# How to get a brain/dopamine/seratonin check?



## braingroundwork76 (Sep 25, 2017)

K


----------



## TDX (Jul 12, 2014)

> The only thing that a Kaiser Permanente psychiatrist can do is prescribe medication, which I am not fond of due to the side effects and the fact that it treats the symptoms but not the root cause of the problem.


In very many illnesses you cannot completely fix the underlying problem and often the cause isn't even known at all. A reduction of symptoms is the only thing many people can hope for. I do not really see a reason to deny symptomatic treatment in favor of something that may never come in your lifetime. Indeed, side-effects are a problem, but at the end it's a trade-off between relief from your symptoms and the side-effects.



> How do I get my brain checked? How do I check if my seratonin, dopamine, and other receptors are not wrecked at this point?


You can't.


----------



## braingroundwork76 (Sep 25, 2017)

TDX said:


> In very many illnesses you cannot completely fix the underlying problem and often the cause isn't even known at all. A reduction of symptoms is the only thing many people can hope for. I do not really see a reason to deny symptomatic treatment in favor of something that may never come in your lifetime. Indeed, side-effects are a problem, but at the end it's a trade-off between relief from your symptoms and the side-effects.
> 
> You can't.


My psychiatrist said that certain people can do that but it is expensive.


----------



## braingroundwork76 (Sep 25, 2017)

time2wakeup said:


> It's more complicated than just testing neurotransmitter levels. :/ Even if, say, your serotonin was low, you would then need to figure out WHY it's low. And keep in mind that your gut is like a second brain - most of our serotonin is produced in the gut - so if you have any gut issues from leaky gut/candida/poor diet/etc then that will cause "neurotransmitter problems"...also consider the relationships between hormones and neurotransmitters...(like I think testosterone and dopamine have a direct relationship)... I think it makes more sense to get hormone levels (cortisol (saliva test), testosterone, etc) and mineral levels (magnesium, zinc, copper, etc) checked...


Interesting... thanks for the info!


----------

