Is the secret to the cure for anorexia as dopamine shots?

And suddenly you have another problem on your hands called addiction…

Dopamine is also released when you smoke a cigarette ;)

I’m I totally drunk here? Wouldn’t you give this to overweight people to stop them from eating.

“Then their body will give them the joy of eating and they won’t starve themselves.”

How in the fucking world does this make any sense? You make the anorexic feel full. Instead of puking they just wouldn’t feel the need to eat.

Do serotonin adjusting drugs cure all depression? There is too much variance in the causes of the disorder to ever have a panacea.
Dopamine might have a positive effect on an anxiety-based disorder but I’d tend to agree with @johnpowell that it might be more effective for overeaters than the opposite.

Anorexia at its root has far more to do with body dysmorphia combined with an overwhelming need for control than it has to do with pleasure/non pleasure from food.

Besides many of them have figured out how to experience pleasure from eating (and even food binging) if they don’t want to bypass that pleasure. Its called bulimia, a frequently found partner of anorexia.

Its a really really complex disorder without a “magic pill” easy solution.

@johnpowell How in the fucking world does this make any sense?

It doesn’t.

So glad to have you back, Hypo. A day on Fluther without your confusing questions is like a day without sunshine.

I think it could help in combination with intense therapy. I seriously doubt it could fix it alone—just as chemical treatments to cure herion addiction have never worked long term. There is a very strong psychological reason people become anorexic.

HOWEVER – I think it would help someone who was in a rigorous program and actually wanted to change. I have met people who did NOT want to be anorexic anymore and yet had a hard time with it. I don’t think it would help people who refused to admit they had a problem and got forced to go to rehab.

Anorexia is a mental illness not a physical one. It is about feeling in control of your food intake when the rest of your life feels out of control.

I don’t think dopamine is the answer.

Then their body will give them the joy of eating and they won’t starve themselves

Clearly you have no idea what anorexia is or how it manifests @Hypocrisy_Central.

To answer your question: No.

Count me in with the group that doesn’t understand how a false feeling of having eaten would help with anorexia. Clarify?

@Mariah Count me in with the group that doesn’t understand how a false feeling of having eaten would help with anorexia. Clarify? What I have read on dopamine is that it is like a reward system for the body or mind. That when one eats or engages in sex they get the pleasurable feeling, thus promoting that said person wants to continue doing them. So sex and eating, two components to the survival of a species happen enough to keep things going.

If eating releases dopamine assuring eating is enjoyable enough to keep doing then the logic to me say putting it in a syringe and poking some anorexic with it, will give them the desire to eat so the “feel good” feeling can continue. If they are happy because they are eating, and eat more to stay happy, they will not be starving themselves to the point of death.

Those who eat and puke have other problems not even a shrink and fix, might be more like surgery.

Eat more to stay happy… Do you read what you write?

Those who eat and puke have other problems not even a shrink and fix, might be more like surgery

No, bulemia and anorexia both stem from body dysmorphia. Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a mental illness. So far, the best treament for BDD is CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy).

From what I’ve read and what I’ve seen on TV specials/Documentaries the best way to treat the BDD patient is in a rehabilitation program (much like that for drug addicts).

So surgery cures bulimia? Good grief. How on earth d id you reach that
startling leap of logic?

As both Spatziel and I stated clearly, BOTH anorexia and bulimia are strongy related to the exact same root cause which definitely calls for a therapist who specializes in the disorder but surgery would do NOTHING for either condition.

You won’t be able to find one reputable medical source claiming a positive result for surgery for bulimia. Its just absurd.

If you think you can find any medical backup for a surgical benefit for bulimia, feel free to post it. I would be most interested in reading it :)

@FutureMemory

Had enough sunshine yet?

:D

@Buttonstc Yes.

It’s very much more complicated than that. Even if an anorexic “feels good” when they eat, they will still have the negative thoughts and associations about how they look and how fat they perceive themselves to be, which is why it is a mental illness. But, if dopamine shots did exist I think they could have some benefit somewhere.

Okay, first off dopamine cannot be absorbed by the brain through blood. So dopamine shots are completely out of the question. However, GNC sells products with L-Dopa which can be absorbed by the brain through the blood stream and encourages the production of dopamine in the brain. So such a product already exists. If you want to give it a try, be my guest.

@Buttonstc So surgery cures bulimia? You find out what part controls it like they do with memory, speech, etc, slip in a probe, zap it with a large jolt of electricity or freeze it out with liquid nitrogen or something, and surgery cures it.

I am so glad you’re not my doctor !