• Psychedelic Drugs Welcome Guest
    View threads about
    Posting RulesBluelight Rules
    PD's Best Threads Index
    Social ThreadSupport Bluelight
    Psychedelic Beginner's FAQ

2C-X and receptor downregulation

S

spikeycloud

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 21, 2013
Messages
126
I was wondering if it is possible that if you use 2CB C and D substances once or twice a week in micro doses (1-5 MG)can cause downregulation on your serotonin receptors. As we know, 2CX are serotonin anogist and those are believed to downregulate receptors. Does this mean that if you use them a lot they can cause depression as well?
 
What is your intention with microdosing, I'm curious. :)

Technically, yes I think that downregulation will happen at any dosage. But really the question is: is it significant? I'd say almost certainly not.
Just like some chemicals have the potential to be toxic, but with toxicity the question is always how much of something you are taking and/or how often. Pretty much anything can kill you if you just take too much of it, it just varies how much you can take of something.
I wouldn't worry.

About depression: wouldn't worry either. Even if you took fully psychedelic doses weekly I don't think it's really an issue. There are more than one type of serotonin receptor and the main one that psychedelics like these act on is called 5-HT2a. If you consume way too much psychedelics then psychosis or HPPD tend to be biggest risks I guess (although some have quite good resistance even to these), and mood being affected would be much more a result of the psychological impact of tripping so much rather than a direct effect of psychedelics. FWIW, drugs like 2C-B, -C and -D are not known for causing depression anyway.

Mood probably does get affected when you unselectively affect the serotonin system, but there are also interesting effects from up- or downregulating one type of serotonin receptor while the others stay the same. I believe that is how drugs like mirtazapine work.
 
Solipsis said:
What is your intention with microdosing, I'm curious. :)

Technically, yes I think that downregulation will happen at any dosage. But really the question is: is it significant? I'd say almost certainly not.
Just like some chemicals have the potential to be toxic, but with toxicity the question is always how much of something you are taking and/or how often. Pretty much anything can kill you if you just take too much of it, it just varies how much you can take of something.
I wouldn't worry.

About depression: wouldn't worry either. Even if you took fully psychedelic doses weekly I don't think it's really an issue. There are more than one type of serotonin receptor and the main one that psychedelics like these act on is called 5-HT2a. If you consume way too much psychedelics then psychosis or HPPD tend to be biggest risks I guess (although some have quite good resistance even to these), and mood being affected would be much more a result of the psychological impact of tripping so much rather than a direct effect of psychedelics. FWIW, drugs like 2C-B, -C and -D are not known for causing depression anyway.

Mood probably does get affected when you unselectively affect the serotonin system, but there are also interesting effects from up- or downregulating one type of serotonin receptor while the others stay the same. I believe that is how drugs like mirtazapine work.
Click to expand...

To be honest in combination with alcohol it reduces anxiety for me, but the biggest reason I do it is to be more attracted to woman. My libido is very low and stimulants give me horrible side effects days after.
 
I did 2C-B two times at low doses (5-7.5 mg) and the days after taking 7.5 mg I was kind of grumpy and so on. Interestingly not the day after intake but day 2-4, I would say. It way also be sleep deprivation of a combination of both.

It makes sense that your serotonin system has to get back to normal. Take it as a reminder that there is no free lunch ( I like this saying from the US).
 
drseltsam said:
I did 2C-B two times at low doses (5-7.5 mg) and the days after taking 7.5 mg I was kind of grumpy and so on. Interestingly not the day after intake but day 2-4, I would say. It way also be sleep deprivation of a combination of both.

It makes sense that your serotonin system has to get back to normal. Take it as a reminder that there is no free lunch ( I like this saying from the US).
Click to expand...

Yeah this seems to happen to me as well, also I didn't tell this. But I took an avarage of 1-2 times a week for a couple of months. So it might make sense to stop for a while.

