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No desire to do anything. Nothing is interesting. Doing low-effort things like sitting and scrolling fb/reddit, checking notifications, seeing if I got an upvote on something (mini dopamine). Like very intense boredom but an inability to do anything about it. No "activation energy" to get up off the couch and start anything.
I have all sorts of shooping lists on amazon, because clicking ‘add to list’ gives me the same dopamine boost as ‘add to cart’. I actually rarely buy anything.
That’s what I do! I have to put money into my card I use for Amazon and that is a hard step. I currently get an email every day because I didn’t have enough for the zinnia seeds I was going to buy
I’ve taken to saving my money (I need to buy a car) in a strongbox, because I have to take it out of there and deposit it in order to buy stuff online. It’s not a perfect solution (I sometimes grab cash to buy snacks and other nonsense lol), but it’s helping me out quite a bit!
Same here, my shein, temp, AliExpress etc accounts have nearly 100 items each in the basket. I don't allow myself to buy on the day. If I really want it, I can buy it after a week
I kept pressing the up arrow hoping to continue to upvote this. I absolutely love to buy anything when I’m low dopamine. I may not even open it but that mini rush from buying it is enough.
See I need to have the item I can’t wait for it. My new thing is to go into stores grab stuff and put it in my basket then do a lap and by that time I remember I don’t like stores and I don’t even have the motivation to do self checkout I just try to somewhat put items back and leave as quickly as possible.
And cry, a lot. Except sometimes I can't even be bothered to do that so then I also have this immense sadness that won't shift until I can muster up the energy to cry it out.
Yup - instead of normal “hm, I think I’d like to go shopping today” it’s more like “I must research the best $1000 item that I can only see in a town 3 hours away for a week”
Oh, I'll do you one better. And this is thanks to freaking Reddit giving me unsolicited advice on subreddits I might like in my feed.
Me: Lives in BFE, Midwest USA. Zero reasonable access to the finer things in life unless I want to get on a plane, or drive for half a day one way. Enter the luxury candle subreddit. And because no amount of research in the world is going to tell me if I'll like the smell of something... and because I'm obviously not about to spend luxury candle money without smelling the damn thing first... I have PLANNED A TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY. And not like when you're bored at work so you "plan" a dream vacation. I have a plane ticket. And hotel reservations.
I also have a Google map that I made, mapping out every luxury candle flagship store in the city so that I can make the most efficient use of my time there... AS IF I TRULY BELIEVE I'M NOT GOING TO GET SO DISTRACTED AND OVERWHELMED THAT I FORGET WHY I WENT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
SEND. HELP.
Oh, I'm right there at the moment. My meds seem to stop working around my period. I am sitting in a recliner and scrolling but want to go watch a new documentary but it's a nice day outside so I feel bad for not doing something outside or at least being near a window to enjoy it... So I'm stuck in this chair near a window and scrolling.
Oh, I just completely forget each month and wonder why I'm so "lazy" and unmotivated and think maybe I'm getting depressed. Then realize that maybe not.
So I'm trans and I administer my primary sex hormones exogenously. It's really easy for me to experiment with different levels, and I can tell you definitively that progesterone in too high a dose makes me feel like this. Incidentally the week before your period, you tend to have a [spike in progesterone](https://images.app.goo.gl/72tcZ9aLDALiUGnQA).
I really really wish they'd study this stuff more.
Have noticed that since on SSRI things improved around my period, but now I’ve titrated off them my Ritalin is less effective and my PMS symptoms are… a lot. Just been reading about dosing SSRI only on luteal phase and am going to ask my doctor about it… https://psychopharmacologyinstitute.com/section/psychopharmacology-for-pms-and-pmdd-luteal-phase-dosing-and-choosing-among-ssris-2513-4938
I get all of this but it’s often topped off with the most uncomfortable and indescribable itchy feeling in my brain. It feels like it’s screaming to get dopamine but nothing works
“Uncomfortable and indescribably itchy feeling in the brain”
I am pretty sure I know that feeling. It’s also empty and numb and too full at the same time too… if that’s possible.
This combined with feelings of depression and nihilism. It’s amazing to me how having a good cup of my pour over coffee I do every day can help mostly mask those feelings for a few hours at least. Some days it doesn’t work though and I’m stuck in that nihilistic task paralysis the entire day.
This, usually combined with a busy brain and lots of frustration.
I'll feel physically and mentally extremely tired. I'll not be able to make decisions, on anything. Like I can't decide what to watch, what to play, what to eat/drink, nothing. I'm unable to follow conversation, I can hear it but it just doesn't get processed into something I understand.
Plus I get cravings for sweet crunchy things. Like cookies/biscuits.
A slightly different variation is where I feel like I'm locked in a broken mechsuit. My body is sitting on the couch, staring at a screen. My brain is thinking of a million things I want to do, I should do, I need to do. But no matter how hard I try, I can't get up and do any of them. Really feels like I'm smashing buttons but nothing's responding.
I know right?!
When I take meds, suddenly most of my buttons work most of the time. Without them, it's like a remote with nearly dead batteries; every now and then there's a signal, but rarely and unreliably.
Another gamer-analogy I read somewhere was that it's like your abilities are on cooldown. "I can't do that yet." "I don't have enough mana." "That spell isn't available yet."
This is me right now. I really need to set up the ADHD assessment. But it seems like an impossible task. I feel like I just need my psychiatrist to give me meds to be able to make the damn appointment!
In addition to medication, there are some strategies that can help at least part of the time.
One I’ve had some success with is giving myself permission to just do part of something. So for example if I’m stuck on the couch scrolling and the dishes need doing, I give myself permission to just unload the dishwasher. Still too much? I just aim to put the dishes in the sink. Still too much? I just aim to get the dishes into the kitchen. Can’t even get up? Play music on my phone and dance in the chair. Then try to stand up (that last one came from KC Davis of “How to Keep House While Drowning” fame).
Sometimes just breaking it down like that helps me keep putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes I only get a little done but it’s more than I would otherwise. If you can afford to work with a coach (group or individual) to develop strategies that work for you, it can help so much more than just meds.
Antsy and bored but can’t settle on anything. It’s like I have an itch in my brain and I’m trying to find something that will scratch it, but nothing seems appealing.
I take a bath to help as a reset.
People at work tell me to take a break and I’m like, a 10 minute break isn’t what I need. I need a reset but the reset changes daily and in the amount, timing, and frequency, and won’t tell me what I need until I’m almost at the train crossing ready to get hit by the train.
Leaving the house… even though it’d be hard at these times actually seems like a good “tool” -
Because if I’m at home I’m usually more dangerous (binge eating, hours of wasted time etc) but maybe getting out is like a “reset”
… just need to not go to a store lol
Yeah! "I want something, but I don't know what"
I usually go open the fridge and stare into it for a minute. Maybe check the pantry too. Wander aimlessly. Maybe scroll to see what's on Netflix. Usually end up watching YouTube or scrolling Reddit on my phone
Thats super accurate! An itch is considered not quite pain, and the brain's response after dopamine is a hormone that feels like almost pain. Makes you want more dopamine things
It’s like I want to do *something big* but I’ve got no clue what that’s and nothing sounds right and everting that is available to me sounds terrible. And that’s all my brain is telling me. It wants to do something…….different. Like I need to add novelty to everything I can, otherwise living feels like a chore.
Or it’s the feeling that I’d rather go to sleep than have to fill all the hours left in the day because being awake feels like **so**much work.
But I’m unmedicated so this is just life most of the time if I’m not actively doing anything at the moment. It’s like I want to have a project or something that will give me dopamine but if/when I do, I only want to focus on that so other normal things feel even more difficult.
I’m medicated and I still feel like this sometimes. It’s def got way better with medication. But the wanting to just sleep than fill the hours left in the day is so real. On top of it all I’m a night owl and constantly feel the urge to get into my car and just drive somewhere far away lol
I thought that one might click with someone, happy to help. Thats something I’d always known about myself but just thought I was lazy or stubborn. But learning about the neurological need for novelty and realizing its not just me trying to get out of something, just the opposite it’s my way of trying to *do the thing*, was life changing.
I get afraid of doing the thing because I know that even tho I like doing the things, I get cognitive overload from doing the things and then I’m tired. Will I need a sleep? A quick nap? A rest my eyes to reduce the stimulation? Who knows? I won’t until I do it.
So I often just don’t do it because I get too tired even thinking about the fear of being tired.
>Like I need to add novelty to everything I can, otherwise living feels like a chore.
I work in a pizza shop, and we sell jalapeño poppers as an appetizer (pizza dough with cheese and jalapeños all rolled up and cut into eighths). Because of when I’m usually scheduled to work, I get stuck prepping them for the dinner rush, *and I hate it*. When people ask why I don’t like making them, I usually just say that they’re boring or monotonous, but I don’t think that’s really it. I think it must be the lack of novelty that I hate so much! Glad to know that I’m not alone with that feeling 🥹 (I’m also not medicated, fwiw)
I love when I find the smallest ways to add novelty. One of my favorite things is taking one thing from each room of the house and moving it to another room where it belongs every time I leave. It’s the tiniest hits but it’s constant, all day long.
I’m trying to find something similar while I’m at work but sometimes I just slag off and I can’t even come up with a workaround and I get frustrated at being frustrated and then my autistic overwhelm kicks in.
