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MDMA Recovery (Stories & Support - 3)

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accidentally deleted my post


(see how I am stunned)

Hello guys. Please, read my story. First of all, i'm brazilian and i'm feeling so alone when it comes to mdma abuse discussion. There are no forums or any other place i can have a conversation about what happened to me in my language. Luckely i know a little english but i'm pretty sure that incorrect things will be written here, but please, try to read my story because i have no one to help me in here. I'll try to resume it in every way i can.


So I started doing mdma december 2014. First time i took it was the best day of my life, that happened after the end of a 2 years relationship and i felt like that was exactly what i needed. I don't know what the fuck is happening with my country but in here it seems to be normal to take 2, 3 pills at night, everyone talks like it was normal (i think the ammount of mdma in a brazilian pill is a little less than in other countries, so the second time i took 2 pills, just 2 weekends after first time. my eyes turned, i was really drugged but i was cool. i Started to take ecstasy every three weeks, but when it came fifth time it became clear that the same dose had no effect anymore.


Well i kept taking it, never more than 2 pills. I reduced the frequency of use to once in a month and the quantity too, sometimes i just needed 1 pill and partied whole night. my count is approximately 26 pills from december to July. Let's disconsider 6 of them that was probably fake or very very weak; the beginning of my downfall was on July 13. I went to a electronic music party and bought 4 pills to take there. I took the first pill at 9 p.m., before even getting into the party. I did not felt even close to 1/10 of the feeling I had the first i did E, but i felt the effects of mdma. After an hour I took another one, felt the music but i was still i little tired, looked like it was pretty weak pills. I took one every hour but still have not had a satisfactory effect. I really don't know if those were weak pills or not, it gives me a little hope to think they were, so i actually didnt had an enormous quantity in that night. Not satisfied, bought two more pills from random guys and took then both. Now yes! I fucking fell the vibe, it was awesome. I've read many stories in this forum, and I know most of you use to buy the drugs before going to the parties, but I'm almost 100% sure it was real ecstasy. There could be other substances together but I think the problem I had was caused by MDMA.


So, just recapping, i took 6 pills of E from 9 p.m. to approximately 4 a.m. I really think the first 4 pills were weak, from all i learned reading in here and with previous experiences i would guess 40 ~ 60 mg of mdma maximum in each of. the other two was pretty powerful, like 60 ~ 100, i couldn't know. Well, with that 6 pills i felt a bit like the second time I took E in my life.


Next day i'm feeling fine, i could talk normally to my parents in the morning even still being very high. Spent all day smoking weed. Go to sleep normally, i think.


Another day goes and after smoking a joint, I was sitting on the couch and my body started shaking a lot from nothing, it was shaking A LOT. I began to think i was gone mad. I began to feel I was floating. I obviously had a panic attack. I called one thing to another. Realized that my vision was grainy and I could see a lot of floaters when scaring light. The next week was horrible, I thought I had lost my mind and would never recover. I went into a deep depression and could only feel better when sleeping. Never had any visions with eyes closed. I decided to forget about it and after a week I began to improve and get used to the snow vision, and with time i forgot about what happened. I was living a practically normal life, working, going to college. Noticed a decrease in my libido and anxiety attacks, but it was something that i could live with.


I noticed i could not smoke pot anymore (damn, i miss being high). every time I smoked my anxiety increased soo fucking much and had another panic attack. Stopped smoking weed and started to drink a lot more. Noticed that when I drank, I would wake up with anxiety the next day, and if not controlled had another panic attack. 2 months later I started having insomnia. I was wakin up 3-4 times a night and could not sleep again. I got to wake up seven times in one night. I continued living normally, even bothered with insomnia. I stopped drinking coffee. My work performance was good, socially also had no problems.


But about 2 weekends ago, when everything seemed to be normal again, disregarding anxiety, and insomnia, I woke up with my heart racing. I had a panic attack and went into a depression only thinking that night messed my neuro system. I researched a lot about neuro system damage with ecstasy and i'm pretty sure that happened to me. I now know a lot about low production of serotonin. I do not know whether ecstasy causes low production of serotonin or damages to the serotonin receptors, do any of you know? I believe that a good night's sleep would help but there's been two months that I can't sleep more than 4 hours straight.




Do any of you identify with my story?


I I scheduled a psychiatrist and he prescribed me Paroxetine, but I didnt take it.


I scheduled another psychiatrist and a neurologist to have second opinions.


I tried exercising, but that didn't helped me to sleep a all, it was worse because I was more tired and had insomnia the same way




My biggest concerns are:


Having a lot of Difficulty to concentrate. My memory is a crap, I do not know if it's because of the anxiety, insomnia, or due to the damage caused by mdma. Can i get better? Based on my history that could be a permanent damage?