The hangover always comes a few days later for me as well. Esp with stimulants.

But I have a bad mood for a very long (not finding anything fun, no motivation, no libido very low energy, fatigue, annoying feeling in the stomach most of time etc) time now with constant negative thinking that I don't have control over. I was wondering if this might be one of the causes for that.
 
Last edited:
So, did the rather constant bad mood start with the regular intake of 2c-x (what 2c- specifically?) or was it there before ? I think this information is important to many people, that claim intake of 5ht2-a - agonists is not as critical as taking stimulants.

Sorry if I'm not of much help, but I'm sleep deprived and tripping on 2c-e right now (searching for the recent 2c-e thread) and I'm wondering that IF it is true, that taking medium dose 2c's regularly is not as damaging as high dose stimulants, why anyone would bother to take stimulants/MDMA recreationally. 2c's are much more amazing recreationally.

I wouldn't do neither regularly (for partying =D), but many people do ...

And why do you want to more attracted to women ? If I wouldn't be attracted to women, I would be a happy monk.
 
I have been thinking about microdosing 2C-E, since I have still quite some left. microdosing phenethylamines doesn't seem that popular compared to mushrooms and lysergamides. I wonder why... I feel like the more clear headed effects of 2C-E could work very well microdosed...
 
Bagseed said:
I have been thinking about microdosing 2C-E, since I have still quite some left. microdosing phenethylamines doesn't seem that popular compared to mushrooms and lysergamides. I wonder why... I feel like the more clear headed effects of 2C-E could work very well microdosed...
Click to expand...

I think 2C-B was sold in 5 mg pills by a commercial company in the 90s as an aphrodisiac. Would you think this is microdosing? Taking less makes little sense...
 
well there is a difference between a low dose and a microdose... I had plenty of low 2C-E doses, but microdoses are meant to be so low to not intoxicate you at all and rather work as a nootropic. I have never done it, but many people have had success with microdosing LSD or mushrooms.

I guess a microdose of 2C-E might be around 1-2mg
 
I tried 1.25 mg of 2C-B once, with very mild effects. Just a bit of mood enhancements but it would not work in as a nootropic. For others I know, they do not get any effect from 5 mg 2C-B, it only works as I am super sensitive towards this.

What is the advantage of 2C-X over Amphetamin or Methylphenidate?
 
I once took 2mg of 2C-E and it got kind of hectic, felt decidedly psychedelic. I was at work so it was kind of difficult to deal with.

drseltsam said:
What is the advantage of 2C-X over Amphetamin or Methylphenidate?
Click to expand...

Far fewer peripheral side effects, mostly. Also the range of effects is different, even if at low doses they're similar in effect.
 
I think Amphetamin and Methylphenidate are the way to go if you want this. There is a ton of research on both drugs as there are/were used legally. On low doses both are very safe with minimal side effects. The big plus for Methylphenidate would be that you could get it pure in the sense of pure with a known dose. For any other drug that will the case.
 
I bumped this thread for some more infomation about the matter. Recently I stopped for 2 weeks with any 2Cx and I could feel that my PE got less and that I experienced more tacticle sensations again (still a very small change).

3 and 4 days ago I took 5 MG 2C-D - and now my PE is just as bad as it was before and the tactile is a lot worse too. This of course can be a coincedence but I now it seems to feel that those problems might be related to my 2Cx intake. If I recall correctly, PE has to do a lot with your serotonin levels. I tink that the 2Cx intake of the past has downregulated my serotonin receptors and it did recover just a bit by quiting it for two weeks. But this is all speculation of course.

I also felt more negativitiy last few days about almost everything. Anyone else experienced PE when you used 2Cx a lot?
 
I felt some downregulation on my mood last 2 times taking strongish doses of 2C-E. I wouldn't go as far as point it as a culprit, might very well just be the after effect of stirring my mind not in its best moment. Or a cumulus of things. The experiences themselves were really good but very disorienting afterwards.
 