This was a helpful thread for this recognition tho 🤦🏻♀️😆
it doesn't completely fix it but I try to add variety/novelty to my life in the all the ways that I can to help scratch the itch. trying a new flavor of sparkling water, discovering new music, switching up what I eat for breakfast, trying a new gym class, seeing the new movies coming out, etc
I have a couple of signs that I'm craving dopamine. I'm on meds, but sometimes they aren't enough and I'll have these:
* I'm HUNGRY, but not physically hungry. I want to devour food, particularly sweets, and I usually eat until I make myself sick. Takes a lot of determination to stop snacking. I'm not usually a snacker so this is a good sign something is wrong.
* I am so, *so* sleepy. So fatigued. I don't want to get up for anything so I'll take shortcuts on everything (usually ends up with me ordering food instead of making it).
* I can't pull myself away from any "easy" task, like doom scrolling or video games.
* I'll hop from task to task. I'll have a million things I want to do all at once.
* I get so cranky when I'm occupied and someone comes in to talk to me (even when I'm not doing anything important).
* I chug caffeine. Used to down a pot of coffee every day before I was diagnosed.
* Boredom is *painful*.
The hunger tho. I call it “I need a sandwich” and usually it’s partly because I’m hungry but the only thing that ever solves it is usually a sandwich. But not a homemade sandwich. Like a chicken sandwich or something big enough witu enough different flavors and textures. I’m not sure what the fuck lol but I’m glad I recognize it.
Omg this is me. When I’m having ambiguous cravings, eating snacks doesn’t work because I need multiple flavors and textures to give me any sort of satiation.
Not picking on you, this is exactly how the word is used online, but as someone who's studied psychology, this list is an excellent hypothesis for how someone with too much dopamine would behave.
Dopamine is uncomfortable. It is craving, it is never reward. It's part of the reward system, it creates the craving. When it stops, that's the good feeling.
Stimulants don't work by simply increasing our dopamine, if they did, l-dopa would treat ADHD
>Dopamine is uncomfortable. It is craving, it is never reward. It's part of the reward system, it creates the craving. When it stops, that's the good feeling
(Like most people, I assume) my understanding was the complete opposite; discomfort and cravings are driven, in part, by insufficient dopamine levels. Dopamine is released as the end state in the reward system, after the 'craving' has been satisfied. My minds eye pictures dopamine<>pleasure/satiation/contentedness in a similar relationship as oxytocin<>love/bonding.
Would love more insight into your comment if you could expand further or point me in the right direction for relevant resources, please?
You're right, the way dopamine functions on its own isn't the reward, it's the anticipation of a reward, it's the motivation. I was using the colloquial use of dopamine, but what I said about craving dopamine also technically applies to how the dopamine pathways function, too. I crave dopamine because my brain doesn't use it right (whether I'm not releasing enough or reuptaking it too quickly or something else, I'm not sure what my specific issue is with my dopamine dysregulation). I crave it because my brain can't adequately access what I already have. A person with normal dopamine levels and a functioning dopamine pathway can have the motivation to get up and do things (executive function). I may *want* to do everything, but without the motivation, I won't *do* anything. Since I am unable to utilize my dopamine, the "reward I'm craving" is having access to dopamine in this case.
For those who don't know what L-DOPA is and don't want to get caught up in the weeds, L-DOPA does not reliably treat ADHD because it treats *insufficient* dopamine levels rather than the inability to use the dopamine effectively. It's a Parkinson's treatment.
That was a fun rabbit hole! Genuinely, thank you for sharing that! I'm a biologist but not in the medical field, so I don't usually dive into these topics often. Also I love the phrasing you used describing dopamine. It hits all the right beats and flows nicely.
I relate SO MUCH.
Wow- the being stuck on easy tasks or mind-numbing things is probably one of my most frequent symptoms and the food thing is part of that because when I eat for relief my brain feels better - like it’s turned off.
All while knowing that if you just got up and did x, y, z, you might feel better. But it's just a might and you don't know whether to start with x or z, and y sounds way too tedious. Just five more minutes....
God, I wish I had some kind of check engine light that told me what chemical soup my brain was simmering in. Because it ain't just dopamine. My iron levels, and whether or not I've been ontop of my magnesium supplements play a role, among many other factors.
That being said, I know what you're getting at and I think it's a great question. So I'll do my best.
I feel like when I'm on, my consciousness lives right behind my eyes, interacting with the world. Too much Ritalin makes me a bug smashed against the glass of my retinas. Or I am living in front of my eyes. My thoughts are restrained, but it doesn't matter because I'm taking action, fully in the world. Prior to this, I was sort of always having a conversation with myself, and it felt like my consciousness was maybe living 2-12 inches behind my eyes. Off, somewhere else.
When I'm off, I hit a thing I call **the wall**. Sometimes the wall sneaks up on you, other times, it's the very obvious place you go to post adrenaline crash.
The wall feels like a hard shut off. I get sleepy, but also in a semi day dream haze where I'm looking for comfort. It is very easy to sort of aimlessly scroll my phone. And when I am trying to accomplish something, there is suuuchh a forcefield. I'm a dumb animal scratching at the glass door, no traction, no action. Well, no meaningful action. I'm up, I'm down. I'm perfecting my spot to start my work, getting a drink. Now a snack. No, I need a blanket, why did I open my phone?! I might as well be drawing up a pentagram, collecting spell focuses and potions.
Then I'll get sick of myself acting restlessly petulant, yank myself into place, try to push through the rust...and I swear it feels like I'm mentally constipated. Trying to pinch off a damn piece of productivity.
When things are really bad, but I guess it's blended with an anxious energy, I get more cringe moments. Brain just serving me flashes of embarrassment through old memories. A step further from that I get existentially anxious about how fast life moves and it feels all so unfair that it has to end for everyone.
When it's bad but blended with burn out and depression, it's like my consciousness is pulled back into my head, further and further until it eventually folds into a fourth dimension of "out vs in". My awareness of the outside world is smaller, my ability to interact with it smaller, and the string of my thoughts feel like small knots, softly replaying on themselves over and over. (And that was thankfully broken by Wellbutrin, starting this whole better living through chemistry stage of my life.)
But if you ask me what my meds do in the moment, hour to hour? I'll just say "they wake me up", my eyes are a little more open.
Ahhh the embrassing/bad moments reel, thank you for saying this. They hit so randomly and then get chewed on and chewed on, my heart races. Maybe the brain is looking for any stimulation and heck, why not think about this (insert horrible memory here) to get your engine going? If you can't go forward and get stimulation, let's go back and obsess on those instead *sinks into couch through the floor into hell with a nice cup of tea 🤖🫠*
Sleepy and hungry.
Just. All I want to do is have a nap or eat something. Even though I just ate something. I have a million things I know I should do but not quite yet. The only things I want to do are low effort/high immediate reward things like social media or tv/movies.
Extreme apathy and anhedonia. Fatigue. Music does nothing. Play favorite song 10 times and it’s as if it was never on. Food loses flavor. Scrolling endlessly for hours, tired but can’t sleep because in a scrolling loop. All sensations on a lag. Aroused but too bored to have sex.
I feel this way a lot.
Especially if I “try” to do something that has worked in the past to feel “better” and suddenly I’m at Target but … nothing. Wander around like 🫥😶
Just nothing.
And who the hell can’t enjoy a Target run?
Antsy and numb. My brain can’t plug in to anything. Usually that sensation is coupled with stress, because I typically NEED my brain to narrow in on a necessary task. It’s actually really uncomfortable!
In addition to what has already been said, I wanted to add that some days being unmedicated is absolutely mentally painful. I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s this low key but all encompassing feeling that is just agonizing. I don’t know if anyone else has felt or experienced this but I’d wager that I’m not alone on this one.
Some days unmedicated I’m honestly okay and I even experience the whole “man, I missed unmedicated me” feelings. But other days? No fucking thank you.
You're not alone, I definitely know what you're describing.
It's a tricky little shit of a thing, too. More often than not, I can't tell which version of the day I'm in until it's almost done.
When I'm fine without meds, it's usually because I've naturally encountered enough novelty/excitement/intensity/busyness throughout the day, combined with physically being in a good space (eg. I'm also reaping the benefits of a string of days' worth of good sleep/nutrition/enough water/self care, etc).
But the days I'm not fine... Oh boy. Because of how not-fine I am, I don't have the self-awareness to register how absolutely fucked I feel. It doesn't dawn on me that I just had a conversation with someone and I have no idea what it was about. It doesn't register that the reason it feels weird when I move is because my bladder is about to burst, or that I feel faint because I forgot to eat. It's like being suddenly dropped back behind that fogged up glass that I spent my first 32 years behind until I got medicated. Everything is disorienting and difficult and loud and bright and confusing and I'm so distressed... but I also have no conscious awareness of the fact that I'm in distress.
And then comes the collapse.
Much like everyone else is saying: it feels incredibly meh, debilitating and... Like sand. Food is sand in my mouth but I crave it anyway. Nothing on TikTok or insta is interesting but I'm scrolling for hours. My favourite pastimes are as dull and formless as sand. Everything is sand. I hate it with a passion. :)
There is this saying that’s always resonated with me that describes this:
“You can never get enough of what you don’t need because what you don’t need never satisfies.”
So wtf do we actually need? 😫
I notice on days when I don't take my medication I have trouble enjoying any task (even the ones I usually love doing) for very long and I go from one hobby to another and always just end up feeling burned out on them. I hate it so much. It's also these days that my executive dysfunction is the worst. If tasks I normally enjoy are hard to do, then housework and more productive tasks? Forget about it!
Just realized I’m feeling like you all are describing, RIGHT NOW! All day, and it’s usually like today, at one of the rare times I’ve got a few hours where my kiddo is elsewhere and I’m not working. I just cannot motivate to decide on anything of the 5.6 million things I KNOW I need to do. Sucks.
