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How to repair our dopamine receptors?

Discussion in 'Rebooting - Porn Addiction Recovery' started by Blue_Knight, Jul 5, 2018.

  1. Blue_Knight

    Blue_Knight Fapstronaut

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    As you know one of the problems that PMO causes for all of us is damaging dopamine receptors through the dopamine spikes in the brain while watching porn. Most of the problems that we face after starting nofap challenge like insomnia, anxiety, depression, etc. are all are caused because of dopamine imbalance and it is caused by dopamine receptors damage. Does anyone know how we can repair our dopamine receptors faster?
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2018
  2. 1Aspiring3

    1Aspiring3 Fapstronaut

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    Exercise, healthy diet and perhaps a detox regimen. Social interaction may also help to accelerate the recovery process.
     
  3. LilD

    LilD Fapstronaut

    My best guess is there are three main things which can help:
    1. No bingeing. Not just stopping porn, but no bingeing at all, since all kinds of bingeing involve our dopamine system.
    2. A healthy lifestyle to help your nervous system to recover.
    3. Psychotherapy of some kind, e.g. using this forum for self-help. This helps in developing new healthy habits to replace the addictive behavior. Since we're talking about sensitization of neural pathways which make us addicted, it sounds reasonable that developing alternative pathways might help.
     
  4. Steve Sancteria

    Steve Sancteria Fapstronaut

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    simply doing less things that release dopamine in a "bursty" as well as aboth average way.

    games, sugar, social media, your freaking phone, movies-series-youtube, alcohol etc.

    The less strong your dopamine flows, the more sensitive your brain has to adjust your receptors, BUT...you can pretty overdo things, it means giving up a lot to enjoy more what remains.

    However, cardio exercise is improving your dopamine overall, I would bet the Wim Hof breathing technic as well as the cold shower therapy will also enhance something there.
     
  5. Abc321

    Abc321 New Fapstronaut

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    Yeah this is a great question!

    I also quit porn for 5 days now, but how can the brain heal when I also watch normal YouTube videos for hours and hours per day?

    Every click on a video gives my brain a shot of dopamine.

    So I think if we really want succes in healing the brain we must also take care of all the other binging that overloads the brain with dopamine (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, smartphone, alcohol etc).

    There is nothing wrong with social media and alcohol of course, but a lot of people (like me) spend way to much time with clicking video after video.
     
  6. Abc321

    Abc321 New Fapstronaut

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    Another question.

    People say exercise is also healthy for recovering the brain.
    But cardio for example can release a lot of dopamine. Runners even talk about the "runners high".

    What do you guys think? To much exercise can prevent your dopamine receptors from healing?
     
    Ghost79, Anonymous86 and Blue_Knight like this.
  7. Blue_Knight

    Blue_Knight Fapstronaut

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    As I know, for dopamine receptors recovery, the best exercise is walking. We should not do frustrating and difficult exercises because in that case, it will affect negatively.
     
  8. Gavalar09

    Gavalar09 Fapstronaut

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    So your dopamine receptors can heal?
    I've done 3 streaks in the past 6 months of 86 days, 75 days and 22 days currently, has every relapse damaged me further or have they been slowly healing?
     
    AspiringVitality likes this.
  9. Anonymous86

    Anonymous86 Fapstronaut

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    What about yoga or weight lifting?
     
  10. Arghy

    Arghy Fapstronaut

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    This is gold :)
     
  11. jorg78

    jorg78 Fapstronaut

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  12. JakeO5

    JakeO5 Fapstronaut

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    Replace it with endorphins, and the only way to get endorphins is to workout. And not just a few pushups. More like 1 hour, you don't need to shoot up for it you don't need to snort it, all you have to do is sweat for it
     
    Different Built likes this.
  13. Exercise has been so beneficial to me. Turmeric, blueberries, avocados, omega 3,6,9, good multivitamin, super cortisol support with relora, salmon, vegetables etc.
     
  14. I hear a lot of talking about dopamine receptors, there are a lot more things at play here. The ventral tegmental area is not projecting enough dopamine to the nucelus accumbens. The tyrosine hydroxylase producing neurons need recovery here. The VTA overall needs to be repaired. There is possible a change in the amount of dopamine transporters too. There is an increase in the amount of dynorphins. The kappa opioid receptors also need to regain homeostasis. They have been upregulated and are very sensitive for dynorphins. Dynorphins are the main opioids that cause you to feel bad during withdrawal. Dynorphins work antagonistic with endorphins at the mu-opioid receptor and decrease extracellular dopamine levels. The anti-reward pathway stress circuit releases a lot of CRF and this increases the anxiety even more. The amygdala is also extra active this time. The anti reward pathway remains active untill everything reaches homeostasis.