My libido is low and I'm having erectile difficulties. This may be due to anxiety or permanent damage caused by ecstasy? How can I improve?


I feel my pulse very strong sometimes in the head and other parts of the body. I'm afraid of having a heart attack. My heart is racing all day, my legs are shaking all day. How can get better of this?


Depression is gone because I accepted my condition, but also do not feel mood for anything, I've wasted my life, I always considered myself a very intelligent guy and now I can't even focus right. I'm afraid of losing my job, had already quit college.


I can say I'm 85% better than the first week in August but need to know if there still hope to stop the ansiety without meds, and principally, recover my libido (believe me, that's what worries me the most).


if you've read this far, even with the bad writing, I already love you man, seriously. I appreciate the attention.

Plus: i used to have a sincere love for nature, used to admire trees, rivers, birds, and i dont feel it anymore. I dony love anyone. This apathy must be irreversible, right?
 
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Hey people

Mostly I don't recognise the names in this thread but some of you may remember me. 21 months ago now I went on a night out with some friends, we had a new guy and he had given us stupid amounts of MDMA for real cheap which we divided among us. I had been using speed a lot and had experienced panic attacks at this point but thought they were an isolated incident. Anyway, we get to the club and I drop my first bomb. We're sitting outside and it's a freezing february evening, I start shivering but the shivering gets real bad, I can barely stand I'm shaking so my friends take me inside. Sitting inside I'm panicing pretty bad and still shaking but it suddenly passes as I come up and from then on I have a great night. I proceed to take upwards of a gram of MDMA that night. I later got this stuff lab tested and it came back solely as MDMA.

I felt remarkably blank on the comedown but I didn't have any real troubles until day 3 when I experienced a heart arrhythmia called a PVC which triggered an immense panic attack. From then on my life descended into hourly panic attacks bad enough to send me to the ER multiple times. I was deathly scared I had fucked my heart somehow. I was cleared by a cardiologist but it didn't matter I still worried. And then when the panic attacks passed I was flooded with derealization and fear of going crazy somehow, I also experienced immense physical symptoms such as 24/7 muscle twitching.

I improved very slowly over the first 10 months at which point I decided I needed to ignore my woes and try and continue with my life. I took tianeptine for some months which didn't help all that much and went back to college. Being back in normal life was a big catalyst to recovery.

In June this year I got on an SSRI (citalopram) despite being skeptical. At first nothing but somewhere along the way I noticed I felt "safe" again in life. I started weight lifting and passed my year at college and had a great social life again. It wasn't without drawbacks though, I felt numb and kind of dulled. I decided to come here and post because I stopped the citalopram a few weeks ago and today I feel back to normal. My symptoms are gone and my thoughts are back to the way they were before this whole mess. I have some mild anxiety but I always did anyway and I know so much more now about what it is and how to deal with it. I quit smoking from a 10+ a day habit, quit drinking 4 cups of coffee a day and now eat so healthily and work out 4 days a week. I am better physically and mentally.

Lately I've been able to smoke pot again and went to a rave where I took a fair amount of speed to keep me going with no negative effects! I have no fear about doing this because my mentality towards drugs has completely changed. I felt like I had an invincible "fuck it" attitude before because I didn't value my life much. That has changed and I am so careful now.

Anyway this will probably be my last post so cheers to everyone that helped and good luck.

P.S: Don't be so apprehensive about SSRI's, they really did help me.
 
tpchan did you experience extreme insomnia and sexual dysfunction as well?


Also for anyone reading my post I don't want to be a fearmonger. I had a bad LSD trip the night before I took mdma which definitely did a huge number on me. It's hard to tell what is from the lsd trip and what is from the molly.

TPCHAN85 thank you for posting here, it's good to hear that you were able to recover completely.
 
I have not so much recovered as become a new person. A person I much prefer I must say. Certainly stronger in many aspects. And it's not a finished process either, but then life never is.

I do hope this is encouraging to any of those who are struggling atm. For those interested, my last MDMA consumption was about a year ago, almost to the day. And it was a lot of consumption during my 6 month binge, but those interested in my story may find it in previous posts.

Peace.

In the end, my ~19 month ordeal with whatever caused me to experience approximately 20 'LTC Symptoms' has had a profound life-altering effect on me as well.

I have noticed that I'm far more sympathetic and/or empathetic towards anyone whom may be suffering in general, especially those dealing with a chronic long term illness.

My appreciation for the 140+ bpm music I used to all but worship has gone down, but mostly because I've lost interest, and not due to some inherent apathy or indifference brought on due to the 'LTC Symptoms.'