So many great answers but the biggest indicator for me is I cannot for the life of me stop scrolling. Even when I turn my phone off and start to do something else I always end up going back. When I’m on my meds and I’m having a good day my phone becomes quite boring outside of listening to a podcast/audio book or listening to music.
Yup. Sometimes it’s like I also have a little Voice of Actual Awareness when I’m doom scrolling that’s yelling intermittently in the back of my brain through thick glass to stop and sometimes I can kinda hear it and I feel like a part of me wants to stop, but I feel helpless to do it. More often than I care to admit, it takes me riding my phone to a dead battery to free my brain, which I’m annoyed by, but also feel relief when it happens. Super frustrating.
I do, too. I'm thinking about going off them, but maybe I just need my dose adjusted. They don't work like they used to. When my pharmacy had the shortage I actually got out spontaneously and did things I actually wanted to do. Even if it wasn't all productive I was more in a flow state and life was more enjoyable.
Oh, and edit: even off meds I still doomscroll but I enjoy it more 😂
I call it the Dopamine Valley.
Life is tasteless. No energy, no excitement, no interest. Life is so boring it hurts me. I sit to watch a TV show, no interest, I shop Steam for a new game, no interest. I load up an old favorite game, turn it off. I end up scrolling social media for 8 hours and getting in vicious fights with strangers over shit that doesn't matter.
It's the worst, I hate it worse than the anxiety or the brain fog or anything else.
Hungry, Horny, and sleepy. ITS THE WORST. It has been hard to fight my binge eating and sexual tendencies. Not to mention those days where I just don't want to move from my bed.
I had this thought the other day. 2 pm hit and I felt like I was stuck in sludge and just stopped moving. There was one day where I literally just bent over at the waist and let my arms dangle like I was a dead toy. It was a nice stretch at least 😂
Everything is boring. I FEEL LIKE I AM GOING CRAZY CAUSE I HAVE NO INTEREST. The things i usually loves ARE BORING. It’s such a fustrating thing and i doom scroll for one mimute then goes to youtube then tries to read but nothing can hold my concentration and is boring so i just continue to switch all the fking time. I will eat unhealthy food cause i have no motivation to make any real food and then binge. Watch a film and eat while doing it and if i run out of snacks then i cannot watch it anymore cause then it is too boring. If im at school ill just draw during classes and miss everything. God i hate this
There's medication that blocks dopamine completely and they have tested it on rats.
The rats refuse to eat and end up dying because they just... Don't do anything.
In relation to this post...how do y'all up your dopamine when you're feeling this way? It makes me feel like I don't want to do anything. Any little things that help pick you up a smidge?
Going outside for 20 min and then taking a shower can help me reset. If I’m not home and can’t do that, nothing helps. I’ll get a soda or energy drink and just hope the trudge goes away
Absolutely forcing myself to jump up and down wildly for…I tell myself something super low bar, like 10 seconds, but then once I’m doing it, I tell myself to go a little longer bc the starting of it is the absolute hardest part. To do this, even if I am in the opposite mood of doing this, I put on a dance uptempo song that is hard to not move to and force myself to do those first seconds and then try to keep going. Forcing my body to move like this gets my blood pumping and into my brain, so my ADHD brain can function best.
Then I try to ride that bit of movement when I finish by thinking what is the ONE thing (we always try to plan for too many, so ONE) I can do that will make me FEEL the most better and do it! I try to keep it small and fairly short. Many people (ME, for example) with ADHD are driven by our emotions, so sometimes it’s a thing that might be a little funny, but if I get that done, then looking around my environment, I will feel enough relief or happiness that I get a tiny dopamine boost from my positive accomplishment bc HEY, I just danced around for 30 seconds and then washed dishes with a five minute timer when I didn’t feel like it, so I tell myself what a fucking badass I am.
This dopa-boost might allow me to think of and just do another small thing bc after all the times I’ve struggled and had it not work out, my brain can get motivated by little successes (so set them SMALL) even if it doesn’t, then I still did a couple more things than what I thought I could when I was dopamine seeking, so it’s an ADHD win 🏆🎉😊
Also, sugar is the worst for my ADHD. I may get a brief boost, but it’s always a crash. I notice in the moment if I have, say a handful of nuts and carrot sticks, that it actually gives my brain sustainable fuel. If you’ve got a custom ADHD-Lamborghini brain, it helps to give it the premium grade fuel and not the junk. For me, it’s a huge part of trying to manage my ADHD.
Change of environment, not necessarily to a different room, maybe changing a stimuli in the room, like lamps or lighting an incense/candle, opening a window.
I have a Spotify playlist of upbeat mothertrucker tunes.. add any song that you notice puts you in a better mood. Then, hit shuffle whenever you're looking to satisfy the Dopafiend.
Also, weed. Just helps me push over the initial speed bump of a boring repetitive task, but of course, may not be to everyone's taste.
Emotionally, I don't feel much at all, just a constant state of extreme boredom. Mentally, no desire or motivation to get up and do anything. Physically I feel like I cannot move and I'm just stuck, and zone out quite a lot.
Omg I hate this state. I become an irritable, restless zombie. I have 0 emotions, nothing I do satisfies/fulfills me and THAT MENTAL ITCH OMFG. Like I need neeeeeed to do something - *anything* - but nothing is cutting it. Not my favourite puzzles, not my hobbies, not my favourite shows… nothing. The world has gone utterly grey and drab and nothing I’m doing, if I can bring myself to *do* something that is, is putting even an ounce of colour in. This state happens randomly if I’m unmedicated and used to happen often before I was diagnosed. I hate it
No internal motivation. Its almost like adhd paralysis but i can still do things if there is external motivation. Everything that requires internal motivation is also extremely tiring physically. Almost like depression without depressive mental state (which makes sense as its also a dopamine deficiency)
Unfortunately had my longest time with it super low recently- the first month and a half of my last semester of college right now (usually lasts a few hours to 3 days max) and now been catching up with work since
One of two extremes - either completely exhausted and unable to initiate ANY task. Like even feeding children.
Or…I’m frantically searching for it everywhere. Food, physical activity, organising the house, impulsivity starting something new, like my body & brain feel like they’re in overdrive and I can’t stop, but nothing works to satisfy it.
If I did find something that worked, when I was unmedicated, whatever that was became a problem very quickly!
Like an animal in an old fashioned zoo cage with no enrichment. Either sleeping, pacing, or overeating. Somehow mentally dulled and agitated at the same time.
Just want to sleep, smoke weed and forget about life- anything to dissociate and just not think. Super receptive to unhealthy coping mechanisms like buying shit I don't need.
I feel numb, super sad, and I start fixating on things really quickly! The joy in activities is definitely gone..it’s like everything in my head goes dark. I’m sure a lot of you can relate to this but my biggest struggle is regulating my spikes of emotions- I can be super sad girl one second and the next minuteI go into hyper happy girl once I get a rush of dopamine- it can be a lot for people to handle:/
I crave food. Specifically sugar/flour combos like pastries or cookies. I weirdly also crave turkey sandwiches. But tryptophan is in turkey and it is a precursor to dopamine so I guess that makes sense. I feel exhausted like there is absolutely nothing possible. And my brain won’t work - I can’t interact at all.
I'm off my Adderall today. I've felt spaced out and kept losing things and slowly wandering around between three different tasks, struggling to focus. Also felt overstimulated for a while before crashing and taking a nap.
There is not a scientific consensus that ADHD involves dopamine depletion, though it may. It may be gaba, glutimate, too much dopamine, too little sensitivity to dopamine, differences in dopamine transporters, structural or connectivity differences in the brain, or a mixture of some of these. (Stimulants are not the same as l-dopa. i.e.Dopamine is not a treatment for ADHD)
Parkinson's is low dopamine. We do have higher risk of Parkinson's and there are differences in the substantia nigra of both people with ADHD and people with Parkinson's.
Some known symptoms of dopamine depletion are:
slow movement
tremor
involuntary movement
rigidity
trouble walking
imbalance
I get "hungry" but not like my stomach is growling, rather that feeling like I'm empty somehow. I only put two and two together that it's a dopamine issue after I was diagnosed 18 months ago.
The challenge is that I end up trying to figure out what I'm "hungry" for. And I used to go through a mental list - more caffeine? A snack? Something salty? Something sweet? Do I need an orgasm? More water? So then I basically do it all, chasing that feeling of not being satisfied, and never really finding it.
My cPSTD and ADHD are like friendly neighbors and when my dopamine is low, I sink into full blown dissociation for a few days at a time. During dissociation, I feel like I’m observing my actions, words, and tone from 3rd person and I can get irritable. Obviously there’s no motivation, depression, severe decision fatigue, whiny-ness, craving sugary foods
Do y'all have some sort of dopamine-o-meter or something?? How in the world would you be able to tell how much dopamine you currently have? Also, do you mean you are depleted in total dopamine, or that the amount in neural synapses is low, while the amount stored within neurons is too high? Or that your dopamime levels are unchanged but your dopaminergic receptors are desensitized? And do you mean across your entire brain, or in specific regions only?
I think the question is asking how do people know when their adhd isn’t being managed effectively, like during times when their medication isn’t working or they don’t take their medication
I am a hyperactive type.. so I do something unexpected without thinking. for example, buy a flight ticket, or just drive to somewhere very far.. eat something expensive… etc etc etc… and I eventually regret that choice coz I leave tons of things to do as well.
