Does high serotonin make everything look colorful?

[Grouptose]

I know someone's gonna say "oh no it's the opposite high serotonin makes life dull" but I'm not talking about feelings, I'm talking about actual vision. When I was on antidepressants the world looked super bright and colorful but I felt like ***t inside, now that I'm off them, life looks more dull and blue but I feel good inside. I also realized that the lower my serotonin gets (for example, if I cut out starch) my vision becomes blue and the world looks less colorful, but my vision is clearer and sharper, but when I eat starch, the world looks warmer and more colorful, but also more distorted and blurry. So in a way life looks more real with lower serotonin, and it feels like a joke/dream with high serotonin

For all the guys who have tried cyproheptadine, did it make your vision bluer/sharper? Because if the answer is yes then I can confirm that this has to do with dopamine and serotonin.

 

[redsun]

I know someone's gonna say "oh no it's the opposite high serotonin makes life dull" but I'm not talking about feelings, I'm talking about actual vision. When I was on antidepressants the world looked super bright and colorful but I felt like ***t inside, now that I'm off them, life looks more dull and blue but I feel good inside. I also realized that the lower my serotonin gets (for example, if I cut out starch) my vision becomes blue and the world looks less colorful, but my vision is clearer and sharper, but when I eat starch, the world looks warmer and more colorful, but also more distorted and blurry. So in a way life looks more real with lower serotonin, and it feels like a joke/dream with high serotonin

For all the guys who have tried cyproheptadine, did it make your vision bluer/sharper? Because if the answer is yes then I can confirm that this has to do with dopamine and serotonin.

Likely what is going on is serotonin reducing overall focus by reducing the effects of neurotransmitters that help us focus. Really by focus I mean things like acetylcholine enhance the signal from relevant stimuli and help block out signal that is not valuable. This helps us focus on a task and not get distracted by all the available stimuli. Noradrenaline also enhances sensory perception and most SSRIs do tend to enhance Noradrenaline. Higher noradrenaline would affect sensory perception by allowing too much stimuli into your perception, thus making the world look "brighter" and more colorful. Its always like that but our brain always filters out most of the stimulus so we do not notice it. This is in essence, what people who are prone overstimulation in public places, grocery stores, and other places will a lot of unique visual information and colors, deal with on a daily basis.

Because SSRI tends to reduce acetylcholine activity, this is partially responsible for its anti-depressant effects. Someone with very high acetylcholine activity would be depressed because of reduced norepinephrine transmission and overall they may perceive the world as too dark and dull.

Interaction of serotonin with somatosensory cortical neuronal responses to afferent synaptic inputs and putative neurotransmitters - PubMed

The present study was conducted to investigate the action of serotonin (5-HT) on synaptic transmission within local circuits of the rat somatosensory cortex. Responses of single somatosensory cortical neurons to activation of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic pathways or iontophoretic...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

"In 16 of 24 (67%) of the cells tested, 5-HT depressed synaptically evoked excitation more than background firing such that "signal to noise" ratio was decreased. In some cases evoked spiking was reduced from control levels at doses of 5-HT subthreshold for producing direct depression of baseline firing rate. Cortical neuron excitatory responses to iontophoretically applied acetylcholine (8 of 13 cells) and glutamate (10 of 15 cells) were also reduced during microiontophoresis of 5-HT. A similar reduction in inhibitory efficacy was observed in 62% of the cases (10 of 16 cells) where 5-HT was interacted with GABA-induced depressant responses. Local administration of 5-HT also resulted in an antagonism of stimulus bound inhibition of firing (9 of 11 cells). These results are contrasted with previously observed facilitory effects of norepinephrine (NE) on cortical neuronal responsiveness to afferent synaptic inputs and putative transmitter agents."

