Lets chat SNP’s! Your genetics may be the cause of your low dopamine, which if you know this means you’re one step closer to getting back on track. Haven’t had a proper genetic panel yet? CLICK HERE and let us help you out with that!

If you are someone who has been paying attention, you may find some of this info to be somewhat familiar, or at least the SNP’s I will be mentioning.

Let’s start with the COMT gene. We don’t want this to be too slow (certain drugs like metformin also slow it down) but we also don’t want it to be too fast. If your COMT gene is fast you are getting rid of your dopamine too quickly.

Next we tackle SNP’s that act on our dopamine receptors, DRD genes can alter how sensitive we are to dopamine. They call this the wanderlust gene check the vid) this is because DRD4 encodes the dopamine receptor which is associated with impulsively seeking happiness levels within our brain and to travel.

Combo’s like low vitamin D and a less sensitive VDR (vitamin D receptor) gene can mean reduced dopamine sensitivity.

While sometimes fast is good, other times slow is better – and that is the case with our DHB gene (especially if you have excess copper). The end results is converting dopamine way to fast into noradrenaline leaving us without enough dopamine aka low dopamine.

What do we do about Dopamine? Well if you are someone who finds that SSRI’s are just not working on your depression you may want to test your DNA to see what is up.

You also want to look into methylation (this means how we methylate our B family of vitamins), our vitamin D pathways and a proper blood serum panel to assess if your levels of vitamin D are low as well as supplementing with a good vitamin A supplement (and checking your genetics to ensure that pathway is also ok.

How do you know if you might have low dopamine? Fatigue, insomnia, low libido, cravings, anxiety, mood swings and depression as well as dependency manifesting as addiction. Lack of concentration can be a sign of low dopamine, this is why attention disorders (like ADHD) tend to also have dopamine issues.