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Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

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Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#71
post #12

A note for people not familiar with the terminology - "functional connectivity" is a specific technical term that really just means temporal correlation between brain areas, as opposed to "structural connectivity" which refers to the actual neural pathways that are formed between brain areas. If you rephrase the headline as "Serotonin booster leads to increased correlation between activity in different brain areas" i…

The main reason it's not too exciting to me is much simpler. They tested it for 6 days. You can do all sorts of wonderful stuff with a drug for a few days. But for most drugs, the effects simply cease if you keep taking it due to tolerance. And there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of leeway to up the dose either because it's a laxative.

I'm not quite sure if laxative is the correct description of this drug, even though it's official one. It is used for treatment of constipation in cases where laxatives don't help. I'm not sure if it has any similar effects in non-constipated people as other laxatives have.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, actually all the improvements mentioned in the article reminiscence me of positive effects of psychedelics. They happen to act on serotonin receptors, too.

Do you mind if I ask you - how have you had an account here since 7/5/12 and you only have 1 karma point? I'm flattered that you're responding to my post.

That sounds like a challenge

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#73
I’ll probably be downvoted for pointing this out but I feel like it’s important. 90% of the comments at the time of my posting this are great examples of the logical fallacy a lot of intelligent people fall into where they think their intelligence in one area means they’re qualified to make assessments or reach conclusions in fields outside of their own. This would be the same error in judgment that’s turned the nootropic and longevity industries into billion dollar ones.

If you are reading these comments please try and be aware of this fact and the possibility that anyone, yourself included, could fall into this trap and remember to take all of the amazing possibilities being suggested and conclusions reached herein with a grain of salt.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#74
post #12

A note for people not familiar with the terminology - "functional connectivity" is a specific technical term that really just means temporal correlation between brain areas, as opposed to "structural connectivity" which refers to the actual neural pathways that are formed between brain areas. If you rephrase the headline as "Serotonin booster leads to increased correlation between activity in different brain areas" i…

[deleted]

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This warning can never be overstated for 5-HTP. Higher doses/longer term use can have a lot of negative effects in the heart, as well as in the serotonin and dopamine system (even up to serotonin syndrome in the most extreme cases). A major problem is that the body does not have mechanisms to regulate conversion of 5-HTP to serotonin (5-HT), which is not a really good property of a supplement. One should do their sea…

I took 5-HTP longterm (two years) and started experiencing panic attacks, among other symptoms. I had to stop. I had supposed this to be a natural supplement without side effects, but I was wrong. I suppose each person is quite unique, so your mileage will vary.

Two years it's kinda long to take anything really. You can mess yourself up even if you just drink specific herbal tea for that long if you are unlucky.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#76
post #12

A note for people not familiar with the terminology - "functional connectivity" is a specific technical term that really just means temporal correlation between brain areas, as opposed to "structural connectivity" which refers to the actual neural pathways that are formed between brain areas. If you rephrase the headline as "Serotonin booster leads to increased correlation between activity in different brain areas" i…

Does functional lead to structural?

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#77

Too bad it's also a laxative.

I'm not quite sure if laxative is the correct description of this drug, even though it's official one. It is used for treatment of constipation in cases where laxatives don't help. I'm not sure if it has any similar effects in non-constipated people as other laxatives have.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#79
post #54
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100-150 years ago we were using heroin, cocaine, and morphine for such things as cough syrups, hay fever, cola. Ancient Romans used cannabis and opium for insomnia and earaches. Wild animals get drunk on rotten fruit, cats stone themselves on catnip. So you're not wrong to wonder why people take stuff, but none of that's new .

Just because it's one of my favourites, we even have evidence of it in rock art: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/psychedelic-mushroom-a...

Well, that's a bad start for TFA:

> Editor’s note: This article has been retracted as it does not meet Atlas Obscura’s editorial standards. Our investigation revealed the author fabricated interviews with at least one source; Brian Akers confirmed via email that he was initially contacted but never interviewed by the writer, and that quotes and other material attributed to them by the writer have been fabricated. Giorgio Samorini did not reply to multiple email requests for comment. Jitka Soukopova confirmed via email that she had been interviewed by the writer and material attributed to her was accurate. Additional details provided by the writer could not be verified.

Furthermore, I find it amazing that they are talking about rock art, but do not provide any photo...

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#80
post #54
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100-150 years ago we were using heroin, cocaine, and morphine for such things as cough syrups, hay fever, cola. Ancient Romans used cannabis and opium for insomnia and earaches. Wild animals get drunk on rotten fruit, cats stone themselves on catnip. So you're not wrong to wonder why people take stuff, but none of that's new .

Just because it's one of my favourites, we even have evidence of it in rock art: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/psychedelic-mushroom-a...

How can someone write an article about cave paintings without including a photo of them, that's a bizarre choice.

I think these are the carvings referenced:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/37-Tassili-prehistorical...

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