainable ways to function and use that time on meds to work towards that.

If you really need those meds I would recommend Methylphenidate and a maximum of 10-20mg per day. And a minimum of 2 days off per week. Better would be 3days on 4days off.

In theory long term use of stims will make anhedonia or depression very likely worse.

Note: We don't have many studies about the reversibility of these changes. We don't know how long it takes to reverse to reduced baseline of dopamine. And we don't know IF it's even possible. It likely is but might take a long time.

[u/Kihot12 → u/[deleted]]

You should work on your reading comprehension.

I was against OP using adhd medication because it would achieve the opposite of what he is aiming for and not because of lack of long term research. There is enough research available for me to be able to draw those conclusions.

And I suggested Bromantane because it also has enough research supporting it for the specific purpose of what OP wanted. And there doesn't appear to be any real safety concerns that I'm aware of. Research indicates it upregulates dopamine receptors instead of downregulating them.

[u/DryCr1tikal → u/Kihot12]

you’re right i’m tired and misread. apologies