Eli5 If adhd is caused by a lack of dopamine produced in the brain, why can’t we use dopamine promoter medication like we do with Parkinson’s for treatment?
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ADHD isn’t about an all around lack of dopamine. It’s more about how your brain doesn’t make it at certain times and does make it at others, and since that chemical is one of your “feel good because you did a good job” chemicals timing it wrong does bad things. It makes people feel excited when they didn’t really do anything and get no reward when they *do*, which makes it really hard to get motivated to do the right things instead of the wrong things.
We’d need some kind of magic pump to detect when people do “the right thing” in any situation and delivers dopamine. That’s… well beyond our capability because even people without ADHD can’t always agree on “the right thing”.
We do. Stimulants like methylphenidate and amphetamines that are prescribed to ADHD patients work by increasing free dopamine levels in the brain.
In people with ADHD, this results in more normal or “healthy” levels of dopamine, which is why they’re also abusable by people without the disorder(and deemed illegal), as it increases the levels to.. I guess sorta unhealthy. But fairly fine for most people.
It makes everyone more productive and I guess if everyone had it it might cause an uproar that topples all governmental systems that are currently in place
Lots of the dopamine agonist based Parkinson’s treatments will cause worse heart issues than simple stimulants.
just giving a simpler version l of what others have said:
Parkinson’s is an overall lack of dopamine which serves many functions in the brain. ADD/ADHD is disordered/dysfunctional *delivery* of dopamine mostly in the “reward center” of the brain.
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