Dopamine And My Gambling Addiction

[ddjd]

Check this out;

"Dopamine is strongly associated with risk-taking behavior. Dopamine makes one more prone to taking risks and it works vice versa as well – taking risks increases dopamine.

1. Dopamine agonists are used in pathological gambling, compulsive sexual behavior, and compulsive buying (study).
2. This experiment found out that high levels of dopamine leads to increased risk-taking.
3. An experiment found out that dopamine is linked to risk-taking.
4. This study found out that declining dopamine levels is the reason older people take less risks.
5. Risk-taking and sensation-seeking is once again linked to dopamine in the brain, specifically D2 receptors (study).
6. Then in another study dopamine is linked to an increased risk for substance and gambling addictions."

If dopamine increases risk taking behaviour, why would taking a dopamine agonist help? I'm confused...

 

[dadan]

Very interesting studies. But i realy dont think that high dopamine makes you to take mindless risk. I am curious what more educated members will say about this

 

[Mito]

Check this out;

"Dopamine is strongly associated with risk-taking behavior. Dopamine makes one more prone to taking risks and it works vice versa as well – taking risks increases dopamine.

1. Dopamine agonists are used in pathological gambling, compulsive sexual behavior, and compulsive buying (study).
2. This experiment found out that high levels of dopamine leads to increased risk-taking.
3. An experiment found out that dopamine is linked to risk-taking.
4. This study found out that declining dopamine levels is the reason older people take less risks.
5. Risk-taking and sensation-seeking is once again linked to dopamine in the brain, specifically D2 receptors (study).
6. Then in another study dopamine is linked to an increased risk for substance and gambling addictions."

If dopamine increases risk taking behaviour, why would taking a dopamine agonist help? I'm confused...

It’s probably depends on tonic dopamine levels. If you have low tonic dopamine levels then the phasic releases of dopamine will have more impact (greater reward pleasure feelings).

 

[ddjd]

It’s probably depends on tonic dopamine levels. If you have low tonic dopamine levels then the phasic releases of dopamine will have more impact (greater reward pleasure feelings).

Tonic?

 

[Mito]

Tonic?

“After we lay that down, we look at dopamine and its methylation. We look at how dopamine comes in two pools: tonic pool and phasic pool. How the tonic pool is largely metabolized by methylation, so the more methylation we have, the smaller the tonic pool. And that makes phasic pulses of dopamine look bigger. Phasic pulses of dopamine are associated with new stimuli. The bigger they look to the brain, the higher the attachment of attention and motivation to that thing.

If everything has big phasic pulses of dopamine attached to it, you get too distracted. Your mind is too fluid. If very few things have big enough phasic pulses of dopamine, then you get very mentally stable. That can be great if you want to focus on work, but it can be terrible if what you’re focusing on is anxiety-producing thoughts or depression-producing thoughts. So in general, more methylation means more mental fluidity, or flexibility, and less methylation means more mental stability. We want an optimal balance, but if we go too far in one direction or another, that can be a problem.”

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2017/07/17/methylate-way-mental-health-dopamine/

 

[ddjd]

Tonic?

“After we lay that down, we look at dopamine and its methylation. We look at how dopamine comes in two pools: tonic pool and phasic pool. How the tonic pool is largely metabolized by methylation, so the more methylation we have, the smaller the tonic pool. And that makes phasic pulses of dopamine look bigger. Phasic pulses of dopamine are associated with new stimuli. The bigger they look to the brain, the higher the attachment of attention and motivation to that thing.

If everything has big phasic pulses of dopamine attached to it, you get too distracted. Your mind is too fluid. If very few things have big enough phasic pulses of dopamine, then you get very mentally stable. That can be great if you want to focus on work, but it can be terrible if what you’re focusing on is anxiety-producing thoughts or depression-producing thoughts. So in general, more methylation means more mental fluidity, or flexibility, and less methylation means more mental stability. We want an optimal balance, but if we go too far in one direction or another, that can be a problem.”

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2017/07/17/methylate-way-mental-health-dopamine/

Thanks for this. I'm pretty sure I have quite low methylation so I think that means I have high tonic, so does that fit in with my theory that my gambling problem is in a way my brain trying to increase Dopamine levels?

 

[Mito]

Thanks for this. I'm pretty sure I have quite low methylation so I think that means I have high tonic, so does that fit in with my theory that my gambling problem is in a way my brain trying to increase Dopamine levels?

I would assume gambling might cause phasic pulses of dopamine. But if you have high tonic dopamine, then the phasic pulses should look smaller to the brain giving you less pleasure or motivation to continue gambling than if you had low tonic dopamine. So maybe you have low tonic dopamine or the issue is not with dopamine.

