DOPAMINE is a chemical found naturally in the human body and it is a neurotransmitter, meaning it sends signals from the body to the brain.
Dopamine plays a part in controlling the movements a person makes, as well as their emotional responses. The right balance of dopamine is vital for both physical and mental wellbeing.
Vital brain functions that affect mood, sleep, memory, learning, concentration, and motor control are influenced by the levels of dopamine in a person’s body. A dopamine deficiency may be related to certain medical conditions, including depression and Parkinson’s disease.
A dopamine deficiency can be due to a drop in the amount of dopamine made by the body or a problem with the receptors in the brain.
The symptoms of a dopamine deficiency depend on the underlying cause. For example, a person with Parkinson’s disease will experience very different symptoms from someone with low dopamine levels due to drug use.
Some signs and symptoms of conditions related to a dopamine deficiency include: muscle cramps, spasms, or tremors, aches and pains, stiffness in the muscles, loss of balance, constipation, difficulty eating and swallowing, weight loss or weight gain, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), frequent pneumonia, trouble sleeping or disturbed sleep, low energy, an inability to focus moving or speaking more slowly than usual, feeling fatigued, feeling demotivated, feeling inexplicably sad or tearful, mood swings, feeling hopeless, having low self-esteem, feeling guilt-ridden, feeling anxious, suicidal thoughts or thoughts of self-harm, low sex drive, hallucinations, delusions, lack of insight or self-awareness.
Low dopamine is linked to numerous mental health disorders but does not directly cause these conditions.
The most common conditions linked to a dopamine deficiency include: depression, schizophrenia, psychosis, including hallucinations or delusions and Parkinson’s disease.
In Parkinson’s disease, there is a loss of the nerve cells in a specific part of the brain and loss of dopamine in the same area. It is also thought that drug abuse can affect dopamine levels. Studies have shown that repeated drug use could alter the thresholds required for dopamine cell activation and signalling.
Damage caused by drug abuse means these thresholds are higher and therefore it is more difficult for a person to experience the positive effects of dopamine.