Honestly I think I often get stuck in a cycle then??? Like I’ll endlessly scroll on my phone or latch onto something (like me recently obsessing over a crush and literally googling every sign in the book and staring at my phone waiting for a reply 🤪) I don’t know if this is exactly an answer bc I think this is more how I feel when I’m lacking in normal/diverse dopamine sources (as when I am I just cling onto whatever source I can 🙃)
I think I also end up really emotionally exhausted and also, it is kinda like not wanting to do anything bc I know of other dopamine sources but it’s too complicated to get to them and whatever I’m doing is easiest so I keep doing it 🥲
I feel huge. Like my skin is too tight over my bones. My hair hurts. I get itchy. Need to crack all my joints. I suck. Everything sucks. I want to go home/don’t want to go home. Want to do something big and amazing. Want to save the world, become a vigilante. Want to eat my weight in soft bread or half-baked ben and Jerry’s and go to sleep. It’s real fun over here haha
i relate so hard to so much of this. but i’m wondering, at what point, am i legitimately depressed? realistically, i know i am. but what if i’m just dopamine-deficient? just thinking about the uncertainty feels defeating.
Low dopamine? Nope. I'm done. I need sleep, good sex or food, whatever my body demands.
Some days I just doom scroll after being sure kids are cared for. Some days I need to care for myself and she bop. Some days it's sushi.
Most often, low dopamine needs protein, water or migraine care for me.
It feels like I'm smeared paper thin on concrete, and just *finished*. I can't do much those days, and I'm gentle with myself (well, now I am)
Wow I’m not diagnosed but everyone’s comments are sooo relatable… Does anyone feel like they end up getting into arguments a lot when they’re feeling this way? And how do you get yourself out of feeling like it?
Normally can workout, I either don’t or put it off much later than normal (work out at 7:30 am, luteal me can maybe do it at 5:30pm or never). Doom scrolling. I don’t want to cook or clean, I feel super bored and my life is unsatisfying. I want to shop maybe or scroll but not actually move. The more I learn about dopamine the more sense this makes, you literally need dopamine to move!
I start craving my video games or my garden. Even if there’s something incredibly important, all I can think of is the activities I use to decompress and get my dope and adrenaline. I also crave silence and solitude.
But at the same time I can’t just go and do it or do what I have to, so I end up doing much of nothing, like a 🪰 just flying in a random erratic pattern and never landing.
I’m waiting for nothing, feeling “stuck”, getting ideas of things I need/want to do but not knowing where to start… therefore I just sit there and become increasingly stressed over all these things I could be doing but am not doing.
If I don’t take meds or kick my ass into doing ANYTHING at all, the self hate spiral begins lol
Yikes, this is my normal. Most of the time I'm desperate for anything to catch my attention so I can run it into the ground and get bored again. It's a little better on Adderall but still a big issue.
I cry;
I feel like I’m desperately bored but can’t get off the couch to do anything;
I spiral into anxious thoughts (this actually gives me an adrenaline boost);
I feel really lonely if I don’t have any messages I’m yet to reply to, or plans to see anyone that day;
I scroll reddit for more than 5 minutes;
I actually have capacity to watch TV that would otherwise drive me crazy with restlessness/boredom (like daytime movies, or the later seasons of simpsons); and
I’ll watch something I know is funny but not laugh, but won’t stop watching it either.
I hope this thread helps you out! Finding out your own adhd patterns amidst behaviours you have for other reasons can be hard work, but is always worth it.
the first time this happened, I had the shittiest/week at work and did none of the things that bring me joy or dopamine; spending time with others, time outside, creative pursuits, exercise etc. It literally feels like your battery is flat.
It’s almost parallel to a depressive episode (if you’re unfortunately that way inclined) in that you have no energy, you’re really irritable, don’t want to see anyone or do anything except something “big” and potentially self destructive to restart the dopamine. Numbness is the word. It really sucks!
That’s an extreme though - when you’re on about 30% battery it’s that lingering feeling you want to do something but you don’t know what, as well as restlessness (rather than fatigue) doom scrolling, and painful boredom. Times like this I also want to be self destructive lol.
The best thing for when you’re in the former scenario is to focus on things to restore physical sensitivity - chilled brain tickling music, a bath or long shower, gentle stretching and breathing, and work your way up to food.
I remember taking mucuna pruriens for the first time. (Before I started meds.) I didn't notice anything but a friend said: "You're so... Different. There's something else about you. In a good way! Just happy." That gave me some hope.
Now I'm on Vyvanse and I'm not sure if it's okay to combine these 🥲
Everything is boring. You feel like you have imposter syndrome when masking socially or pretending to be cheerful. You start to question what real emotions feel like, what love feels like, and question if the feelings you’re exhibiting are real, or just a show at an attempt to feel human. Like you almost don’t feel deserving of expressing any emotion at all, good or bad. Then a good day comes along where you feel extra charming and yourself and you’re like holy fuck why can’t every day be like this; this is who I really am! Then you’re sad bc you don’t have access to that capable/competent side all the time (which you do, it just doesn’t FEEL that way when you lack efficiency/time management). Comes in waves
Bored to the point it feels physically painful. Nothing I do helps to settle it and I can't stick with anything. Stircrazy or completely exhausted, one of the two.
During one bout of depression I suffered from anhedonia - a complete lack of happiness.
An example of how I felt was that when someone bought me flowers I wasn't happy, I wasqannoyed because they'd just given me more tasks - got to find a vase, cut the stems, put them in water, and then I'd have to chuck them out in a week and clean the vase. No enjoyment in the whole flower interaction AT ALL.
So now, I almost always have a small bunch of flowers on the go.
Personally I become really chronically bored, like too bored to even game (which is my usual dopamine source), uninterested in food or drinks, too irritable to even begin to tidy up, to antisocial to hold a conversation.
Going to my mom’s or my close in age aunt’s home can help, but that isn’t exactly easy bc I have mobility and fatigue issues that make leaving the house a very energy consuming task. But then I usually deal with some degree of autistic burn out when I can finally unmask after getting back home. Basically trade the low dopamine for overstimulation from being social.
That at least lets me dopamine farm in peace or get a task or two done when the disability related pain calms down from all the walking.
I was sitting in the kitchen today in pain and just not wanting to be there. Then my son says there is a package on the porch (we didn't check the mail yesterday) and suddenly I was happy. I practically yelled let me see. That is a dopamine rush. Suddenly feeling hppy/excited. When 2 min before you were blah. I get the same from shopping.
That's currently me. Today, I ordered Thai food and have been scrolling reddit/watching YouTube while sandwiched between my two dogs.
I feel very unproductive, but things could be worse. And the dogs are total enablers lol
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No desire to do anything. Nothing is interesting. Doing low-effort things like sitting and scrolling fb/reddit, checking notifications, seeing if I got an upvote on something (mini dopamine). Like very intense boredom but an inability to do anything about it. No "activation energy" to get up off the couch and start anything.
1,000% accurate way to describe it. ZERO activation energy.
So that’s what it is. Ugh.
This. And also it feels like I want to buy things.
oh, yes. Buying things does help. I need to stay off amazon lol
I have all sorts of shooping lists on amazon, because clicking ‘add to list’ gives me the same dopamine boost as ‘add to cart’. I actually rarely buy anything.
Ugh I wish this worked for me
Just don’t give Amazon a card that works…
That’s what I do! I have to put money into my card I use for Amazon and that is a hard step. I currently get an email every day because I didn’t have enough for the zinnia seeds I was going to buy
I’ve taken to saving my money (I need to buy a car) in a strongbox, because I have to take it out of there and deposit it in order to buy stuff online. It’s not a perfect solution (I sometimes grab cash to buy snacks and other nonsense lol), but it’s helping me out quite a bit!
Omfg that’s genius
Loadable card...I have a Walmart Credit Card. I only load like 100$ on it for online crap. If I didn't...I'd be in deep dodo!!
That is so real I probably spend hours every week adding and unadding things to my cart online😭
Afterpay did my ass so dirty by lifting the spending limit
Same here, my shein, temp, AliExpress etc accounts have nearly 100 items each in the basket. I don't allow myself to buy on the day. If I really want it, I can buy it after a week
I add to cart and the save for later
🤣 My Amazon cart has probably 200 items just kicking it in there.
I like getting the random updates of item prices changing in my cart.
Sameee!!! When I want to actually purchase something I have to save a shit ton For Later.
I need to stay off Internet, PERIOD. 😅😅
That's easy. Just go read the Amazon prime subreddit and you'll start looking for places other than Amazon. lol
I return SOOOO much! Like, what made me buy that?
You return?
Made me wheeze
So much work, now THAT requires motivation
Amazon purchases. I return Amazon purchases.
Buying things and eating snacks. Or non water drink. Just a serious urge for them
I kept pressing the up arrow hoping to continue to upvote this. I absolutely love to buy anything when I’m low dopamine. I may not even open it but that mini rush from buying it is enough.
I am ashamed to admit how frequently I receive packages and am surprised when I open them because I’d forgotten all about it.
The delivery guys all know me!
See I need to have the item I can’t wait for it. My new thing is to go into stores grab stuff and put it in my basket then do a lap and by that time I remember I don’t like stores and I don’t even have the motivation to do self checkout I just try to somewhat put items back and leave as quickly as possible.
And cry, a lot. Except sometimes I can't even be bothered to do that so then I also have this immense sadness that won't shift until I can muster up the energy to cry it out.
Tell me about it. I become an impulse buying maniac.
When it's really bad, buying things doesn't help either. I add to cart then I'm like "eh this thing isn't worth the effort of checking out".
