Comment · Wed, November 27, 2013 · Ceretropic
Is there a limited amount of dopamine your brain can produce each day?
Original post in this thread
Skanzi · 3 points
Let's say you take a shitload of phenylalanine and/or tyrosine each day, will there still be a limit to how much dopamine your body and brain can make out of it? I really can't imagine that you would be in an euphoric state all day long by constantly taking tyrosine or phenylalanine capsules every hour.
I problably don't get the concept of how these supplements work on your dopamine levels, but it's got to be limited somewhere.
But if so, where is that limit, and what does the intake do to your serotonine levels?
And... Would it be a good idea to maximize the amount of dopamine released in your brain each day? What i noticed with listening to music, is that after taking a supplement with phenylalanine and tyrosine in it (not a huge amount), the music sounded fucking great for about 5-10 minutes, after that it sounded quite good still for 10 minutes, and then it kinda got boring. The drop of 'Love goes down' By dr P was phenomenal (My headphones are veryyy good btw). So that's a good way to use/deplete your dopamine levels i'd say. After that i noticed that i really didn't enjoy other things anymore for about 30 minutes. Didn't even feel close to depressed or sad or anything, bu…
What they were answering
Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
Your body will always try to maintain homeostasis. So supplementing certain things can and will affect the expression of the certain enzymes. If you start supplementing L-tyrosine too often, then your tyrosine hydroxylase enzyme will down-regulate. Also, since both serotonin and dopamine share the same final enzyme in their conversion process, aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase, supplementing one for too long without balance will cause levels of the other to fall. Since generally serotonin levels are slower to recover, that can lead to mood issues.
So yes, there is a certain limit to the amount of dopamine your body can produce. Also, serotonin and dopamine levels are linked by the same rate-limiting enzyme. So levels of one can and do affect levels of the other.