 

[liam183]

High serotonin can increase your sensitivity for sensory things ie light. Might have something to do with this

 

[Grouptose]

High serotonin can increase your sensitivity for sensory things ie light. Might have something to do with this

Yea right on, I think this was it. Because colors looked more vibrant, but also more bright in general, and more overwhelming. It felt like visuals and audio were just coming into my face and I couldn't handle it, now it's much more dim and easy to look at things around me without getting overwhelmed

 

[opethfeldt]

I've noticed the opposite but that's just based on taking things to reduce serotonin. I don't know for sure exactly what was going on in my brain. I've never experienced the dreamlike vivid colors you describe regardless of my serotonin levels, though. That actually sounds quite interesting.

 

[Kayaker]

It has more to do with inflammation than neurotransmitters. Brain fog causes lower visual acuity.

 

[rebuke]

Think back to when you were 4-8 years old. Everything looked "blue" but laser sharp and precise.

 

[Grouptose]

I've noticed the opposite but that's just based on taking things to reduce serotonin. I don't know for sure exactly what was going on in my brain. I've never experienced the dreamlike vivid colors you describe regardless of my serotonin levels, though. That actually sounds quite interesting.

It's hard to notice a difference if all you were simply taking drugs to lower serotonin, I was taking a full blown SSRI which overloads the brain with the most serotonin out of any drug out there. Everyone's different, but yea for me high serotonin=world looks like minecraft on lowest graphics and highest saturation on the monitor

 

[I'm.No.One]

It's hard to notice a difference if all you were simply taking drugs to lower serotonin, I was taking a full blown SSRI which overloads the brain with the most serotonin out of any drug out there. Everyone's different, but yea for me high serotonin=world looks like minecraft on lowest graphics and highest saturation on the monitor

This is why when people take psilocybin based mushrooms everything gets brighter/way more colorful.

They super stimulate serotonin receptors.

They're lining up to be the new SSRI with a green washed label.

 

[VitoScaletta]

Likely what is going on is serotonin reducing overall focus by reducing the effects of neurotransmitters that help us focus. Really by focus I mean things like acetylcholine enhance the signal from relevant stimuli and help block out signal that is not valuable. This helps us focus on a task and not get distracted by all the available stimuli. Noradrenaline also enhances sensory perception and most SSRIs do tend to enhance Noradrenaline. Higher noradrenaline would affect sensory perception by allowing too much stimuli into your perception, thus making the world look "brighter" and more colorful. Its always like that but our brain always filters out most of the stimulus so we do not notice it. This is in essence, what people who are prone overstimulation in public places, grocery stores, and other places will a lot of unique visual information and colors, deal with on a daily basis.

Because SSRI tends to reduce acetylcholine activity, this is partially responsible for its anti-depressant effects. Someone with very high acetylcholine activity would be depressed because of reduced norepinephrine transmission and overall they may perceive the world as too dark and dull.

Interaction of serotonin with somatosensory cortical neuronal responses to afferent synaptic inputs and putative neurotransmitters - PubMed

The present study was conducted to investigate the action of serotonin (5-HT) on synaptic transmission within local circuits of the rat somatosensory cortex. Responses of single somatosensory cortical neurons to activation of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic pathways or iontophoretic...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

"In 16 of 24 (67%) of the cells tested, 5-HT depressed synaptically evoked excitation more than background firing such that "signal to noise" ratio was decreased. In some cases evoked spiking was reduced from control levels at doses of 5-HT subthreshold for producing direct depression of baseline firing rate. Cortical neuron excitatory responses to iontophoretically applied acetylcholine (8 of 13 cells) and glutamate (10 of 15 cells) were also reduced during microiontophoresis of 5-HT. A similar reduction in inhibitory efficacy was observed in 62% of the cases (10 of 16 cells) where 5-HT was interacted with GABA-induced depressant responses. Local administration of 5-HT also resulted in an antagonism of stimulus bound inhibition of firing (9 of 11 cells). These results are contrasted with previously observed facilitory effects of norepinephrine (NE) on cortical neuronal responsiveness to afferent synaptic inputs and putative transmitter agents."

Interesting