 

[ddjd]

I would assume gambling might cause phasic pulses of dopamine. But if you have high tonic dopamine, then the phasic pulses should look smaller to the brain giving you less pleasure or motivation to continue gambling than if you had low tonic dopamine. So maybe you have low tonic dopamine or the issue is not with dopamine.

Hi mito I was thinking about your comment re Tonic and phasic pools.

I looked into my genetic profile again which I did a few years ago with a service called strategene.

Anyway, I have 'faster' than normal COMT and MAOA genes which means I burn through Dopamine and other Neurotransmitters very quickly.

Wouldn't this support your theory that I have a small tonic pool of dopamine and therefore these big phasic pulls towards gambling which is a big addiction problem for me

 

[Frankdee20]

Hi mito I was thinking about your comment re Tonic and phasic pools.

I looked into my genetic profile again which I did a few years ago with a service called strategene.

Anyway, I have 'faster' than normal COMT and MAOA genes which means I burn through Dopamine and other Neurotransmitters very quickly.

Wouldn't this support your theory that I have a small tonic pool of dopamine and therefore these big phasic pulls towards gambling which is a big addiction problem for me

Wow.

 

[Mito]

Wouldn't this support your theory that I have a small tonic pool of dopamine and therefore these big phasic pulls towards gambling which is a big addiction problem for me

It’s possible. Have you ever tested your level of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA)?

 

[ddjd]

It’s possible. Have you ever tested your level of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA)?

i will look into getting this test, do you know if its quite expensive, ive gambled all my money haha

but on a serious not, i thought i would also ask you. Ive noticed that BCAAs seem to significantly reduce my cravings to gambling, almost to the point where im not that interested in it at all! which seems crazy for me. any idea what the mechanism could be, would it affect dopamine?

 

[doerfast]

DRD2 A1 Allele

Dr. Kenneth Blum

KB220z

Google all the above

Fifty Years in the Development of a Glutaminergic-Dopaminergic Optimization Complex (KB220) to Balance Brain Reward Circuitry in Reward Deficiency Syndrome: A Pictorial

 

[Mito]

i will look into getting this test, do you know if its quite expensive, ive gambled all my money haha

but on a serious not, i thought i would also ask you. Ive noticed that BCAAs seem to significantly reduce my cravings to gambling, almost to the point where im not that interested in it at all! which seems crazy for me. any idea what the mechanism could be, would it affect dopamine?

BCAA’s compete for transport into the brain with other amino acids including tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine. So when you increase the ratio of BCAA’s, you will synthesize less dopamine and serotonin.

 

[doerfast]

BCAA’s compete for transport into the brain with other amino acids including tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine. So when you increase the ratio of BCAA’s, you will synthesize less dopamine and serotonin.

Genetic Addiction Risk Score (GARS): Molecular Neurogenetic Evidence for Predisposition to Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS) | Dominion Diagnostics

It's low dopamine levels that cause addiction not HIGH levels

 

[ddjd]

Genetic Addiction Risk Score (GARS): Molecular Neurogenetic Evidence for Predisposition to Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS) | Dominion Diagnostics

It's low dopamine levels that cause addiction not HIGH levels

thanks for clarifying. weird that i noticed bcaa reducing gambling inclination. i agree that lower dopamine levels in theory are more likely to cause addictive behaivour

 

[jet9]

thanks for clarifying. weird that i noticed bcaa reducing gambling inclination. i agree that lower dopamine levels in theory are more likely to cause addictive behaivour

it's not only about dopamine, but also about:
1 Where it takes place, for example:

Differences in dopamine may determine how hard people work
After this, participants underwent brain imaging to measure dopamine activity in different parts of the brain. Both high and low motivation were associated with increased dopamine activity. The difference was in where this activity took place: Those willing to work harder showed more dopamine response in parts of the brain known as the striatum and the ventromedial prefontal cortex; those who expended the least effort showed increased dopamine in the insula region.

(most of the time when people mention studies on dopamine they mean striatal dopamine)
2 About receptors

A genetic polymorphism that reduces dopamine receptor density has been linked to a decreased ability to learn from errors. The German study, published in the December 7 issue of Science, shows that carriers of the dopamine receptor D2 ( DRD2) Taq 1A allele are less able to learn from negative consequences. A1 reduces dopamine receptor D2 density as much as 30% and has been previously associated with a higher risk for addictive behaviors.
Low levels of D2 receptors combined with high dopamine levels are actually a recipe for poor learning from negative outcomes -- that is, high levels of dopamine are not always good..

So as i see it it's more important to have high D2 receptors, than high strital dopamine.