Can antipsychotics cause dopamine deficiency?

Medications
1

as the title says. and how would a psychiatrist know if they don’t test for it?

2

Low dopamine is what leads to TD. So generally once you start seeing signs of TD that shows a “deficiency”. Today’s antipsychotics are far less likely to cause TD than older APs. The lower range say 8% or lower develop it while higher says 33%. However this number drops even lower if on a med like Abilify which does not fully close dopamine channels or if you’re on clozapine, which is the AP least likely to cause TD for some reason.

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3

I never knew this! That’s so interesting!

4

Yeah, TD is basically antipsychotic induced Parkinson’s. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for movement.

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5

Some of the antipsychotics have different effects on dopamine. For example the partial agonists may increase dopamine in parts of the brain. I have heard that seroquel and clozapine tend to have a smaller effect on dopamine compared to the others. But who am I kidding, I’m a schizophrenic, I don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.

6

I have signs of TD, my hands and legs tremor.

7

The partial agonists don’t increase dopamine. Normally you have open dopamine channels. A partial agonist makes these channels only partially open. So they are still letting in less than before, but not blocking the channels completely. The goal of this is to prevent TD. A med that increased dopamine would be bad news in someone with a psychotic disorder. Could make psychotic symptoms that much worse.

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8

Thanks for the correction, I guess I was right, I don’t know what I’m talking about.

9

ive read in some article this idea
hyperdopaminergic activity in mesolimbic pathway leads to positives while
hypodopaminergic activity in mesocortical pathway leads to negatives
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/288259-overview#a3

so if you could find some way to attenuate dopamin acitivity in one pathway and at the same time amplify it in another part of the brain you would have illness under control

but thats just according to dopamine hypothesis of sz you have also glutamate hypothesis

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10

I’ve been educated. Interesting. I have no signs of TD. Phew!

11

It’s hard for me not to resent medications that decrease a pleasure producing chemical in my brain and make me more susceptible to TD and Parkinson’s, but I’ve learned through the lessons of hard experience that I can’t quit taking my AP’s.