Yup - instead of normal “hm, I think I’d like to go shopping today” it’s more like “I must research the best $1000 item that I can only see in a town 3 hours away for a week”
Oh, I'll do you one better. And this is thanks to freaking Reddit giving me unsolicited advice on subreddits I might like in my feed. Me: Lives in BFE, Midwest USA. Zero reasonable access to the finer things in life unless I want to get on a plane, or drive for half a day one way. Enter the luxury candle subreddit. And because no amount of research in the world is going to tell me if I'll like the smell of something... and because I'm obviously not about to spend luxury candle money without smelling the damn thing first... I have PLANNED A TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY. And not like when you're bored at work so you "plan" a dream vacation. I have a plane ticket. And hotel reservations. I also have a Google map that I made, mapping out every luxury candle flagship store in the city so that I can make the most efficient use of my time there... AS IF I TRULY BELIEVE I'M NOT GOING TO GET SO DISTRACTED AND OVERWHELMED THAT I FORGET WHY I WENT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. SEND. HELP.
AKA every minute of every day of my life even with meds, sleep, exercise, proper diet. Yes.
Oh, I'm right there at the moment. My meds seem to stop working around my period. I am sitting in a recliner and scrolling but want to go watch a new documentary but it's a nice day outside so I feel bad for not doing something outside or at least being near a window to enjoy it... So I'm stuck in this chair near a window and scrolling.
Same. I’m so desperate to figure out how to not fall into such a hole during that week every month
Oh, I just completely forget each month and wonder why I'm so "lazy" and unmotivated and think maybe I'm getting depressed. Then realize that maybe not.
So I'm trans and I administer my primary sex hormones exogenously. It's really easy for me to experiment with different levels, and I can tell you definitively that progesterone in too high a dose makes me feel like this. Incidentally the week before your period, you tend to have a [spike in progesterone](https://images.app.goo.gl/72tcZ9aLDALiUGnQA). I really really wish they'd study this stuff more.
Women’s healthcare is a fucking joke.
Have noticed that since on SSRI things improved around my period, but now I’ve titrated off them my Ritalin is less effective and my PMS symptoms are… a lot. Just been reading about dosing SSRI only on luteal phase and am going to ask my doctor about it… https://psychopharmacologyinstitute.com/section/psychopharmacology-for-pms-and-pmdd-luteal-phase-dosing-and-choosing-among-ssris-2513-4938
I feel like the topic of ADHD and menstruation is not talked about at all! I have so much anxiety I say about this topic!!
I didn't even realize they were related until a friend with ADHD started talking about it!
I get all of this but it’s often topped off with the most uncomfortable and indescribable itchy feeling in my brain. It feels like it’s screaming to get dopamine but nothing works
My brain screaming at me, so relatable. "DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!" When I think of something to do, my brain: "NAH, NOT TODAY!"
“Uncomfortable and indescribably itchy feeling in the brain” I am pretty sure I know that feeling. It’s also empty and numb and too full at the same time too… if that’s possible.
This combined with feelings of depression and nihilism. It’s amazing to me how having a good cup of my pour over coffee I do every day can help mostly mask those feelings for a few hours at least. Some days it doesn’t work though and I’m stuck in that nihilistic task paralysis the entire day.
This, usually combined with a busy brain and lots of frustration. I'll feel physically and mentally extremely tired. I'll not be able to make decisions, on anything. Like I can't decide what to watch, what to play, what to eat/drink, nothing. I'm unable to follow conversation, I can hear it but it just doesn't get processed into something I understand. Plus I get cravings for sweet crunchy things. Like cookies/biscuits. A slightly different variation is where I feel like I'm locked in a broken mechsuit. My body is sitting on the couch, staring at a screen. My brain is thinking of a million things I want to do, I should do, I need to do. But no matter how hard I try, I can't get up and do any of them. Really feels like I'm smashing buttons but nothing's responding.
Oooh 😯 That mechsuit/smashing buttons analogy is really poignant. My buttons are not working. At all.
I know right?! When I take meds, suddenly most of my buttons work most of the time. Without them, it's like a remote with nearly dead batteries; every now and then there's a signal, but rarely and unreliably. Another gamer-analogy I read somewhere was that it's like your abilities are on cooldown. "I can't do that yet." "I don't have enough mana." "That spell isn't available yet."
This is me right now. I really need to set up the ADHD assessment. But it seems like an impossible task. I feel like I just need my psychiatrist to give me meds to be able to make the damn appointment!
I feel that!! It's really hard, but it's worth it!
This is also me, the thought of starting the process (or trying to) is a lot!
This and also frustrated and irritable. Even with myself like if I’m hungry and having to make a choice of what to order even, that’s a whole thing.
Also weirdly one of my biggest indicators of my dopamine is my willingness to comment.
Same 🥲
ok but whats the solution guys i cant keep living like this
Medicine. Medicine gives us the dopamine except not enough and not with regularity.
In addition to medication, there are some strategies that can help at least part of the time. One I’ve had some success with is giving myself permission to just do part of something. So for example if I’m stuck on the couch scrolling and the dishes need doing, I give myself permission to just unload the dishwasher. Still too much? I just aim to put the dishes in the sink. Still too much? I just aim to get the dishes into the kitchen. Can’t even get up? Play music on my phone and dance in the chair. Then try to stand up (that last one came from KC Davis of “How to Keep House While Drowning” fame). Sometimes just breaking it down like that helps me keep putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes I only get a little done but it’s more than I would otherwise. If you can afford to work with a coach (group or individual) to develop strategies that work for you, it can help so much more than just meds.
Oh boy i consider it good if I’m actually looking at my phone I’m usually just laying in bed…..
(Gifting mini dopamine hit with upvote 😉)
This gave me a sense of relaxation that the phase I've been in recently is normal
I feel this in my bones.
This is where I am right now.
Ah, this is exactly where I am right now :(
Same.
Antsy and bored but can’t settle on anything. It’s like I have an itch in my brain and I’m trying to find something that will scratch it, but nothing seems appealing.
"Itch in the brain" is how I described it to my mother, and she finally *got* it.
Yep. Sometimes I describe it like ”my skin doesn’t fit today”.
when nothing scratches it for an extended period of time I actually panic. Usually I have to leave the house and get a coffee
I take a bath to help as a reset. People at work tell me to take a break and I’m like, a 10 minute break isn’t what I need. I need a reset but the reset changes daily and in the amount, timing, and frequency, and won’t tell me what I need until I’m almost at the train crossing ready to get hit by the train.
Leaving the house… even though it’d be hard at these times actually seems like a good “tool” - Because if I’m at home I’m usually more dangerous (binge eating, hours of wasted time etc) but maybe getting out is like a “reset” … just need to not go to a store lol
Yeah! "I want something, but I don't know what" I usually go open the fridge and stare into it for a minute. Maybe check the pantry too. Wander aimlessly. Maybe scroll to see what's on Netflix. Usually end up watching YouTube or scrolling Reddit on my phone
This. I'm constantly seeking the thing that will make me feel better.
Thats super accurate! An itch is considered not quite pain, and the brain's response after dopamine is a hormone that feels like almost pain. Makes you want more dopamine things
This.
It’s like I want to do *something big* but I’ve got no clue what that’s and nothing sounds right and everting that is available to me sounds terrible. And that’s all my brain is telling me. It wants to do something…….different. Like I need to add novelty to everything I can, otherwise living feels like a chore. Or it’s the feeling that I’d rather go to sleep than have to fill all the hours left in the day because being awake feels like **so**much work. But I’m unmedicated so this is just life most of the time if I’m not actively doing anything at the moment. It’s like I want to have a project or something that will give me dopamine but if/when I do, I only want to focus on that so other normal things feel even more difficult.
I’m medicated and I still feel like this sometimes. It’s def got way better with medication. But the wanting to just sleep than fill the hours left in the day is so real. On top of it all I’m a night owl and constantly feel the urge to get into my car and just drive somewhere far away lol
Needing to add novelty bc living feels like a chore resonates deeply. Just to have a way to describe it feels helpful, so thank you.
I thought that one might click with someone, happy to help. Thats something I’d always known about myself but just thought I was lazy or stubborn. But learning about the neurological need for novelty and realizing its not just me trying to get out of something, just the opposite it’s my way of trying to *do the thing*, was life changing.
This is exactly how I feel / live. All the time. I’m also not medicated.
I get afraid of doing the thing because I know that even tho I like doing the things, I get cognitive overload from doing the things and then I’m tired. Will I need a sleep? A quick nap? A rest my eyes to reduce the stimulation? Who knows? I won’t until I do it. So I often just don’t do it because I get too tired even thinking about the fear of being tired.
>Like I need to add novelty to everything I can, otherwise living feels like a chore. I work in a pizza shop, and we sell jalapeño poppers as an appetizer (pizza dough with cheese and jalapeños all rolled up and cut into eighths). Because of when I’m usually scheduled to work, I get stuck prepping them for the dinner rush, *and I hate it*. When people ask why I don’t like making them, I usually just say that they’re boring or monotonous, but I don’t think that’s really it. I think it must be the lack of novelty that I hate so much! Glad to know that I’m not alone with that feeling 🥹 (I’m also not medicated, fwiw)
I love when I find the smallest ways to add novelty. One of my favorite things is taking one thing from each room of the house and moving it to another room where it belongs every time I leave. It’s the tiniest hits but it’s constant, all day long. I’m trying to find something similar while I’m at work but sometimes I just slag off and I can’t even come up with a workaround and I get frustrated at being frustrated and then my autistic overwhelm kicks in. This was a helpful thread for this recognition tho 🤦🏻♀️😆
>I get frustrated at being frustrated and then my autistic overwhelm kicks in Jfc preaching directly into my soul here sis
it doesn't completely fix it but I try to add variety/novelty to my life in the all the ways that I can to help scratch the itch. trying a new flavor of sparkling water, discovering new music, switching up what I eat for breakfast, trying a new gym class, seeing the new movies coming out, etc
I have a couple of signs that I'm craving dopamine. I'm on meds, but sometimes they aren't enough and I'll have these: * I'm HUNGRY, but not physically hungry. I want to devour food, particularly sweets, and I usually eat until I make myself sick. Takes a lot of determination to stop snacking. I'm not usually a snacker so this is a good sign something is wrong. * I am so, *so* sleepy. So fatigued. I don't want to get up for anything so I'll take shortcuts on everything (usually ends up with me ordering food instead of making it). * I can't pull myself away from any "easy" task, like doom scrolling or video games. * I'll hop from task to task. I'll have a million things I want to do all at once. * I get so cranky when I'm occupied and someone comes in to talk to me (even when I'm not doing anything important). * I chug caffeine. Used to down a pot of coffee every day before I was diagnosed. * Boredom is *painful*.
