Serotonin is the hormone what makes us happy, so why aren’t we just injecting it into our body/taking it as tablets to get out of misery on command?
In: Biology
Hormones like serotonin are like ingredients in a recipe. You need them to be in the right balance for a dish to work.
Imagine serotonin as sugar, if used sparingly, you would enjoy it as a glaze or sauce in your entrees and finish your meal with a sweeter dessert. If you dumped a container of sugar on every dish of your meal, none of it would be enjoyable.
People’s bodies, like their tastes, differ as well. Some people like their dishes sweeter while others do not. Therefore a set sweetness for one person would not be enjoyable for others. This is why it is difficult to find the right medicine to treat neurological diseases like depression because every person is different.
The body also has limited tools to communicate with other organs. Serotonin affects mood in the brain but also appetite and digestion in your digestive system. Some of the side effects from drugs increasing or decreasing one hormone is due to the body reusing the hormone for many functions.
Lastly, the body is naturally ~~lazy~~ efficient. If it’s getting a hormone from an injection or pill, it is less likely to make it. Therefore, when a person stops taking the injections or pills the body goes into withdrawal because it stopped making that hormone, causing other symptoms. This can cause a dependence on the substance, otherwise known as an addiction.
If you do something to get your brain to have more serotonin, it says “Oh shit, too much. Better back off on that.” So you make *less* natural serotonin. You then can develop serotonin syndrome, which is not a good thing at all.
Your brain is surrounded by a barrier that is very selective about what can pass through it. Serotonin is manufactured by your body inside this barrier. Injecting or ingesting sarotonin won’t do anything because it cannot cross that barrier.
However, the chemicals from which serotonin is manufactured (such as tryptophan) *can* pass through that barrier and, indeed, you can purchase purified tryptophan for this purpose. But, as with most things, it has side effects.
What goes up must come down. It is not healthy or physically sustainable to keep high levels of anything. You would need a constant supply that over comes any tolerance. You are on to a lost battle from the outset. Then if you stop consuming something like serotonin, you would feel a huge loss and probably end up totally depressed and end up chasing the happiness you once felt
Too much serotonin is a very, very bad thing. Serotonin syndrome has a ton of very nasty symptoms, and allowing people to take the stuff whenever they feel a little down would end in massive tragedy.
[removed]
Latest Answers