After years of struggling with ADHD symptoms, Samantha was encouraged by an advertisement she saw on TikTok for dopamine patches. Samantha, who is using her first name to protect her privacy, has never been formally diagnosed with ADHD. Still, she says she struggles every day with the severe symptoms characteristic of the condition.
“There are a bazillion ideas in my head, but none of them will come into the light and it is so frustrating,” Samantha tells SELF in a direct message on Reddit. “I feel the capability beneath the surface, but I just shut down.”
So when Samantha came across patches that promised to increase her motivation and attention span, she hoped that trying them out could help.
Dopamine patches are stick-on, brightly colored patches sold by a variety of online outlets. They’re advertised as containing natural ingredients, such as mushroom and bean extract, and marketed as a product to boost concentration and increase energy. (They are entirely different from dopamine agonist patches, a prescription medication used to treat Parkinson’s and restless leg syndrome.) For about $15, you can get a month’s supply delivered straight to your door—no prescription or pharmacy visit needed. However, it remains unclear whether the patches—another product in the unregulated supplements market—are actually effective for managing ADHD.
Still, dopamine patches have quickly built a following on social media. This video, which has over 27,000 likes, is a paid partnership with one of the distributors of the patch. The creator shares her positive experiences with the patch, writing that she “danced around the kitchen instead of disassociating” after trying them. While some of the comments are skeptical, many are also encouraging, and express hope that the patches could help them improve their mental clarity.
While dopamine supplements are also available in pill form, the patches appear to be the most popular. Transdermal patches are a drug delivery system that allows medicine and ingredients to be absorbed straight into the bloodstream, bypassing the digestive system. As a result, research suggests that patch users are less likely to experience digestive side effects and consistent use is easier than daily oral supplements. The patch method also allows for the ingredients to be absorbed slowly over a longer period of time.
How dopamine patches are marketed
Dopamine plays a key role in encouraging us to stay motivated, and research suggests ADHD may be linked to issues with the way dopamine is transmitted within the brain. As a result, many people with ADHD struggle to stay on task.
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