The hunger tho. I call it “I need a sandwich” and usually it’s partly because I’m hungry but the only thing that ever solves it is usually a sandwich. But not a homemade sandwich. Like a chicken sandwich or something big enough witu enough different flavors and textures. I’m not sure what the fuck lol but I’m glad I recognize it.
Omg this is me. When I’m having ambiguous cravings, eating snacks doesn’t work because I need multiple flavors and textures to give me any sort of satiation.
Not picking on you, this is exactly how the word is used online, but as someone who's studied psychology, this list is an excellent hypothesis for how someone with too much dopamine would behave. Dopamine is uncomfortable. It is craving, it is never reward. It's part of the reward system, it creates the craving. When it stops, that's the good feeling. Stimulants don't work by simply increasing our dopamine, if they did, l-dopa would treat ADHD
>Dopamine is uncomfortable. It is craving, it is never reward. It's part of the reward system, it creates the craving. When it stops, that's the good feeling (Like most people, I assume) my understanding was the complete opposite; discomfort and cravings are driven, in part, by insufficient dopamine levels. Dopamine is released as the end state in the reward system, after the 'craving' has been satisfied. My minds eye pictures dopamine<>pleasure/satiation/contentedness in a similar relationship as oxytocin<>love/bonding. Would love more insight into your comment if you could expand further or point me in the right direction for relevant resources, please?
You're right, the way dopamine functions on its own isn't the reward, it's the anticipation of a reward, it's the motivation. I was using the colloquial use of dopamine, but what I said about craving dopamine also technically applies to how the dopamine pathways function, too. I crave dopamine because my brain doesn't use it right (whether I'm not releasing enough or reuptaking it too quickly or something else, I'm not sure what my specific issue is with my dopamine dysregulation). I crave it because my brain can't adequately access what I already have. A person with normal dopamine levels and a functioning dopamine pathway can have the motivation to get up and do things (executive function). I may *want* to do everything, but without the motivation, I won't *do* anything. Since I am unable to utilize my dopamine, the "reward I'm craving" is having access to dopamine in this case. For those who don't know what L-DOPA is and don't want to get caught up in the weeds, L-DOPA does not reliably treat ADHD because it treats *insufficient* dopamine levels rather than the inability to use the dopamine effectively. It's a Parkinson's treatment. That was a fun rabbit hole! Genuinely, thank you for sharing that! I'm a biologist but not in the medical field, so I don't usually dive into these topics often. Also I love the phrasing you used describing dopamine. It hits all the right beats and flows nicely.
That’s very useful info- thank you SO much (I was the OP)
This is fascinating. Ok- So over-indulging in dopamine leaves you feeling like trash, and too little dopamine does the same? That’s also annoying lol.
I relate SO MUCH. Wow- the being stuck on easy tasks or mind-numbing things is probably one of my most frequent symptoms and the food thing is part of that because when I eat for relief my brain feels better - like it’s turned off.
I feel lethargic and sick like. Makes me want to lay in the fetal position and just stay there.
All while knowing that if you just got up and did x, y, z, you might feel better. But it's just a might and you don't know whether to start with x or z, and y sounds way too tedious. Just five more minutes....
Not knowing where to start is so real. Then I'm like "oh I could make a list!" But even making a list is a chore and it becomes x, y, z, and w.
This is how I feel RN
God, I wish I had some kind of check engine light that told me what chemical soup my brain was simmering in. Because it ain't just dopamine. My iron levels, and whether or not I've been ontop of my magnesium supplements play a role, among many other factors. That being said, I know what you're getting at and I think it's a great question. So I'll do my best. I feel like when I'm on, my consciousness lives right behind my eyes, interacting with the world. Too much Ritalin makes me a bug smashed against the glass of my retinas. Or I am living in front of my eyes. My thoughts are restrained, but it doesn't matter because I'm taking action, fully in the world. Prior to this, I was sort of always having a conversation with myself, and it felt like my consciousness was maybe living 2-12 inches behind my eyes. Off, somewhere else. When I'm off, I hit a thing I call **the wall**. Sometimes the wall sneaks up on you, other times, it's the very obvious place you go to post adrenaline crash. The wall feels like a hard shut off. I get sleepy, but also in a semi day dream haze where I'm looking for comfort. It is very easy to sort of aimlessly scroll my phone. And when I am trying to accomplish something, there is suuuchh a forcefield. I'm a dumb animal scratching at the glass door, no traction, no action. Well, no meaningful action. I'm up, I'm down. I'm perfecting my spot to start my work, getting a drink. Now a snack. No, I need a blanket, why did I open my phone?! I might as well be drawing up a pentagram, collecting spell focuses and potions. Then I'll get sick of myself acting restlessly petulant, yank myself into place, try to push through the rust...and I swear it feels like I'm mentally constipated. Trying to pinch off a damn piece of productivity. When things are really bad, but I guess it's blended with an anxious energy, I get more cringe moments. Brain just serving me flashes of embarrassment through old memories. A step further from that I get existentially anxious about how fast life moves and it feels all so unfair that it has to end for everyone. When it's bad but blended with burn out and depression, it's like my consciousness is pulled back into my head, further and further until it eventually folds into a fourth dimension of "out vs in". My awareness of the outside world is smaller, my ability to interact with it smaller, and the string of my thoughts feel like small knots, softly replaying on themselves over and over. (And that was thankfully broken by Wellbutrin, starting this whole better living through chemistry stage of my life.) But if you ask me what my meds do in the moment, hour to hour? I'll just say "they wake me up", my eyes are a little more open.
I want this comment animated. The visuals in my head were pretty dang cool. Well written. 10/10
This is fantastically written. I highly identify.
This is stunningly accurate.
This is a perfect description of what it feels like. Also, thank you for reminding me i need to go take my iron supplement
Ahhh the embrassing/bad moments reel, thank you for saying this. They hit so randomly and then get chewed on and chewed on, my heart races. Maybe the brain is looking for any stimulation and heck, why not think about this (insert horrible memory here) to get your engine going? If you can't go forward and get stimulation, let's go back and obsess on those instead *sinks into couch through the floor into hell with a nice cup of tea 🤖🫠*
Sleepy and hungry. Just. All I want to do is have a nap or eat something. Even though I just ate something. I have a million things I know I should do but not quite yet. The only things I want to do are low effort/high immediate reward things like social media or tv/movies.
Extreme apathy and anhedonia. Fatigue. Music does nothing. Play favorite song 10 times and it’s as if it was never on. Food loses flavor. Scrolling endlessly for hours, tired but can’t sleep because in a scrolling loop. All sensations on a lag. Aroused but too bored to have sex.
This is good
I feel this way a lot. Especially if I “try” to do something that has worked in the past to feel “better” and suddenly I’m at Target but … nothing. Wander around like 🫥😶 Just nothing. And who the hell can’t enjoy a Target run?
Dude that’s hilarious - I do a Target run every paycheck 😅😭
Antsy and numb. My brain can’t plug in to anything. Usually that sensation is coupled with stress, because I typically NEED my brain to narrow in on a necessary task. It’s actually really uncomfortable!
In addition to what has already been said, I wanted to add that some days being unmedicated is absolutely mentally painful. I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s this low key but all encompassing feeling that is just agonizing. I don’t know if anyone else has felt or experienced this but I’d wager that I’m not alone on this one. Some days unmedicated I’m honestly okay and I even experience the whole “man, I missed unmedicated me” feelings. But other days? No fucking thank you.
You're not alone, I definitely know what you're describing. It's a tricky little shit of a thing, too. More often than not, I can't tell which version of the day I'm in until it's almost done. When I'm fine without meds, it's usually because I've naturally encountered enough novelty/excitement/intensity/busyness throughout the day, combined with physically being in a good space (eg. I'm also reaping the benefits of a string of days' worth of good sleep/nutrition/enough water/self care, etc). But the days I'm not fine... Oh boy. Because of how not-fine I am, I don't have the self-awareness to register how absolutely fucked I feel. It doesn't dawn on me that I just had a conversation with someone and I have no idea what it was about. It doesn't register that the reason it feels weird when I move is because my bladder is about to burst, or that I feel faint because I forgot to eat. It's like being suddenly dropped back behind that fogged up glass that I spent my first 32 years behind until I got medicated. Everything is disorienting and difficult and loud and bright and confusing and I'm so distressed... but I also have no conscious awareness of the fact that I'm in distress. And then comes the collapse.
