Long term effects from fake MDMA - advice would be much appreciated

[br0ken_mind]

About 4 months ago I went to a concert with some friends and I took what I thought was pure MDMA. This was my first time, and I am a pretty small person so I took a very low dose, my friends took about 4x the amount I did. It had a very strong, bitter chemical taste. About an hour later it started to kick in and the high was incredibly underwhelming. I just felt a bit energized and I had a euphoric feeling in my head. No body high, and nothing amazing at all. My friends were feeling great, so I decided to take some more. About an hour later, I was feeling the same effects as before but they were just intensified a bit. It was still very underwhelming. Long story short, the boring high lasted for about 6 hours. When I woke up the next day, I felt horrible. I am the only one out of my group of friends to experience this. My head was hurting, I felt a sharp pain behind my eyes, and I felt like all of the happiness had been drained from me. It felt very unnatural and I didn't like it at all. I also had what I now found out is called visual snow. If I stare at a wall or if I look up at the sky I see a lot of static. I don't notice it much when I'm looking at other things. I had also recently overcame my anxiety, but now it is back. What bothered me the most is somehow, this has affected my weed highs. When I tried smoking weed, I felt as if the weed high was going through some kind of filter caused by this chemical. Weed no longer made me feel good, it made me feel kind of like I was high on this shitty "MDMA." I decided to get brain scan, and they told me everything looked completely normal. My friends think this is all in my head. Four months later, the headaches are gone, but I still feel effected by this drug. I feel like I never really came down and somehow it is still in my system. I can't smoke weed anymore because it is not the same. In general, I am feeling happy for the most part, it really helps to keep myself distracted with friends and work... but it is really bothering me how one night of this shitty drug has had such a huge, long lasting effect on me. What could have happened to me and what can I do to feel normal again?

 

[Cotcha Yankinov]

In some sense the visuals can be referred to as something called HPPD, hallucinogen perception persisting disorder. Basically means you are a tiny bit high (in the visual snow sense for you) all the time. We don't know exactly what this is but it's not something that will show up in a brain scan. It is technically "all in your head", but all mental illnesses are all in your head. And mental illnesses are real illnesses.

I highly recommend cardio, as much as you can do it. 3-4 times a week for 20-30 minutes would be great. And of course sobriety will help, but do this and give it some time. Your brain will recover from whatever substance you took in time, but cardio, mindfulness meditation (especially helpful for HPPD and sleep) and getting good sleep will all sleep along your recovery.

I had this exact feeling of still being high on the shitty substance for a long long time, with bad visual snow/noise and not really being able to get high on weed too without it being exactly how you describe- through a filter of the shitty drug. All I can say is I wish I would've done cardio sooner. It creates new brain cell in an extremely important area of the brain, and has so many other amazing benefits. Humans really are supposed to run. It also increases bloodflow to the brain which people can have problems with after drugs, with MDMA there is reduced bloodflow to the front part of the brain for a couple weeks after one use.

Goodluck, if you have any questions feel free to PM anytime.

 

[br0ken_mind]

In some sense the visuals can be referred to as something called HPPD, hallucinogen perception persisting disorder. Basically means you are a tiny bit high (in the visual snow sense for you) all the time. We don't know exactly what this is but it's not something that will show up in a brain scan. It is technically "all in your head", but all mental illnesses are all in your head. And mental illnesses are real illnesses.

I highly recommend cardio, as much as you can do it. 3-4 times a week for 20-30 minutes would be great. And of course sobriety will help, but do this and give it some time. Your brain will recover from whatever substance you took in time, but cardio, mindfulness meditation (especially helpful for HPPD and sleep) and getting good sleep will all sleep along your recovery.

I had this exact feeling of still being high on the shitty substance for a long long time, with bad visual snow/noise and not really being able to get high on weed too without it being exactly how you describe- through a filter of the shitty drug. All I can say is I wish I would've done cardio sooner. It creates new brain cell in an extremely important area of the brain, and has so many other amazing benefits. Humans really are supposed to run. It also increases bloodflow to the brain which people can have problems with after drugs, with MDMA there is reduced bloodflow to the front part of the brain for a couple weeks after one use.

Goodluck, if you have any questions feel free to PM anytime.

I can't thank you enough for this!