Reddit reviews Better Living Through Neurochemistry - A guide to the optimization of serotonin, dopamine and the neurotransmitters that color your world

> Go get treated. It really does improve things.

Oh yes, I will. It so hard to find a cbt therapist who's both available and knows adhd, in Warsaw, though :( Do you know of any online options by any chance?

> I haven't missed yet. I even began narrowing down the exact reason (having some background in molecular biology). One of my friends is allergic to thyramine, so it must be an overproduction of that, another friend is getting super-headaches soon after any amount of coffee and nicotine and alcohol wears off, so I guess something with super-fast dopamine removal

Depends on your background. Do you know anything about microbiology? I learned that 3 years ago, and if you didn't, I can tell you how to get up to date fast. If you have that, there is this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Better-Living-Through-Neurochemistry-neurotransmitters-ebook/dp/B00P4SCCXQ

The author has adhd and talks about various neurotransmitters and how the effect they have. You probably know all this by now, but perhaps you'll learn sth new.

Then, I used Wikipedia to read up about the pathway of dopamine in brain - how it gets created, and destroyed.

Then, I assume the headaches in our cases are due to extremely low dopamine levels (lower than usual, even for us). I don't think there is research to confirm that, but it would make sense - it would explain that there is the same kind of pain with hangover, coffee withdrawal, and nicotine withdrawal, and perhaps why there is no "lsd hangover pain" - lsd works on dopamine in a different way.

So, assuming pains my friends describe, it's easy to attach them to places in the pathway. Friend #1 has pains when she eats Thyramine. That would suggest there's something wrong with it, and perhaps she has normal levels of Dopamine in her body, but Thyramine stays at consistently crazy-high levels. (and extra Thyramine pushes it even higher overboard)

Friend #2 has a few-hour-long hangover even after one coffee, or cigarette. But after caffeine/nicotine leaves his body. That would suggest he somehow gets rid of dopamine ultra-rapidly, so the hole after any kind of stimulation is higher.

I'm #3 and quite regular so far. No headaches outside of norm. So I bet I just have low dopamine production for some reason.

Now, we can't trace dopamine levels in the body, but we can trace it's metabolites. Of course, when I googled it, some people with adhd indeed have lower metabolites, while others have it in normal levels. If my theories are correct, two of my friends should have regular dopamine levels (it's the Thyramine, and dopamine disposal system broken), and I should have lower levels.

We'll be getting tested for that. Good news is that in Poland lab tests are quite cheap :)

A big benefit of SSRIs is the assistance of a doctor to help you evaluate how well it is working.   Along similar lines, if you have the luxury of living or spending time with someone to whom you are close and who knows you well, ask them for their feedback on your behavior and affect if you start a new routine (be it antidepressent or supplement/nootropic-based).   A while ago I had the experience where nootropics helped me avoid burnout, so I worked twice as hard, ignored some friends, and got more burnout later.  If you'd have asked me how well the new routine was going, I would have been extremely enthusiastic.   My partner's take on this really helped me realize that this was not entirely the case, and that I needed to continue adjusting.

Only you would be able to grade the severity of your feelings.  If it's a more mild satisfaction, the body of evidence seems to indicate that SSRIs won't be an effective solution.  They have notably little (or negative) impact on those without clinical depression, which is where a lot of support for depression as a chemical imbalance holds up quite well.  Assuming you're at sub-clinical levels,  I'd look into specifically what you feels is lacking and try a supplement for that.  Ex:  Is social inhibition or anxiety an issue?  Is a lack of feeling of 'realization' an issue?  Certain nootropics can help a lot with these side effects, and this is a good resource for finding them in my experience.

Again, if it was a mild depression, and I didn't feel I needed a doctor, the first thing I'd try is Rhodiola.  It benefits a variety of systems, most notably both serotonin, cortisol, and dopamine, so there's a greater likelihood it will hit on your chemical 'issue', assuming there is one.  It's also an adaptogen, so it should help in either 'direction' of balance needed.   Some people have too much serotonin, and these are likely the ones who benefit from substances like Tianeptine, which is actually a reuptake enhancer for serotonin (the exact opposite MoA of SSRIs).  I am not a doctor or medical professional, this is just my opinion as a nerd who has read a lot on these topics.

A good short read that covers the different neurotransmitters and signs of their lack is this book.  It might be worth a read if you go the supplement route and want to make sure you're making good choices imo:
 https://www.amazon.com/Better-Living-Through-Neurochemistry-neurotransmitters-ebook/dp/B00P4SCCXQ?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc 

If you're interested in the topic of depression and the history of its treatment more generally, I'd suggest the book The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon.

Best of luck to you and feel better!  Also, I'm really encouraged by the number of good responses you've gotten here. (People on the internet aren't all jerks after all!)