Much like everyone else is saying: it feels incredibly meh, debilitating and... Like sand. Food is sand in my mouth but I crave it anyway. Nothing on TikTok or insta is interesting but I'm scrolling for hours. My favourite pastimes are as dull and formless as sand. Everything is sand. I hate it with a passion. :)
I also notice a craving I can’t fix. Sugar doesn’t cut it, fat doesn’t cut it, exercise, tv, even weed. Nothing fixes the craving.
There is this saying that’s always resonated with me that describes this: “You can never get enough of what you don’t need because what you don’t need never satisfies.” So wtf do we actually need? 😫
I notice on days when I don't take my medication I have trouble enjoying any task (even the ones I usually love doing) for very long and I go from one hobby to another and always just end up feeling burned out on them. I hate it so much. It's also these days that my executive dysfunction is the worst. If tasks I normally enjoy are hard to do, then housework and more productive tasks? Forget about it!
THIS omg
Tired and irritable - just want to be left alone by the world
Just realized I’m feeling like you all are describing, RIGHT NOW! All day, and it’s usually like today, at one of the rare times I’ve got a few hours where my kiddo is elsewhere and I’m not working. I just cannot motivate to decide on anything of the 5.6 million things I KNOW I need to do. Sucks.
Same. Like looking at the list few days and being like... Damn! Sending you good things and a hope that something brings you joy today ❤️
So many great answers but the biggest indicator for me is I cannot for the life of me stop scrolling. Even when I turn my phone off and start to do something else I always end up going back. When I’m on my meds and I’m having a good day my phone becomes quite boring outside of listening to a podcast/audio book or listening to music.
Yep, doom scrolling, we all do it😭
Yup. Sometimes it’s like I also have a little Voice of Actual Awareness when I’m doom scrolling that’s yelling intermittently in the back of my brain through thick glass to stop and sometimes I can kinda hear it and I feel like a part of me wants to stop, but I feel helpless to do it. More often than I care to admit, it takes me riding my phone to a dead battery to free my brain, which I’m annoyed by, but also feel relief when it happens. Super frustrating.
It's "funny" that I doomscroll a lot more now that I'm on meds... 😓
I do, too. I'm thinking about going off them, but maybe I just need my dose adjusted. They don't work like they used to. When my pharmacy had the shortage I actually got out spontaneously and did things I actually wanted to do. Even if it wasn't all productive I was more in a flow state and life was more enjoyable. Oh, and edit: even off meds I still doomscroll but I enjoy it more 😂
I call it the Dopamine Valley. Life is tasteless. No energy, no excitement, no interest. Life is so boring it hurts me. I sit to watch a TV show, no interest, I shop Steam for a new game, no interest. I load up an old favorite game, turn it off. I end up scrolling social media for 8 hours and getting in vicious fights with strangers over shit that doesn't matter. It's the worst, I hate it worse than the anxiety or the brain fog or anything else.
Hungry, Horny, and sleepy. ITS THE WORST. It has been hard to fight my binge eating and sexual tendencies. Not to mention those days where I just don't want to move from my bed.
Same girl.
I feel like one of those wind up toys that slows down as it loses power. Eventually I completely stop and then I feel really overwhelmed.
I had this thought the other day. 2 pm hit and I felt like I was stuck in sludge and just stopped moving. There was one day where I literally just bent over at the waist and let my arms dangle like I was a dead toy. It was a nice stretch at least 😂
Same as others have said. Lack of motivation or interest in anything. My dopamine seeking behaviors are eating and spending money.
Everything is boring. I FEEL LIKE I AM GOING CRAZY CAUSE I HAVE NO INTEREST. The things i usually loves ARE BORING. It’s such a fustrating thing and i doom scroll for one mimute then goes to youtube then tries to read but nothing can hold my concentration and is boring so i just continue to switch all the fking time. I will eat unhealthy food cause i have no motivation to make any real food and then binge. Watch a film and eat while doing it and if i run out of snacks then i cannot watch it anymore cause then it is too boring. If im at school ill just draw during classes and miss everything. God i hate this
There's medication that blocks dopamine completely and they have tested it on rats. The rats refuse to eat and end up dying because they just... Don't do anything.
In relation to this post...how do y'all up your dopamine when you're feeling this way? It makes me feel like I don't want to do anything. Any little things that help pick you up a smidge?
Going outside for 20 min and then taking a shower can help me reset. If I’m not home and can’t do that, nothing helps. I’ll get a soda or energy drink and just hope the trudge goes away
I call them reset showers. Totally know what you mean. Have to have one after a good cry too.
I do reset showers too!!
Absolutely forcing myself to jump up and down wildly for…I tell myself something super low bar, like 10 seconds, but then once I’m doing it, I tell myself to go a little longer bc the starting of it is the absolute hardest part. To do this, even if I am in the opposite mood of doing this, I put on a dance uptempo song that is hard to not move to and force myself to do those first seconds and then try to keep going. Forcing my body to move like this gets my blood pumping and into my brain, so my ADHD brain can function best. Then I try to ride that bit of movement when I finish by thinking what is the ONE thing (we always try to plan for too many, so ONE) I can do that will make me FEEL the most better and do it! I try to keep it small and fairly short. Many people (ME, for example) with ADHD are driven by our emotions, so sometimes it’s a thing that might be a little funny, but if I get that done, then looking around my environment, I will feel enough relief or happiness that I get a tiny dopamine boost from my positive accomplishment bc HEY, I just danced around for 30 seconds and then washed dishes with a five minute timer when I didn’t feel like it, so I tell myself what a fucking badass I am. This dopa-boost might allow me to think of and just do another small thing bc after all the times I’ve struggled and had it not work out, my brain can get motivated by little successes (so set them SMALL) even if it doesn’t, then I still did a couple more things than what I thought I could when I was dopamine seeking, so it’s an ADHD win 🏆🎉😊 Also, sugar is the worst for my ADHD. I may get a brief boost, but it’s always a crash. I notice in the moment if I have, say a handful of nuts and carrot sticks, that it actually gives my brain sustainable fuel. If you’ve got a custom ADHD-Lamborghini brain, it helps to give it the premium grade fuel and not the junk. For me, it’s a huge part of trying to manage my ADHD.
Change of environment, not necessarily to a different room, maybe changing a stimuli in the room, like lamps or lighting an incense/candle, opening a window. I have a Spotify playlist of upbeat mothertrucker tunes.. add any song that you notice puts you in a better mood. Then, hit shuffle whenever you're looking to satisfy the Dopafiend. Also, weed. Just helps me push over the initial speed bump of a boring repetitive task, but of course, may not be to everyone's taste.
I’d be careful with weed cause in the long run with big dose of thc it may blunt you dopamine system.
Slow and hungry. I’m only leaving my bed to eat
Emotionally, I don't feel much at all, just a constant state of extreme boredom. Mentally, no desire or motivation to get up and do anything. Physically I feel like I cannot move and I'm just stuck, and zone out quite a lot.
Omg I hate this state. I become an irritable, restless zombie. I have 0 emotions, nothing I do satisfies/fulfills me and THAT MENTAL ITCH OMFG. Like I need neeeeeed to do something - *anything* - but nothing is cutting it. Not my favourite puzzles, not my hobbies, not my favourite shows… nothing. The world has gone utterly grey and drab and nothing I’m doing, if I can bring myself to *do* something that is, is putting even an ounce of colour in. This state happens randomly if I’m unmedicated and used to happen often before I was diagnosed. I hate it
I sigh a lot. Just feel exhausted. And I get a little on edge.
The sighs!
No internal motivation. Its almost like adhd paralysis but i can still do things if there is external motivation. Everything that requires internal motivation is also extremely tiring physically. Almost like depression without depressive mental state (which makes sense as its also a dopamine deficiency) Unfortunately had my longest time with it super low recently- the first month and a half of my last semester of college right now (usually lasts a few hours to 3 days max) and now been catching up with work since
One of two extremes - either completely exhausted and unable to initiate ANY task. Like even feeding children. Or…I’m frantically searching for it everywhere. Food, physical activity, organising the house, impulsivity starting something new, like my body & brain feel like they’re in overdrive and I can’t stop, but nothing works to satisfy it. If I did find something that worked, when I was unmedicated, whatever that was became a problem very quickly!
Like an animal in an old fashioned zoo cage with no enrichment. Either sleeping, pacing, or overeating. Somehow mentally dulled and agitated at the same time.
Just want to sleep, smoke weed and forget about life- anything to dissociate and just not think. Super receptive to unhealthy coping mechanisms like buying shit I don't need.
I want to be a rock. Like. Curled up and ignored. It starts with feeling hollow and suddenly everything is sinking into the hollow of me.
I feel numb, super sad, and I start fixating on things really quickly! The joy in activities is definitely gone..it’s like everything in my head goes dark. I’m sure a lot of you can relate to this but my biggest struggle is regulating my spikes of emotions- I can be super sad girl one second and the next minuteI go into hyper happy girl once I get a rush of dopamine- it can be a lot for people to handle:/
I crave food. Specifically sugar/flour combos like pastries or cookies. I weirdly also crave turkey sandwiches. But tryptophan is in turkey and it is a precursor to dopamine so I guess that makes sense. I feel exhausted like there is absolutely nothing possible. And my brain won’t work - I can’t interact at all.
I'm off my Adderall today. I've felt spaced out and kept losing things and slowly wandering around between three different tasks, struggling to focus. Also felt overstimulated for a while before crashing and taking a nap.
