this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
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Science Memes

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[โ€“] [email protected] 29 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

Why don't they just prescribe this instead of stuff that doesn't help and also breaks your penis? ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

From Wikipedia on dopamine:

The brain includes several distinct dopamine pathways, one of which plays a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior.

So it is a neurotransmitter but has many different functions as such. But also:

Outside the central nervous system, dopamine functions primarily as a local paracrine messenger. In blood vessels, it inhibits norepinephrine release and acts as a vasodilator; in the kidneys, it increases sodium excretion and urine output; in the pancreas, it reduces insulin production; in the digestive system, it reduces gastrointestinal motility and protects intestinal mucosa; and in the immune system, it reduces the activity of lymphocytes. With the exception of the blood vessels, dopamine in each of these peripheral systems is synthesized locally and exerts its effects near the cells that release it.

So dopamine is important for all kinds of cells to function correctly. So just chugging a bunch of dopamine would do all kinds of stuff to your body...

[โ€“] [email protected] 61 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

Dopamine does a lot of things. It does not cross the blood-brain barrier.

So taking this would be all side effects and no benefits

[โ€“] [email protected] 21 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Just inject it straight into your brain

[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I'm going to try it.

Edit: smmmfrrrr grreendch ferrrmenspolendllllllllll

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 5 hours ago

This made me laugh way more than it should have rofl

[โ€“] [email protected] 18 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

So taking this would be all side effects and no benefits

So it's basically the same as Prozac? ๐Ÿ˜ฉ

[โ€“] [email protected] 22 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

If you have depression anxiety and find that Prozac (an ssri) doesnt work well, you might consider something that directly works on dopamine - like Buproprion (brand name = wellbutrin, a NDRI, norepinephrine dopamine reuptake inhibitor).

[โ€“] y0kai 2 points 5 hours ago

Wellbutrin and lexapro did it for me. Thank god

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I was a bit of not interested and not educated enough to know what a NDRI was while I was on it but it does make sense for ADHD and Depression symptoms.

The withdrawal from Wellbutrin was bad. I got brain zaps if I was 1hr late taking it; tapering and cessation was miserable.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I have gone off a few times over the years and didn't experience many side effects/withdrawals, but that is definitely not always the case - I've heard that it reeeaaally does not work for some people. Ymmv

Similar to your comment about ADHD, I feel like it helps me with some of my autism symptoms ("low support needs"/aspergers)

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago

SNRIs are also an option, but they can be worse to get off of than heroin.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

I realize this isn't serious but holy shit Prozac might have saved my life. Well, technically Prizma which is the same stuff. I went through so many unsuccessful depression treatments, Prizma is the only one that seems to be sticking. Sometimes the old stuff is just the best.

Worth noting that all treatments were in conjunction with psychotherapy, I don't think pills alone would have helped. And I also tried going without medication at all for a while, it wasn't good either. Prizma really is the only thing that works for me.

Edit: apparently the Prizma brand might only be sold in my country, but as I said it's just a different brand of Prozac.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago

You say the old stuff but fluoxetine was released in 1986 and citalopram in 1989 - before that you were boned. A few antidepressants existed and they were even worse than what we have today.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 hours ago

Maybe they can offer a two for one deal with lobotomy?

They remove the "problematic" part and install a new, dopamine rich part.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I might be misremembering, but AFAIK, dopamine can't cross the blood-brain-barrier, so even where you want to regulate dopamine (and not, e.g. serotonin like more commonly for depression) in the brain, you have to do so via different medication (e.g. amphetamine derivatives for ADHD or dopamine agonists for Parkinson's).

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 8 hours ago

Just inject it directly into the brain smh