How much of dosage change side effects are in relation to dopamine?

[WhatSayYou89]

This is more of what’s everyone’s opinion.

When changes are made to testosterone dosages, let’s say lowering it for this instance.

How much of those depressed, anxiety, no drive or libido type of feelings that come following a reduction in dosage, do you believe are mainly from the brain getting adjusted to not having the same amount of dopamine that it had been accustomed to.

I always thought that ok once dosage levels even out then everything should be good because the fluctuation in levels is gone.

However, even though the numbers would look better at this new dosage and a person still feels in a bad spot that the brain is still dealing from withdrawals, same as one would be having from lowering their adderall dosage which this is what this feeling makes me think of.

Is this why most people say to stick with a dose for longer because it takes the brain longer to adjust to changes with dopamine than the usual and shorter timeframe for blood levels to stop fluctuating?

 

[DS3]

This has been my logical assumption and experience.

I now take Wellbutrin as of the past 6 months, and I do not experience nearly the side effects while changing protocols compared to before Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin, surprisingly, has seemed to minimize dopamine fluctuations during hormonal transitions.

 

[WhatSayYou89]

This has been my logical assumption and experience.

I now take Wellbutrin as of the past 6 months, and I do not experience nearly the side effects while changing protocols compared to before Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin, surprisingly, has seemed to minimize dopamine fluctuations during hormonal transitions.

Yeah with Wellbutrin being a norepinephrine dopamine reuptake inhibitor, you’ve got more dopamine bouncing around up there.

Especially with you being on it a relatively short time for 6 months you’re still getting that honeymoon period of the dopamine from it.

I liked it when I took it many years ago, only downside was it made me have some very bad rage episodes where I had to come off of it.

I’m on a real big focus of how much dopamine is playing as a major part of trt.

In all the times I’ve been doing research on this, 99% of the posts I’ve read when making changes always came across as let your levels settle down and then see how you feel.

What I’m thinking it’s much more than that, after your levels settle down from the the changes roughly 7 weeks. Then is when you might be at your lowest testosterone level you’ve been.

Naturally most people would be like ok, enough time is up, check their bloodwork, but then still feel like garbage so it must be to low of a dose since I felt worse after lowering the dose right?

Not realizing that this might be a good dose for them but the dopamine withdrawal effects are at their worst at this moment since their test levels are at the lowest since the dosage change.

 

[DS3]

Yeah with Wellbutrin being a norepinephrine dopamine reuptake inhibitor, you’ve got more dopamine bouncing around up there.

Especially with you being on it a relatively short time for 6 months you’re still getting that honeymoon period of the dopamine from it.

I liked it when I took it many years ago, only downside was it made me have some very bad rage episodes where I had to come off of it.

I’m on a real big focus of how much dopamine is playing as a major part of trt.

In all the times I’ve been doing research on this, 99% of the posts I’ve read when making changes always came across as let your levels settle down and then see how you feel.

What I’m thinking it’s much more than that, after your levels settle down from the the changes roughly 7 weeks. Then is when you might be at your lowest testosterone level you’ve been.

Naturally most people would be like ok, enough time is up, check their bloodwork, but then still feel like garbage so it must be to low of a dose since I felt worse after lowering the dose right?

Not realizing that this might be a good dose for them but the dopamine withdrawal effects are at their worst at this moment since their test levels are at the lowest since the dosage change.

Androgens have a direct and strong impact on dopamine, so the likely answer the your questions is yes, titrating up or down, or changing protocols bring about mental changes that are in part attributable to changing levels of dopamine.

Wellbutrin has been good. Honeymoon benefits wore off after the 8 week mark, but it has seemed to stabilize my mood amidst protocol changes.