The Other Effects

I wanted to start a topic about the effects not really talked about as much as the memory, attention, focus, impulsiveness, and motivation. Maybe some things that people are unaware about.

As I've mentioned in other posts ADHD/ADD is caused by a lack of dopamine activity. Some effects of that include anhedonia, apathy, social withdrawal, low ability for instrumental/conditioned learning, low ability to know right from wrong, lacking the feeling of love, hedonistic behavior, mood swings, easily frustrated, difficulty achieving orgasm, low libido, depression....

I'll post this link again: http://www.hands2health.com/Dopamine.pdf
And heres another list: http://www.nutritional-healing.com.au/c ... deficiency

A lot of times when talking about ADHD/ADD the only things talked about are the cognitive processing issues but there are other symptoms as well. Although, you don't have to have all these symptoms, but maybe some sound familiar.These other symptoms (and hyperactivity/impulsiveness and poor planning) might also explain the connection to AsPD/Psychopathy/ODD. The disorders can have similar personalities (I know some people with ADHD/ADD post in the AsPD forum so thought I would mention this).

There is also the problem of understanding speech at times - Central Auditory Processing Disorder - which often piggybacks with ADHD. I almost never hear anyone talking about that one.

I know it's not related to AsPD/emotions and what carryover there may be between the two categories, but it bugs the hell out of me.

Umm...sex in general?

I mean jeez it's so FRICKIN' AWESOME and it's HAPPENING and THERE'S SO MUCH GOING ON BOOBS ASS LEGS MOUTH WHICH WAY THIS WAY? wait, what'd you say? OH YEAH ME TOO AND AND UM why the hell am I thinking about that movie I saw last night? It really was pretty interesting how they made that one point just with the camera work, I wonder if that was the director or the cinematographer? Or maybe it was in the screenplay. I wonder how much the screenwriter can actually put in about the actual imagery. Of course these days there's usually a bunch of screenwriters reworking the script. And then of course no matter what the script says the director OH HOLY CRAP NAKED GIRL WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BE DOING?

Passenger wrote:I mean jeez it's so FRICKIN' AWESOME and it's HAPPENING and THERE'S SO MUCH GOING ON BOOBS ASS LEGS MOUTH WHICH WAY THIS WAY? wait, what'd you say? OH YEAH ME TOO AND AND UM why the hell am I thinking about that movie I saw last night? It really was pretty interesting how they made that one point just with the camera work, I wonder if that was the director or the cinematographer? Or maybe it was in the screenplay. I wonder how much the screenwriter can actually put in about the actual imagery. Of course these days there's usually a bunch of screenwriters reworking the script. And then of course no matter what the script says the director OH HOLY CRAP NAKED GIRL WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BE DOING?

you've got it going on like genghis khan.

Marshmallow, have you ever taken stimulant medication?

Lil A. wrote:Marshmallow, have you ever taken stimulant medication?

yes

I find the whole dopamine thing interesting, because in some ways i find it hard to figure out where my own levels are.

Recently (when under stress) I responded very badly to dopamine-reducing medication (antipsychotic) which sent me to sleep and made me wake up feeling like $#%^. But i haven't always had the exact same problems, and stress reduces dopamine levels... trying to deal with my own problems has put me under a lot of stress over the last couple of years.

On one hand i relate to some of the symptoms not specific to concentration, and on the other hand, i can go the other way, i feel like things like exercise for example can make my dopamine levels skyrocket, which makes me wonder, maybe my exercise addiction really was a good thing, and it might be healthy for me to get another one going!

I remember when i was in the unit as a teenager they'd comment i was lethargic a lot of the time and that at times, for example after exercise, i'd seem "high" - one of their arguments for the bipolar dx i expect. Also in other circumstances, I've noticed the same effect.

so i feel more like i have dysregulated dopamine levels than chronically low ones, though stress tends to push them low, and that i'd be more likely to benefit from something that might help stabilise them within an area in the middle... which might - or might not explain something -

this is interesting: (about dopamine responses tested in mice, mainly about lithium but also touches on responses to amphetamine.)

[article based on animal testing.]

http://www.pnas.org/content/101/14/5099.full wrote:These data support the involvement of GSK-3 as an important mediator of DA and lithium action in vivo and suggest that modulation of the Akt/GSK-3 pathway might be relevant to DA-related disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia.

it interested me because when i was 15 i managed to stay at school for 8 months and function while on lithium.

i dont know if it was really anything to do with it or not, because i still exploded on things when i got sick of it, but i was going in every day and functioning at least to that extent, where as the exploding at it all was a psychological response based on my issues and perspectives, so its possible it did something.

Interestingly it didn't stop me getting depressed though, which is what its supposed to do in people with bipolar, but for that 8 months at least i seemed more functional, controlled etc. at least until i got pissed off with it all lol.

I'm not inclined to try going back on it because of the potential long term effects, but it would be interesting to find out what measures might be possible to use to simulate that effect if it was helpful.

i also dont think i actually have ADHD personally, i lack most of the concentration issues involved, but i noticed the post and found it interesting.