Posted by undopaminergic on May 29, 2008, at 1:47:34
In reply to Re: Sigismund, posted by cumulative on May 28, 2008, at 20:52:54
> Huh, undopaminergic, I thought it was the other way around. You mentioned an improvement in anhedonia and "meaningless" exploratory behavior, more than concentrative stimulation.
>Yes, I did, because that was what I remembered from my initial experiements with memantine a long time ago. My recent experience, however, has been different, and more along the lines of attention and focus; also, at least intermittently, there has been a reduction in my usual symptoms of (mild) depersonalsation and derealisation (DPDR).
Kappa-opioid agonists, such as Salvinorin A, are one class of drugs known to produce symptoms of DPDR. One might therefore speculate that dynorphin - the endogenous kappa-agonist - is responsible for maintaining these symptoms in me. However, one would also expect a kappa-antagonist like buprenorphine to reverse a dynorphin-maintained DPDR syndrome, and so far, there are no clear indications to that effect.
Massive dopaminergic/noradrenergic elevation, such as that experienced from my first doses of selegiline + PEA, was also capable of resolving DPDR to an even greater extent than memantine.
> Perhaps I could have phrased that better. By "meaningless" I meant without a specific productive goal in mind from the start.
>
> I've often found play to be just as enriching and enlightening as work, maybe even more. Stimulants help me work, but after the initial tolerance sets in they don't aid with anhedonia.
>
> I mean ... for instance ... reading a random book, or deciding on a whim to go fly a kite and meet people, or dancing for no reason.
>Spontaneity might perhaps be an appropriate term?
> This is what people that are the opposite of "anhedonic" do ... and anhedonia relief/motivational benefits were what I was hoping memantine might help with. I thought Undopaminergic mentioned effects along these lines, but perhaps it stopped working as well for that?
>Perhaps it might be explained by my use of pramipexole at some point after my initial memantine experiments but before my recent trial of memantine. Pramipexole is a dopamine D3/D2-agonist, which is higly anti-anhedonic, but perhaps it densensitised my D3-receptors or other important components of the hedonic-sponteity circuits - if such a thing exists?
poster:undopaminergic
thread:830752
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/neuro/20080418/msgs/831839.html