Effect of prolactin on music perception?

[bachatero]

There are these special supplements I like to take sometimes called lisuride and metergoline. Lisuride is a dopamine agonist and mixed serotonin agonist/antagonist and metergoline is a full serotonin antagonist but the big thing they do is reduce prolactin. Prolactin is a protein hormone that does a few things but is mainly only useful for lactating women and harmful in everybody else. Well, as it turns out, after living with high prolactin levels and reducing them with the help of a few other things I'm doing, after taking metergoline one day I was listening to one of my favorite bachata songs and felt like I could hear every detail in the singing:

(Note: this YT video is worse quality than what I listened to)

I was driving at the time and had to remind myself to keep focusing on the road because it was like I unlocked a new level of listening concentration.

Does anybody else have any other experiences like this where you suddenly "hear more" after doing some specific health change?

 

[pablolie]

For me, it is quite common when I am in a relaxed mood, crave my fav music, and do a little sativa on the water bong. For those eager to judge, I abhor losing control of my faculties in any way. It's a mild mood enhancer. Not a weedhead move where I listen to music while wolfing down a family pack of Cheetos.

I find it inconsistent though. One extra puff may then send me into losing interest in music and proceed to bing-watching Archer. :-D

 

[Keith_W]

As @pablolie mentions, your mood affects your enjoyment of music. And you have a dozen reasons why your medical condition and medications might affect your mood.

Prolactin (PRL): both elevated PRL itself and its causes can alter your mood. PRL can make you depressed and anxious, and in extreme cases provoke psychiatric disorders. The causes of high PRL (which I hope you have been investigated for) include tumours of the anterior pituitary. These can sometimes affect production of other pituitary hormones. Hypothyroidism can be both cause of high PRL and the result of anterior pituitary tumours.

Lisuride: dopamine agonist, used as an antidepressant. High dopamine = improved mood.

Metergoline: mixed SSRI, used as an antidepressant. By reducing reuptake of Serotonin, it improves the mood.

I know there are other medical professionals here. I am not an endocrinologist but I do know some endocrinology.

 

[sqrl]

As @pablolie mentions, your mood affects your enjoyment of music. And you have a dozen reasons why your medical condition and medications might affect your mood.

Prolactin (PRL): both elevated PRL itself and its causes can alter your mood. PRL can make you depressed and anxious, and in extreme cases provoke psychiatric disorders. The causes of high PRL (which I hope you have been investigated for) include tumours of the anterior pituitary. These can sometimes affect production of other pituitary hormones. Hypothyroidism can be both cause of high PRL and the result of anterior pituitary tumours.

Lisuride: dopamine agonist, used as an antidepressant. High dopamine = improved mood.

Metergoline: mixed SSRI, used as an antidepressant. By reducing reuptake of Serotonin, it improves the mood.

I know there are other medical professionals here. I am not an endocrinologist but I do know some endocrinology.

Actually metergoline is a mixed serotonin receptor antagonist and dopamine 2 receptor agonist, so it's prescribed for elevated prolactin levels and to suppress lactation. Not a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and not a prescription antidepressant.

Lisuride is a very non-selective drug at multiple subtypes of dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline and histamine recptors, which probably reduces prolactin by acting as a partial dopamine 2 receptor agonist. It can trigger hallucinations and other medications that are D2/D3 recptor agonists can trigger impulse control problems, such as gambling.

 

[bachatero]

The causes of high PRL (which I hope you have been investigated for) include tumours of the anterior pituitary. These can sometimes affect production of other pituitary hormones. Hypothyroidism can be both cause of high PRL and the result of anterior pituitary tumours.

I don't actually have a chronically "high" PRL level but it was not generally low. Actually, it's somewhat difficult for most people to get prolactin to the ideal low amounts, and doing so for me was a mere component of following Ray Pe@t's metabolic principles.

What's also interesting is how music itself can affect PRL. On the Wikipedia page it mentions how at least one study found sad music increases it, and I guess this depends on your own perception. Now, while bachata music might be perceived by some as sad, I don't, so that could be one factor supporting that experience.

 

[Beave]

Proceed with caution.

Source: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ray-peat.68116/

 

[Somafunk]

Does anybody else have any other experiences like this where you suddenly "hear more" after doing some specific health change?

Not “hear” more but certain supplements can cause pseudo-scientific placebo enhancement.

A Guy I vaguely knew in our club used to swear by a particular electrolyte/energy drink back when we were racing bikes/mtb’s (2008ish) which was from a uk company called “Torq”, whenever he drank it he said it made his skin buzz with energy and it obviously worked as his skin surface would redden which he considered was increased blood flow to muscles.

I absolutely destroyed his “perceived” competitive advantage (but possibly saved his liver/stopped cardiovascular disease) when I pointed out the high niacin (vitb3) content in his product/pre-mix as that was causing a reaction within his body due to the toxicity of 4000mg of the stuff he was drinking.

Electrolytes/energy drink/recovery drink stuff does have its place but only under a genuine training program and the amount of YouTubers/so called influencers (wankers) that happily take product sponsorship money should all just f-off and get a worthwhile job

 

[Soandso]

Elevate prolactin has been induced and studied in mammals which generally indicate it causes undesirable changes in the inner ear bones and also induces undesirable changes in ear cells (stereocilia). However, there are time phases of such side effects that are modulated for male vs. female subjects which do not proceed over time exactly the same. The O.P.'s impression that additional prolactin may be improving musical perception is possibly tied into it's different amounts of decible influence on different specific sound frequencies (sort of how using our equalizer equipment to personally EQ down some frequencies let's an individual hear others "better").

And here is a bit more detailed report (free full text available on-line):

Quote (from above):

Below screen shot from the above report are the comparative graphs' showing over 2 time periods the non-linear changes from induced elevated prolactin for males and females ("ABR" is an abbreviation for the auditory brain stem measurement site); the test subjects were mice so 32kHz data appears.