What is Dopamine?

@kchd: It's common for heart patients to be on dopamine, dobutamine, levophed, epinephrine, and neosynephrine in the hospital if they have poor heart function or pre-existing heart failure from previous heart attacks.

The fact that your husband had a heart attack while on dopamine is probably only coincidence (provided the dosage was appropriate). Don't be hard on yourself with regret. Although I do think it would be odd that the doctors wouldn't talk to you about it. Usually they are very open to questions from family members.

Is there anyone who agrees that the slang term dope came from dopamine? I think it did. There are so many people using street drugs not to get high but for simple dopamine due to having low levels of the dopamine. I know that's what happened to me. Using it for medication so I can be productive vs lying around with no up and go developing congestive heart failure and or heart failure. Anyone else agree with me? --AP

My dopamine level so low I am unable to stand up at times with an extreme fluctuating blood pressure. I won't live much longer without help. What legal prescription medications will raise my dopamine level? Also, what part of your body is not producing enough? Is this related to a gland issue?

I am not getting enough dopamine to get a strong p wave or a stable qrs. The heart hospital cardiologist group in Oklahoma City does not handle this type of health issue so I have not had much help. Hope you can help. I can relay this information to the OKC cardiology group just in case they have patients like me that may die without help. --ACP

Sounds like you need to be talking to an attorney. That's malpractice. It's no wonder they don't want to talk about it.

My husband went to the hospital because he felt like he was holding too much water. He was a heart patient. The doctor started giving him dopamine intravenously and my husband had another heart attack before he had finished giving it to him and he died.

I tried to get the doctors to talk about it and they just refused to discuss it. I've wished so many times we had not gone to the hospital. --Kchd

@ Fiorite- Direct acting drugs usually create an “up” high while indirect acting drugs create a depressing or “down” high. This is due to the way they react with neurons in the brain.

The difference between the high in heroin and cocaine is partly due to how they affect dopamine production. Heroin and direct acting drugs send flood receptors with dopamine but do not stimulate neurons into sending more neurotransmitters. This means that your euphoria is increased, but neuron activity is not; causing the signature depressed state of being.

Conversely, stimulants like cocaine or methamphetamine attack neurons, frenzying them and causing an increase in the flow of dopamine neurotransmitters. Like downers, stimulants cause a flood of neurotransmitters, but they also stimulate dopamine transmitters; giving the addict that feeling of alertness.

Drugs affect dopamine receptors both directly and indirectly.

In direct acting drugs like heroin, Oxycontin, and other opiates, the drugs chemical structure mimics dopamine neurotransmitters, attaching directly to the dopamine receptors of a neuron. These drugs create the feeling of euphoria by flooding receptors with natural and synthetic dopamine.

Indirect acting drugs like cocaine and amphetamines create a high by attaching to neurotransmitters and causing them to send more dopamine to the receptors than normal. This rush of dopamine is what creates the sensation of excitement and the upper high.

One way that dopamine is used medically is in the treatment of hypovolemic shock. This happens when a person’s blood volume is very low. Dopamine, given IV, will cause the heart to beat harder and raise the patient’s blood pressure. This protects vital organs such as the brain from tissue damage by allowing those organs to receive oxygen from the blood.