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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

#171

Post by kderbyma »

acumenical wrote: post #58

I wish we stopped treating serotonin as a button that automatically improves mood. It is bullshit. Let's recognize the complexity of neural signaling. Whenever people call serotonin the happiness hormone I want to throw up. Such people would probably never believe that if you inject serotonin, the result is extreme pain at the injection site.

Agreed. Trying to fix depression with drugs is a bad move for most people. They usually cause long term problems with continuous use and lead to psychosis and suicidal ideation in a large!!! number of patients.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#172

Post by DrThunder »

dumpsterdiver wrote: post #95
pr0zac wrote: post #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 noot…

Are they really that intelligent if they truly believe that their expertise can be applied to any field? Imo, understanding your own limitations is a form of intelligence that is very important.

Humans aren't ants. They can in fact apply their intelligence to alternative "fields". This idea that you can only use your knowledge in one specialized are is idiotic. I would say your intelligence is incredibly low if you think this.

If we were unable to do this as a species we would have been wiped out long ago. Specialization is a modern mindset.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#173

Post by PragmaticPulp »

Roark66 wrote: post #156
pr0zac wrote: post #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 noot…

I wish I could upvote your comment twice. Based on my observation how a childhood friend of mine was treated for a psychiatric condition I think all of the "science" of using drugs to treat mental issues is at the level of advancement comparable to medieval blacksmiths doing dentistry. It essentially comes down to "hey, try this, are you better or worse, worse? Try something else. Better, have more of it". All the th…

> I think all of the "science" of using drugs to treat mental issues is at the level of advancement comparable to medieval blacksmiths doing dentistry.

Discounting an entire field of science like this, based on a second-hand observations, is exactly the kind of hubris the parent comment was talking about: There’s something about psychiatry and neuroscience that makes a lot of people who are good at engineering/software think that they are qualified to also be experts on the field of psychiatry.

You’re right that psychiatry and medication is a lot of trial and error, but that’s the most efficient and accurate way to determine which medications work with a patient. In a hypothetical perfect world we’d have more tools to predict ahead of time and this is an active field of study. However, nothing comes close to the speed and efficiency of just trying medications based on what has worked for many other patients with similar conditions.

Note they practitioners aren’t just guessing and hoping for the best. They are using a large body of research, clinical experience, and shared knowledge of their peers.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#174

Post by throwaway2990 »

arkades wrote: post #152
Palomides wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN comments are absolute garbage on anything medical, endless uneducated "theories" and emotional anecdotes you don't need to share your personal backstory, everyone knows someone with mental health or cancer or alzheimer's, your idea that DNA is like compiled code makes me think you should go read a book, and your self-medication is probably not scientifically founded

Physician here, and I cannot emphasize this enough. To the point where I actively avoid most medical/healthcare threads - it’s oppressive to contribute.

Anything non tech related is a drain to read because people here fall for propaganda so easily, or just don’t have any ability to think about topics outside of tech.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#175

Post by freedomben »

bluecalm wrote: post #129
harha_ wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I keep seeing this behavior here in the comments section. There are some real experts here for sure, but I think assuming you understand anything about something as complex as this without extensive prior studies about the subject is just stupid. I'm tired of reasonably intelligent people extrapolating new information about any possible subject based on their very limited basic level knowledge combined with some…

On the other hand the opinions you get from medical professionals is garbage as well. Just try going to a few with the same problem and you will realize it. In my case I want to 5 doctors with my knee issue and got 5 different diagnosis/treatments. One wanted knee surgery. Another wanted hip (!?) surgery, one said it's about cartilage, another said it's muscle imbalance, another said it's my hip mobility (so surgery!…

Likewise. I spent 10 years and many tens of thousands of dollars (after insurance) seeing a dozen or more doctors and they mostly all reached different conclusions and mostly all were wrong. Modern medicine is great at treating wounds, but primitive at actually understanding how the body works and figuring out complex interactions. I'm no expert but I have spent thousands of hours researching looking for my own answers, and I think the human body and the many interactions between pieces is just too complex for individual humans to understand. I think with the help of machines/computers we'll get there, but we are definitely not there yet and a huge heap of humility would serve us well.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#176

Post by simiones »

svnt wrote: post #163
simiones wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serotonin doesn't cause you to be happy. Its effects are more basic in some ways, but also more complex in others. It is a chemical which serves a purpose in at least all forms of multi-cellular life, from plants to animals - so you can imagine how old and fundamental its role is. Also, depression is not caused by low serotonin levels: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0 > The main areas of serotonin r…

>> provide no consistent evidence of there being an association between serotonin and depression, and no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations I did not read your paper, but believe parent is making a different claim: it is not lowered serotonin levels or reduced activity, but an increase in receptors (perhaps a proxy for expected serotonin levels) that i…

The paper is specifically claiming there is just no association between serotonin activity and depression. By my understanding, that should include increased/decreased receptors, reuptake, breakdown etc.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#177

Post by meepmorp »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #46
2c2c2c wrote: post #30

anyone want to hypothesize what happens when this is combined with mdma

Serotonin syndrome. I believe that qualitative effects of the MDMA would also be significantly reduced.

It's a highly specific HT4 agonist, I'm not sure why you'd be more likely serotonin syndrome by combining it with MDMA vs MDMA alone - it doesn't affect release or transport, nor does it have have significant activity at other binding sites.

Am I missing something?

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#178

Post by PragmaticPulp »

pr0zac wrote: post #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 noot…

The health podcast industry is making this problem even worse. Many people consume content like Huberman’s podcast and assume he’s an expert because he speaks so confidently and at such lengths. Yet Huberman’s podcasts are well known to contain a lot of errors on very basic concepts and extreme exaggerations. He appears to well-versed in topics related to his domain of study, albeit with exaggerations of his findings to appease a podcast audience.

Once he steps outside of his domain and starts talking about dopamine this and dopamine that, his podcast will make neuroscientists roll their eyes. Yet he speaks so confidently that his audience is convinced they, too, are now experts on all things neuroscience.

Re: Serotonin booster leads to increased functional brain connectivity

#179

Post by PragmaticPulp »

DiscourseFan wrote: post #19

Something in our industrial processes must be screwing with people's serotonin levels because Psychedelics and other serotenergic drugs are becoming the defacto treatment method for a whole host of ailments. I personally suffer from IBS, migraines, sleeping problems, and mood swings, if I haven't taken a dose of psychedelics in the last 6 months. Now, getting regular exercise, eating well, staying hydrated, sleeping…

> Psychedelics and other serotenergic drugs are becoming the defacto treatment method for a whole host of ailments.

They are definitely not. Anecdotes aside, psychedelics are extremely overhyped right now and the downsides are heavily downplayed online. The studies about psychedelics and depression use heavy amounts of therapy and careful professional guidance, which the at-home experimenters don’t get.

Psychedelics can also produce intense negative reactions, such as persistent false beliefs or even a worsening of anxiety and depression that lasts for some time. Many people online rush to dismiss these negative anecdotes if their personal experience was different, but they’re much more common than enthusiastic internet commenters would suggest.

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