– Nicotine is a tropane alkaloid, it has the ability to release dopamine in the reward pathways of the brain, why does it not produce consistent euphoria like cocaine; alkaloid or speed: amphetamine?

Question

EDIT – Something I forgot to mention which may add context is that after a period of abstinence I feel a sharp euphoric wave of dopamine which goes away within less than a few minutes and results in dysphoria, even with redosing.

Unlike cocaine, which I’m comparing since both are alkaloids, it seems to build a very unusually fast tolerance and any positive effects dissipate, unlike the latter.

In: 3379

Answer 1

Dopamine is more about wanting than liking. It is more about seeking than it is pleasure.

Really none of these compounds you mention produce much of a sense of pleasure. We typically think of dopamine as a pleasure neurotransmitter…it isn’t. If you want pleasure, look more at the opioid system.

In the pathway that drugs of abuse, sex, drugs, gambling, etc work on, dopamine is a *seeking* neurotransmitter. It is about motivating the brain to seek out something. Ideally this is supposed to be things like food and water and sex, but many drugs of abuse hijack this pathway. Some of these drugs may have other pleasurable effects (ie alcohol and opioids both engage with mu opioid receptors which feel pleasurable) which may drive the start of an addiction…but addictions are essentially mediated by dopamine in the seeking system.

Indeed, nicotine is not pleasurable so much as staving off nicotine withdrawal is a relief and thus feels good to someone with a nicotine dependency, who likewise has had their seeking system hijacked to seek nicotine as if its a biological need like food or drink. Psychostimulants might make a user energized and this might result in a heightened mood and an illusion of euphoria (not so much pleasure), but what keeps people coming back is rewiring of the seeking system which will drive people to continue to use.

Most of the time in life what we like and what we want more or less line up and most people don’t conceive the difference between pleasure and seeking. Thus people with addiction to things that aren’t very pleasurable might be confused and think that because they *want* the thing, be it nicotine, or compulsive gambling, or repeated relationships with abusers…they believe they must also *like* that thing. But this is a mere illusion.

The reality is liking and wanting are mediated by entirely different circuits in the brain and we can end up intesely wanting things that we may not exactly like or find pleasurable. This is not an easy thing at all to wrap one’s head around.

Source: Am psychiatrist who got over a gnarly vaping habit.