The Constitution
only guarantees the American People
the right to pursue happiness.
YOU HAVE TO
CATCH IT YOURSELF.
--Benjamin Franklin

( NotesCollapse )

OK, maybe that's a little exaggerated, but basically any drug causes a dopamine surge that changes your brain such that the rewards of normal life don't seem good enough anymore. This study actually found that pot smokers have a bigger nucleus accumbens (the brain area associated with pleasure, reward, and reinforcement learning). They say that 19 million Americans have smoked pot recently. That's a lot.

Here's the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/16/even-casually-smoking-marijuana-can-change-your-brain-study-says/
( textCollapse )

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shermer_the_pattern_behind_self_deception.html

This Ted Talk is about belief. It's a quick overview of the science on the subject and some conjecture about how we evolved to be this way. Michael Shermer says that our natural tendency to identify patterns is related to dopamine levels, and that a person who is "too skeptical" may not have enough dopamine. My doctor recently told me that I might benefit from a supplement intended to increase dopamine levels. I am a full bore skeptic. I wonder if it will make a difference. It occurs to me also that my friend B who has Asperger's takes Ritalin prior to attending social events. This is an interesting new association for this unbeliever to contemplate...

http://www.jarrow.com/product/188/Neuro_Optimizer consider this product via Vitacost



MY QUESTIONS
what are food sources of citicholine? can we get it from eating brains?
there is choline in eggs and liver. is there citicholine?? how much??
how easily does choline convert to citicholine?
can we support the conversion?
can we by pass this supp using diet???

CHOLINE DEFICIENCY is common (not citicholine, mind you!)
suspect if: fatty liver, hemorrhagic kidney necrosis, infertility, growth impairment, bone abnormalities, hypertension, cancer, atherosclerosis, glaucoma, neuro dz: Alzheimer's,. bipolar. LABS: incr ALT, incr HCYS

( notes, some background, linksCollapse )

Heather D Hodgson Schleich, MDE, BA
spoke at NCNM on May 10, 2010
"Ms H" from Ontario to the kids
she speaks to kids groups a lot
( notes turned out pretty interesting, definitely consult this presentation if ever speaking about street drug usageCollapse )

Recent research has shown that children who are young relative to the other kids in their school classes are more likely to be diagnosed and treated for ADHD. This is presumably because they are younger, less well socialized and more childish than their classmates. That childishness can be problematic so they are singled out by teachers and sent down that path toward mind bending pharmaceuticals.

Last weekend's seminar supported my impression that ADHD may be a low dopamine state, either due to decreased levels of the neurotransmitter or decreased receptor activity or numbers. It also supported my impression that low dopamine can follow from childhood trauma. We all know how vicious kids can be, so just being the youngest may constitute trauma. We also know that low status primates within a group have lower serotonin levels.

I personally know two adult humans who are beneficially treated for their ADHD with ritalin. Ritalin's mechanism of action is unknown, but it is thought to influence several neurotransmitters, most especially dopamine. Some texts say it is a dopamine and serotonin reuptake inhibitor.

My question is this: How does being a younger, smaller and lower status individual in a group of mammals affect your dopamine function? And what IS the relationship of dopamine function to ADHD?

Just strained out the herb and bottled the tincture: Melissa (lemon balm) in lemon vodka. When are we having screwdrivers?
( notesCollapse )

recent study at Stanford University
n = 15 students currently in a relationship minimum 9 mo
this stage considered to the first phase of intense love
used MRI to look at brain activity
while looking at picture of loved one researchers gave them mild doses of pain
viewing the picture of their loved ones reduced perceptions of pain
Dr Jarred Younger said that “love-induced analgesia” involves primitive functions of the brain
worked like opioid
dopamine involvement
"One of the key sites is the nucleus accumbens, a key reward addiction centre for opioids, cocaine and other drugs of abuse."
"The region tells the brain that you really need to keep doing this."

Professor Paul Gilbert, neuropsychologist from University of Derby:
“…people who feel alone and depressed may have very low pain thresholds, whereas the reverse can be true for people who feel secure and cared for."

SOURCES
http://www.dotsperiod.com/1938/being-in-love-can-be-analgesic-researchers-found-out/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11537063

I look up cocaine and find this impressive list of slang about it. My goodness. I have never tried it in any form. It was "discovered" in 1860 when someone happened to notice that tasting it numbs the tongue. Pretty soon everybody was using it for toothaches, and in 1894 doctors started using it as a local anesthetic for surgeries, especially to the nose, eyes (lacrimal ducts!), and sinuses. Freud didn't think it was addictive, but it is, because it activates the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, the reward and desire pathway, the addiction pathway. Cocaine is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. It is also a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. But these effects should not happen if it is a tiny local dose. The local numbing effect occurs because cocaine blocks nerve permeability to sodium, preventing nerve transmission. The vasoconstrictive effect is due to the inhibition of norepi reuptake. Cocaine is the only anesthetic that is vasoconstrictive, the rest vasodilate necessitating the use of injected epinephrine to minimize bleeding and loss of the anesthetic into the systemic circulation. Can anybody tell me where the world's bounty of cocaine is coming from these days?