Merkan Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 In depth, any ideas why is it helping? Is it because we have too high 5-HTP levels in relation to "normal" dopamine levels or are the dopamine levels just low by themselves for some reason, causing 5-HTP to be normal but still high relative to dopamine. Or anything else? Would be nice to know really what is going on in there. Btw, still love the sinemet and since the sun is coming back i do not need my Vitamine D pills for much longer but discovered magnesium and its a great addition to my arsenal 200mg:s of magnesium citrate on empty stomache right before bed makes great results on DP/DR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgrade Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 I know offhand that serotonin directly/indirectly effects dopamine concentrations/production (to make more). Dopamine gives us motivation, so this is why i think it could make you less depressed and more able to focus. Thats why i think when you are depressed and unmotivated and unable to focus well, the residual HPPD symptoms are more noticeable and are like the straw the broke the camels back (in that when you add up all the negatives that you are faced at any given moment, that esp. w/ low level dopamine in certain parts of the brain, the symptoms become too overwhelming). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VisualDude Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 Good question but beyond "all the parts need to be working right", we don't know for sure. Dr A's hypothesis was due to observation of cerebral disinhibition in HPPD and with people that suffer COMT polymorphisms which reduces dopamine concentration ... which can also cause cerebral disinhibition. My observation was a basic, perhaps amateur, approach of simply matching symptoms to known neurological disorders. The closest match for me was symptoms that matched cognitive problems of advanced Parkinson's disease and a couple 'early' signs. It is very paradoxical that the main symptoms of PD aren't there ... but that was the best I could do. Thus the levodopa exploration, which has worked for a few. There remain many questions. Especially since not everyone responded to Dr A's trial - there are two distinct groups. Hopefully one day we may get a list of what symptoms responded and which were persistent. We do know that dopaminergic neurons frequently are organized in low-level control/balancing circuits, sometimes referred to as signal-to-noise amplification/discrimination. Without fuel to operate, or with damaged components, things get stuck either too much or too little. It is curious that weak signal-to-noise on a TV causes 'snow' and that some HPPDers suffer 'snow' ... but we have to be careful about all inferences we draw. Sorry if this isn't very helpful... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
415_stylee Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 If we're talking about the direct visual processing, the visual cortex has a separate dopamine system which relates primarily to the function of the retina. It has less to do with the actual processing of the visual information, rather it tells the retina how to respond to the processed visual information. The visuals which psychedelics (of which HPPD is a residual effect) produce are, simplistically explained, mainly caused by massive agonism of the 5HT2A receptor and overridden GABA-B receptor inhibition primarily in the visual cortex. This is however a very simplified description, but it points to where the main problem is. Dopamine, serotonin, glutamate etc. and with them a wild assortment of proteins are involved in the complex clockwork like system which is the brain. One cog dysfunctioning can effect all the other cogs. Dopamine can counterbalance serotonin, which could mean that increased dopamine levels might make less serotonin available. Which could in turn make the overheated 5HT2A receptors calm down. Just a little hypothesis I figured out as I studied the subject of this thread.. 5HT2C serotonin receptor-antagonism can increase the amount of dopamine in the frontal cortex, evidentially.. Though I seem too find very little hard evidence on why dopamine normalization would help HPPD. I found really no evidence that the dopamine level is out of order in HPPD'ers. All I could really find is the dopamine-serotonin counterbalancing effect. I found this little article while which is really intresting, it also has several sections on HPPD.. http://www.tripzine.com/pit/html/multi-state-theory.htm I hope I shed some kind of light on the subject... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onedayillsailagain Posted May 5, 2013 Report Share Posted May 5, 2013 Thankyou guys for all the insight, the information here has been very helpful and initiating for the research I am conducting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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