It seems that dopamine is about lots of positive things in life. I read that dopamine boosts self confidence, energy and intelligence. When I go off meds or before sz I am much more confident and social. I make lots of friends, now I only have 3 main ones. Dopamine also blocks hunger.
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Stimulants boost dopamine and are called smart drugs like Ritalin and Adderall.
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I wonder how dopamine works in the sz brain. How can we treat this condition and still keep enough dopamine to have confidence and intelligence?
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How did testosterone work for you @Aziz? Did it exacerbate psychosis or not affect it? I’m thinking about using clomid after I make some gym gains.
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I am taking L Dopa, and Tyrosine which increase Dopamine
even Huperzine A seems to affect dopamine in the Hypothalamus
Does huperzine A increase dopamine?
The marked elevation of ACh after oral administration of huperzine A (0.5 micromol/kg) and donepezil (5.4 micromol/kg) was associated with a significantly increased release of dopamine (DA) in the mPFC or hippocampus.
I feel more confident and social and doing things more
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I tried tyrosine before my first psychotic episode and before I knew I had schizophrenia. I had bad negatives and it helped me focus on reading better. It’s on my list of supplements to try. L dopa I tried just for a day but also interested in that.
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It did not make psychosis worse. I took a break from it as it didn’t help negative symptoms, only increased sex drive.
How much Ldopa are you taking? No worsening of positive symptoms? Ldopa gave me positive symptoms and anger issues. I take Huperzine A, it helps a bit without causing positive symptoms. I also read that study about mPFC, it would have been better if it increased dopamine in all the PFC and not only medial region.
Seems like your still doing great in life! 
You seem pretty social and go to the gym etc. I think having a balance in dopamine is good. Too much i think we can become over-confident and believe things that arent true. Hope you can continue to improve your med stack.
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Yes too much is bad but I read low dopamine in frontal lobes of brain in sz causes negative and cognitive symptoms. But high dopamine in another brain region called dorsal striatum causes positive symptoms. My pdoc told me that too that sz is an imbalance of dopamine between brain regions.
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oh wow true… hmm thats interesting. You seem to know a lot about this.
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Thanks, yes I read a lot on it in studies, medical books and asked my Drs to confirm. Also through the fact that Hup A helps without worsening sz, it increases dopamine in frontal lobes without increasing it in dorsal striatum while ldopa increases dopamine in both regions and causes positive symptoms.
It depends, if dopamine is the cause. Currently, it is just a hypothesis.
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Dopamine is important for movement, motivation, pleasure but my mind is to active with it and also I don’t get hungry on meds, loss of appetite but still gain weight from them
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