    To upregulate dopamine receptors you can use l-tetrahydropalmatine and forskolin. To upregulate endorphins you can use low dose naltrexone or use the sauna.
     
  15. You seem very knowledgeable, can i ask, what can be done if the mind has been wired for constant fight or flight? Please unless you want to, don't feel like you have to write an essay here lol, also, do ssris like actually cool down the amygdala? If they do i always felt like it's because they block all the dopamine receptors there cos they have some dopamine receptor affinity, but im probably way off
     
  16. Ssri's dont really block dopamine directly, but rather indirectly. They increase serotonin in the synaps. This serotonin affects all people differently. Because we all have different genetics (different alleles). Some peoples serotonin receptor density is different than other people. If people have more postsynaptic 2c serotonin subtype receptors, they have have decreased dopamine release. The 2c receptor regulates dopamine. The 1a receptor also regulates dopamine and other hormones like oxytocin. People with low 1a postsynaptic receptor density and high presynaptic autoreceptor density really get the ssri benefit. The 1a receptor is involved in mood regulation. Low 1a receptor signaling means anxiety and melancholic mood. 2a receptor overexpression is involved with overthinking and paranoia. Also suicide. People that comitted suicide have higher 2a receptor density.

    The amygdala cant really be cooled down during withdrawal, burnout or other anxiety disorders. You can mask the symptoms with drugs indeed. Ssri's are helpful for some anxiety disorders that are caused by serotonin 1a, 2c and 2a receptor polymorphisms, but not so much for withdrawal that is caused by overstimulation of the opioid and dopamine system. During our withdrawal we can be helped with something that increases chloride ion flow to cool down our overactive stress hormone release. This would be something GABAergic. Like a benzo, but as you know, these are highly addictive and withdrawal is pure terror. So you have to look at something that does not cause dependancy. Like valerian root, chamomile, passion flower, kava kava, magnolia bark, mulungu, ashwagandha, baicalin. Something like an adaptogen to decrease stress hormones like ashwagandha, rhodiola rosea, holy basil. Or something that increases GABA and decreases glutamate activity like L-theanine. There are also plenty or nootropics that decrease anxiety, but these are synthetic. Some work really well like, selank, semax, aniracetam or fasoracetam. Phenibut works really wel for anxiety, but is a tricky one and highly addictive, I would stay away from that one tho.
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2018
  17. Blue_Knight

    Blue_Knight Fapstronaut

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    Hey guys. After a year and half trying different doctors and different methods for recovery, I didn't see any improvements! Anti depressants and anti anxiety drugs didn't work for me at all. Now, I'm trying herbal treatment based on Persian medicine. I can say that in just a month after starting this method, I can see serious and interesting impovemnts. Now, I'm sure I will recover thorugh this way and I finally found the way to recover. After I got healed compeletely I will make a thread and share my experiences.
    The point is you should avoid masturbating and night-awakening during the recovery process...
     
  18. Archi Kat

    Archi Kat Fapstronaut

    This is a really interesting thread guys!

    @Blue_Knight anti depressants don't work for everyone, and like you they didn't work for me either. Over my years I've tried around 15 different ones, after a while the docs agreed that it wasn't the way forward, in some ways for me it has created some issues, but that is a story for another day... for a low mood and creating balance, during recovery (and generally), the thing i have found most benefitial is like most have stated, clean diet, staying hydrated, exercise, healthy sleeping and resting habits, meditation, cold showers, cutting back on screen time/binging, being more social, changing things in your life that are toxic - career, relationships, where you live... I don't drink, smoke or do drugs, but if you do, cutting back on those too.... improvement by active changes not by substance (something a doc has told me) is the only way for most to achieve long term improvements, and accepting that it will be hard and will take time - to keep you positive about the journey ahead...

    Totally easier said than done, haha... but sounds like you have found something that helps! - never heard of Persian medicine philosophy... tell us more!

    AK ✌
     
  19. Thanks a lot for that wealth of information
     
    AspiringVitality likes this.
  20. jorg78

    jorg78 Fapstronaut

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    I'm also interested in the herbel treatment, can you share it or message me about it? =)
     
    Blue_Knight, Archi Kat and im_broken like this.

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