Can you become tolerant to your own neurotransmitters?

[gib65]

Can one become tolerant to one's own neurotransmitters? I know this can happen with a drug like dexedrine. Dexedrine increases the supply of dopamine in the synaptic gap, and based on my own experience, one can develop a dopamine tolerance at these sites. But what if you were in an environment in which you were being constantly stimulated by things which resulted in dopamine releases in the brain. For example, what if you were a video game addict. I'm told that the joy of playing video games comes from all the little dopamine releases that the game provides. Would you develop a dopamine tolerance even then? 

[iNow]

Isn’t this just desensitization? 

Also, CNS fatigue?

[gib65]

Desensitization refers to neurons getting tired of firing. It happens over the course of minutes. They just need to rest for a few minutes and they are ready to fire again.

Tolerance, on the other hand, is the process by which neurons attempt to adjust to over- or under-stimulation by increasing or decreasing the number of receptors being stimulated. This happens over the course of several days or weeks, and takes about a week to recover from.

Here's a link: https://www.pharmacologyeducation.org/pharmacology/desensitisation-and-tachyphylaxis

[Auriel]

Can this not occur with such mental illnesses such as depression, where medications are not effective, surely that is why that occurs. Where your body doesn't have enough and this does not increase enough with medications.

[Simmer]

This can be done with laxatives and a sauna. Once the crud is out, you will gain coordination in affected areas. You might not need to eat again, but for all intents and purposes don’t get eaten alive by crud.

[swansont]

11 hours ago, Simmer said:

This can be done with laxatives and a sauna. Once the crud is out, you will gain coordination in affected areas. You might not need to eat again, but for all intents and purposes don’t get eaten alive by crud.

!

Moderator Note

We'd prefer if responses were well above the "Goop line" of credibility and rigor.

 

[CharonY]

On 5/18/2020 at 11:23 PM, gib65 said:

Desensitization refers to neurons getting tired of firing. It happens over the course of minutes. They just need to rest for a few minutes and they are ready to fire again.

Tolerance, on the other hand, is the process by which neurons attempt to adjust to over- or under-stimulation by increasing or decreasing the number of receptors being stimulated. This happens over the course of several days or weeks, and takes about a week to recover from.

Here's a link: https://www.pharmacologyeducation.org/pharmacology/desensitisation-and-tachyphylaxis

Dopamine receptor levels can decline during exposure to prolonged stress, IIRC, which has been found to be associated with changes in cognitive function and motivation. 

However, while dopamine is involved in the pleasure pathways, it acts more as a motivator by seemingly linking pleasurable feelings (such as elicited by endorphins) with the motivation to feel them again (I imagine it as a pathway reinforcer, but am not sure how accurate that would be).