Xorkoth said:
What does PE mean?
Click to expand...


Ah sorry, I thought PE was clearly enough. It means premature elaculation. At first I thought that it was caused by stimulants like 3-FA, 4-FA etc. But I stopped with those almost 3 months now. I'm still not sure it is caused by 2Cx, but it is almost the only thing left that I took a lot before I had PE. Or rather, I think that downregulation of the serotonin receptors might cause the PE.

The Hypnotist said:
I felt some downregulation on my mood last 2 times taking strongish doses of 2C-E. I wouldn't go as far as point it as a culprit, might very well just be the after effect of stirring my mind not in its best moment. Or a cumulus of things. The experiences themselves were really good but very disorienting afterwards.
Click to expand...


That is interesting. Can you explain a bit more what kind of effects you had the days after and how long did they take? What I often experience is that my mind thends to make a neutral situation constantly negative. It feels that it takes me over so that I completely shift in that negative association - even though I know conceptual that it is not true. Also I feel myself being irritated about almost everything. Even extremely small things like how some people walk or laugh at the street. And then I think to myself, why in the hell I'm so irritated about this it does not make any sense.
 
Last edited:
There's been a few times in my life (not too too many.. but a few) where I ate 2C-B every single day or almost every single day. I miss doing it quite regularly... even though I'd prefer to do it somewhat regularly like once a week or so these days if I had the option. I highly doubt there's a correlation between PE & 2C-B or even D for that matter; but everyone is different. There's a few Ted Talks on sexuality that might be interesting to look at. The human brain is pretty much the most important sexual organ. Things like Pornography can affect the way you operate sexually. Daily habits involving sexual thought can affect things like that as well.
 
spikeycloud said:
Can you explain a bit more what kind of effects you had the days after and how long did they take?.
Click to expand...
Probably any psychedelic could have had a negative impact on that timing.

I am emotionally quite volatile and sometimes psychedelics leave me better off and sometimes worse. A bit of a Russian roulette, there are probably reasons for one thing or the other but not easily discernible.
I have a bit of a mess for a life and I am trying to fix it, basically working on my discipline. I find it difficult to comply a schedule but once on it easier to keep at. So both times basically I dropped all my chores (meditation, writing, etc...) not really completely, but a large percentage. So basically losing momentum. My experience tells me that if I don't keep busy my mind ends up playing games on me.

I am quite confident with a good guide I could get more from my trips and avoid most of the drawbacks, but I don't know any that is free, and the professional options I know are over the roof. They risk too much, so you pay for the risk of offering such a service.

Right now I don't know if taking a break or trying a different one. In any case I am going to keep farther apart my trips. It is always kind of a good idea IME.

About microdosing, I have never done it, but I would feel more comfortable doing a tryptamine or a lysergamide probably. Not a strong reason for it, but phenetylamines feel rougher, so maybe more of a body cost. The steep dose response of 2C-E can even make it more difficult to microdose, counting tolerance and all.
 
I tried 1-2 mg of 2c-e a couple times years ago. It was definitely threshold or maybe even more. Mild visuals and altered thought patterns.

I'm guessing an appropriate dosage of 2c-e if one is aiming to achieve a similar effect to microdosing with lsd would be 250-500 ug.

I always thought that 2c-e is a great candidate for microdosing.

It's very powerful but paradoxically clear headed and long lasting. 2c-e was always a favourite of mine though. I never experienced the negative effects that are commonly experienced by others.

I quit smoking tobacco for 4 years with the help of 2c-e. I ended up relapsing after a rough and prolonged break up in 2012, but I'm thinking it may be time to revisit this compound.
 
My only microdosing experimets were with 2c-e. I did it in a vodka solution, something around .5mgs day. Im quite a softhead, but 500mcgs felt quite powerful. For non hardheads 250 to 500mcs day seems a reasonable dose to start.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top