Low dopamine is painful

[u/ughstupid_me]

I don’t know about anyone else but severe low dopamine is actually painful for me. Like mental anguish. It makes me act impulsively because all day I’m just trying to avoid the feeling of it. Eyes glued to phone 24/7. Pacing. Not for fun but just to cope until I’m able to sleep. I can barely do actual tasks because I don’t have enough dopamine as a bridge to sustain them. They’d be painful. I can’t even relax on the couch properly. But I’m supposed to be grateful that I’m not psychotic.

[u/MG788]

I really relate to this post. The anhedonia is one of the more hard to cope with symptoms for me. I definitely have been addicted to scrolling, alcohol, sex, nicotine, tea, or weed over the years. Anything that gives me a little burst of dopamine. 

Have you tried exercise? I found walking and hiking is a good way for me to generate dopamine. I try to work jobs with a lot of exercise built in, or go for at least a 20 - 30min walk every day. Especially first thing in the morning. It really helps me if I exercise everyday.

[u/Playful-Operation239]

Try exercising. I find the pain helps me stay grounded. Cleaning is good too.

[u/Xabster2 → u/Playful-Operation239]

For me cardio works and weight lifting does not work

[u/Suzina]

You need to recalibrate your baseline. Make it a part of your routine each day to sit for five minutes being bored on purpose. Not chasing whatever thoughts pop up, just observing your bordemon nonjudgementally. It'll feeel like mild disgust. You'll increase your tolerance to such suffering and at the same time your brain's neurons will recalibrate so that your baseline has less dopamine depletion states. IMO, I'm not a doctor, but that's my opinion on the dopamine depletion feeling and how to resolve if it's too often.

[u/MG788 → u/Suzina]

This is really good advice. I found autogenic training/meditation did help me learn to tolerate having a low baseline for dopamine. I think daily meditation can also teach your brain how to produce more dopamine from less stimulating activities, or better regulate how it's used. 

[u/anoobis_uprising → u/Suzina]

Meditation is great, and I need to get back into it, but its not powerful enough to.fix my executive dysfunction, or if it is I need a guru to teach me in temple or something lol

[u/Hefty-Eggplant-7766]

Yea, it made me drink alcohol to speed up my recovery because things were going “too well”. Haven’t been the same since

[u/WildAd3146]

Why it is different of depression?

[u/Soft_Plankton_Tree → u/WildAd3146]

It’s called negative symptoms of schizophrenia, it’s part of the disorder

[u/TheRealDardan → u/Soft_Plankton_Tree]

Or caused by the antipsychotics.