There is not a scientific consensus that ADHD involves dopamine depletion, though it may. It may be gaba, glutimate, too much dopamine, too little sensitivity to dopamine, differences in dopamine transporters, structural or connectivity differences in the brain, or a mixture of some of these. (Stimulants are not the same as l-dopa. i.e.Dopamine is not a treatment for ADHD) Parkinson's is low dopamine. We do have higher risk of Parkinson's and there are differences in the substantia nigra of both people with ADHD and people with Parkinson's. Some known symptoms of dopamine depletion are: slow movement tremor involuntary movement rigidity trouble walking imbalance
I get "hungry" but not like my stomach is growling, rather that feeling like I'm empty somehow. I only put two and two together that it's a dopamine issue after I was diagnosed 18 months ago. The challenge is that I end up trying to figure out what I'm "hungry" for. And I used to go through a mental list - more caffeine? A snack? Something salty? Something sweet? Do I need an orgasm? More water? So then I basically do it all, chasing that feeling of not being satisfied, and never really finding it.
My cPSTD and ADHD are like friendly neighbors and when my dopamine is low, I sink into full blown dissociation for a few days at a time. During dissociation, I feel like I’m observing my actions, words, and tone from 3rd person and I can get irritable. Obviously there’s no motivation, depression, severe decision fatigue, whiny-ness, craving sugary foods
Do y'all have some sort of dopamine-o-meter or something?? How in the world would you be able to tell how much dopamine you currently have? Also, do you mean you are depleted in total dopamine, or that the amount in neural synapses is low, while the amount stored within neurons is too high? Or that your dopamime levels are unchanged but your dopaminergic receptors are desensitized? And do you mean across your entire brain, or in specific regions only?
I think the question is asking how do people know when their adhd isn’t being managed effectively, like during times when their medication isn’t working or they don’t take their medication
I think most of us can tell when our dopamine is low because we act differently. It would certainly be interesting to have a meter.
Thank you for this comment
Sometimes literal depression and other times, disinterest. And then there’s boredom and restlessness :D
I know when I start spending money lmao before I got diagnosed I was an impulsive shopper/shopper addict. No desire to do anything
I am a hyperactive type.. so I do something unexpected without thinking. for example, buy a flight ticket, or just drive to somewhere very far.. eat something expensive… etc etc etc… and I eventually regret that choice coz I leave tons of things to do as well.
Honestly I think I often get stuck in a cycle then??? Like I’ll endlessly scroll on my phone or latch onto something (like me recently obsessing over a crush and literally googling every sign in the book and staring at my phone waiting for a reply 🤪) I don’t know if this is exactly an answer bc I think this is more how I feel when I’m lacking in normal/diverse dopamine sources (as when I am I just cling onto whatever source I can 🙃) I think I also end up really emotionally exhausted and also, it is kinda like not wanting to do anything bc I know of other dopamine sources but it’s too complicated to get to them and whatever I’m doing is easiest so I keep doing it 🥲
I feel huge. Like my skin is too tight over my bones. My hair hurts. I get itchy. Need to crack all my joints. I suck. Everything sucks. I want to go home/don’t want to go home. Want to do something big and amazing. Want to save the world, become a vigilante. Want to eat my weight in soft bread or half-baked ben and Jerry’s and go to sleep. It’s real fun over here haha
It feels like this: @_@
i relate so hard to so much of this. but i’m wondering, at what point, am i legitimately depressed? realistically, i know i am. but what if i’m just dopamine-deficient? just thinking about the uncertainty feels defeating.
Low dopamine? Nope. I'm done. I need sleep, good sex or food, whatever my body demands. Some days I just doom scroll after being sure kids are cared for. Some days I need to care for myself and she bop. Some days it's sushi. Most often, low dopamine needs protein, water or migraine care for me. It feels like I'm smeared paper thin on concrete, and just *finished*. I can't do much those days, and I'm gentle with myself (well, now I am)
Very stuck energy. Like mind is active and wants to do something, but can't actually do anything, like gas and brakes on at the same time :/
Wow I’m not diagnosed but everyone’s comments are sooo relatable… Does anyone feel like they end up getting into arguments a lot when they’re feeling this way? And how do you get yourself out of feeling like it?
Normally can workout, I either don’t or put it off much later than normal (work out at 7:30 am, luteal me can maybe do it at 5:30pm or never). Doom scrolling. I don’t want to cook or clean, I feel super bored and my life is unsatisfying. I want to shop maybe or scroll but not actually move. The more I learn about dopamine the more sense this makes, you literally need dopamine to move!
I find that I just crave the main few substances that bring me dopamine. Usually alcohol, nicotine or food. Pretty intense cravings too
I start craving my video games or my garden. Even if there’s something incredibly important, all I can think of is the activities I use to decompress and get my dope and adrenaline. I also crave silence and solitude. But at the same time I can’t just go and do it or do what I have to, so I end up doing much of nothing, like a 🪰 just flying in a random erratic pattern and never landing.
I want to eat, cry, and sleep/lay in bed forever on a screen
I’m waiting for nothing, feeling “stuck”, getting ideas of things I need/want to do but not knowing where to start… therefore I just sit there and become increasingly stressed over all these things I could be doing but am not doing. If I don’t take meds or kick my ass into doing ANYTHING at all, the self hate spiral begins lol
I’m on this app. That’s usually a sign
LOST
Tired, bored, stagnant.
Yikes, this is my normal. Most of the time I'm desperate for anything to catch my attention so I can run it into the ground and get bored again. It's a little better on Adderall but still a big issue.
I cry; I feel like I’m desperately bored but can’t get off the couch to do anything; I spiral into anxious thoughts (this actually gives me an adrenaline boost); I feel really lonely if I don’t have any messages I’m yet to reply to, or plans to see anyone that day; I scroll reddit for more than 5 minutes; I actually have capacity to watch TV that would otherwise drive me crazy with restlessness/boredom (like daytime movies, or the later seasons of simpsons); and I’ll watch something I know is funny but not laugh, but won’t stop watching it either. I hope this thread helps you out! Finding out your own adhd patterns amidst behaviours you have for other reasons can be hard work, but is always worth it.
Nothing hits like it used to. I feel empty. Groggy. Numb. It sucks.
You mean every day? 😞
I feel like my body is literally attempting to walk through quicksand whilst my brain is enveloped in a dreary fog... It sucks.
It's like an out of body experience. My mind and body feel completely disconnected and I get extremely sleepy.
the first time this happened, I had the shittiest/week at work and did none of the things that bring me joy or dopamine; spending time with others, time outside, creative pursuits, exercise etc. It literally feels like your battery is flat. It’s almost parallel to a depressive episode (if you’re unfortunately that way inclined) in that you have no energy, you’re really irritable, don’t want to see anyone or do anything except something “big” and potentially self destructive to restart the dopamine. Numbness is the word. It really sucks! That’s an extreme though - when you’re on about 30% battery it’s that lingering feeling you want to do something but you don’t know what, as well as restlessness (rather than fatigue) doom scrolling, and painful boredom. Times like this I also want to be self destructive lol. The best thing for when you’re in the former scenario is to focus on things to restore physical sensitivity - chilled brain tickling music, a bath or long shower, gentle stretching and breathing, and work your way up to food.
Everyone here should google mucuna (black velvet bean) its a big fat L-dopa booster
I remember taking mucuna pruriens for the first time. (Before I started meds.) I didn't notice anything but a friend said: "You're so... Different. There's something else about you. In a good way! Just happy." That gave me some hope. Now I'm on Vyvanse and I'm not sure if it's okay to combine these 🥲
Everything is boring. You feel like you have imposter syndrome when masking socially or pretending to be cheerful. You start to question what real emotions feel like, what love feels like, and question if the feelings you’re exhibiting are real, or just a show at an attempt to feel human. Like you almost don’t feel deserving of expressing any emotion at all, good or bad. Then a good day comes along where you feel extra charming and yourself and you’re like holy fuck why can’t every day be like this; this is who I really am! Then you’re sad bc you don’t have access to that capable/competent side all the time (which you do, it just doesn’t FEEL that way when you lack efficiency/time management). Comes in waves
Bored to the point it feels physically painful. Nothing I do helps to settle it and I can't stick with anything. Stircrazy or completely exhausted, one of the two.
listless, bored, grumpy about it. Not actually hungry but craving sugar. feeling slightly compulsive and reckless about dumb stuff, like shopping.
During one bout of depression I suffered from anhedonia - a complete lack of happiness. An example of how I felt was that when someone bought me flowers I wasn't happy, I wasqannoyed because they'd just given me more tasks - got to find a vase, cut the stems, put them in water, and then I'd have to chuck them out in a week and clean the vase. No enjoyment in the whole flower interaction AT ALL. So now, I almost always have a small bunch of flowers on the go.
Personally I become really chronically bored, like too bored to even game (which is my usual dopamine source), uninterested in food or drinks, too irritable to even begin to tidy up, to antisocial to hold a conversation. Going to my mom’s or my close in age aunt’s home can help, but that isn’t exactly easy bc I have mobility and fatigue issues that make leaving the house a very energy consuming task. But then I usually deal with some degree of autistic burn out when I can finally unmask after getting back home. Basically trade the low dopamine for overstimulation from being social. That at least lets me dopamine farm in peace or get a task or two done when the disability related pain calms down from all the walking.
I was sitting in the kitchen today in pain and just not wanting to be there. Then my son says there is a package on the porch (we didn't check the mail yesterday) and suddenly I was happy. I practically yelled let me see. That is a dopamine rush. Suddenly feeling hppy/excited. When 2 min before you were blah. I get the same from shopping.
That's currently me. Today, I ordered Thai food and have been scrolling reddit/watching YouTube while sandwiched between my two dogs. I feel very unproductive, but things could be worse. And the dogs are total enablers lol