Don’t even know what isomers do in the body. I’m trying to find a stimulant that will work well with my brain, it tells me a lot about how my brain works when I can tolerate vyvanse over adderall. I’ve researched on every single stimulant available & they essentially all work on dopamine, seratonin & the other one lmao. I know some have just dextro & then dextro and levo, I get the chemistry of it but how the chemistry works in the brain is confusing me, I get that some tell dopamine to keep producing & some overflow dopamine, I just don’t get what isomers & the many other things it’s doing. I want to know every single detail of what they’re doing to my body and why. I want to find the most effective one for me & know how to keep myself healthy based on what it effects.
Note: I see a psychiatrist but she is not going to teach me chemistry so this is for my own awareness. It is also fascinating. Even if I were to take medical advice, a medical professional would have to approve it so I don’t get those comments.
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“Isomer” means that a chemical formula can assemble itself in multiple different ways. “Isomer” on its own is meaningless – it just means that “the dextro- isomer of Some Chemical is different from the laevo- isomer of that same chemical”.
You absolutely positively **cannot** find the most effective prescription psychotropic medication on your own. Speak to a medical professional. The doctor that gives you a prescription for a medication will also be able to answer all of your questions about it.
The chemistry is only part of the story. No one will be able to tell you which medication works best – even your doctor. The truth is there’s a lot of trial and error with these medications. Even genetic testing which looks at things like how your liver metabolizes drugs won’t give you a definitive answer. Your doc will be the best person who helps you keep track of what works for you and what doesn’t.
Two isomers of the same chemical have the same constituent make-up of atoms, but a different molecular shape. The dextro- and levo- distinction refers to the molecule’s chirality, meaning the shape has a twist to it. Something with a twisted shape can twist either to the left or to the right (right = dextro). If you had a box of bolts and half of them had threads that twisted the opposite way, it would be difficult to use them. Not impossible, but annoying.
In biochemistry, chirality is sometimes really important and sometimes not at all important. Interactions between proteins in the body are often dependent on chirality – a left handed bolt will not fit into a right handed nut, even though it looks just like a regular bolt at first glance. On the other hand, a crescent wrench can be fitted very easily onto the hex-head of any right or left-handed bolt, because it doesn’t interact with the threaded part at all. So the presence of isomers makes a difference if the chiral (twisted) part of the protein is part of its function.
All hormones and neurotransmitters are proteins. Some are chiral, some are not. Some chiral proteins depend on the chiral structure to perform their function, some don’t.
I’ll preface this by suggesting to go see a doctor for actual medical information.
Regarding the chemistry, isomers refer to different ways of ordering atoms in space. For example, you can take water, H2O. That’s the formula, but the actual water molecule is H-O-H. If H-H-O existed, it would be a structural isomer of water: the chemical bonds would be different.
In biochemistry, the most important isomers are called enantiomers. These are molecules that have the same structure, are image of one another in a mirror but cannot be superposed (that’s called chirality). For example, your hands are chiral. If you put them in prayer pose, you see that both your hands (normally) match: they are mirror images. But if you place them on top of one another, your thumbs stick out on the sides: you cannot superpose them.
Now, chiral molecules are really interesting because they basically have the same physical properties. Same boiling temperature, melting temperature, polarity, solubility…. However, most of your proteins, enzymes and biological processes are chiral sensitive: if you try to fit cogs together, the shape of the cogs you are using matters and can have different effects. A classic example is the case if thalidomide. This molecule exists as two mirror images: one is a very effective sedative, used to control morning sickness. The other causes deformation in foetuses. A less tragic example is linalool. One smells like lavender, the other like oranges.
TLDR: Isomers are ways to organize atoms in space. Your body’s functions basically use shape recognition to have an effect and can recognize very complex shapes. If the shape of the molecules is wrong, you can either have no effect, or a very different impact.
This is skirting really close to medical advice. You should talk to said psychiatrist about what to study. Khan Academy’s organic chemistry course would be a good primer. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/organic-chemistry
The short version is that isomers are different compounds that have the same formula but the atoms are connected in different ways. Biological molecules often have a lock and key kind of fit (it’s of course more nuanced than that.
Because carbon can make 4 bonds, if all 4 have different things attached to it then they can make two mirror images that can’t be superimposed. That is like your left hand and right hand. Even people studying organic get tripped up on that. YouTube search for stereochemistry so you can have it shown visually. I searched and two from this channel came up: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOrganicChemistryTutor
The simple picture they use in pharmacology textbooks is that of a key (chemical of a certain shape and electronic configuration) in a lock (receptor on a synaptic cleft or cell membrane of a neuron)
>I get the chemistry of it but how the chemistry works in the brain is confusing me,
So the chemistry/physical shape of right handed or left handed (3D chemical orientation) around a carbon atom with 4 single bonds happens at every carbon atom with 4 single bonds.
In the case of Adderall
>The mixture is composed of equal parts racemic amphetamine and **dextroamphetamine**, which produces a (3:1) ratio between dextroamphetamine and **levoamphetamine**, the two enantiomers of amphetamine. Both enantiomers are stimulants, but differ enough to give Adderall an effects profile distinct from those of racemic amphetamine or dextroamphetamine
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