In contrast, my appreciation for other things such as art in general has skyrocketed, and I've become a big fan of documentary films and television shows.

I do miss the old days, I admit, but I also look forward to all that is to come with a renewed optimism that I didn't have pre-LTC.

... stuff like that.
 
hey guys, this request is gonne sound incredibly sad. But I´ve been dealing with this for two years without any improvement in the physical symptoms, and mentally ive only improved ever so slightly. I tried to go back to school part time recently and immediately got set back to scratch. I have been dealing with this for 2 years now, without improvement. ive been on 5 ad´s and talked to two psychologistst. I feel like im out of options. I cant sport cause i got pretty extreme asthma. I feel like this would help me a lot otherwise. Could any of the veterans who have all ready recovered please tell me something positive. I know how sad this must sound but ive run out of positive things to keep telling myself, which I try to do as much as possible. This is making me feel mildly suicidal on top of the usual anxiety. Thanks in advance. Feel free to pm. Sorry if this seems like whining, ive been a bit whiny lately.

A bicycle.
 
hey guys, this request is gonne sound incredibly sad. But I´ve been dealing with this for two years without any improvement in the physical symptoms, and mentally ive only improved ever so slightly. I tried to go back to school part time recently and immediately got set back to scratch. I have been dealing with this for 2 years now, without improvement. ive been on 5 ad´s and talked to two psychologistst. I feel like im out of options. I cant sport cause i got pretty extreme asthma. I feel like this would help me a lot otherwise. Could any of the veterans who have all ready recovered please tell me something positive. I know how sad this must sound but ive run out of positive things to keep telling myself, which I try to do as much as possible. This is making me feel mildly suicidal on top of the usual anxiety. Thanks in advance. Feel free to pm. Sorry if this seems like whining, ive been a bit whiny lately.

A bicycle.

I'm sorry to hear that you feel you haven't improved, and also about the asthma.

It would be beneficial to people who could offer potential advice if you state the physical and mental symptoms.
 
physical: (chronic not in attacks) hyperventilating, extreme muscle tension, spasmps, electrical sensations/shocks, tinnitus, dizzyness, nauseau, constipation, all the weird tingly feelings and headaches. Those are the most important ones. Mental: extreme unrest. Cant switch of my brain. Think at 500 miles/second. Just extreme terror and it never stops. Ive learned to master my fears so now its just more unrest in general but i cant get it out of there. So annoying. Depression is a side effect but I can handle that. Oh and Im so extremely tired. By the way, unrest is the understatement of the century but I cant really think of a better word.
 
People over in the Longecity forum are so smart, so Post in the brain health section and give a detailed account of the persistent symptoms ect

Give them an idea how you react to any medications you have taken

Maybe they could provide input on anything that will help.

When i say they are smart, seriously a lot of them study in medical fields. Hope they can help man
 
I've been reading about HPA Axis Dysfunction / Adrenal fatigue mentioned here quite a bit, and this does make sense, since the adrenal glands deal with stress responses.

So if you are getting anxious and freaking out about stuff, your adrenals are quickly going to become burnt out.

I mentioned on another thread how mercury poisoning has many similar symptoms to what people are experiencing here. Maybe this is because mercury fucks with the adrenal glands (and thyroid) so much. And I know this from personal experience.

The thing is, is that when the adrenals are messed up, they are never going to have chance to get better if we are freaking out all the time, because they are again responding to more stress.

Maybe the answer is, as is the case with mercury poisoned people, to take something called. ACE - adrenal cortex extract. This will give the support that the adrenal glands need to heal.

It is possible to get the full adrenal glandular, however, this contains the adrenaline portion which can cause adrenaline rushes in some people, so important to get the cortex extract. One good brand is Thorne.

I was meditating on all of this last night and it really hit me that most of what people are going through in here is caused by freaking out, this is why some people don't get better, because they are worrying so much and causing stress responses in the adrenals which never have chance to repair themselves after that initial massive surge in fear that was felt when people started having the LTC.

So someone else recommended hormones to help the adrenals, or as they put it HPA Axis Dysfunction.

Get some adrenal cortex extract!! The tiredness is clearly from the adrenal burnout! As is the anxiety and everything else. I am not suggesting that there aren't problems with serotonin at play here, but maybe just maybe, it is the actual freaking out continuously which is leaving the adrenals burntout and prolonging the healing

Again, the adrenal cortex will allow your adrenals to take a break and recover, all this worrying is giving the adrenals more than they can handle, again, the initial freaking out totally wiped them out, and the inability to just stop worrying is asking too much from them, and not allowing them to recover.

Chill.
 
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Another thing, where adrenal fatigue is concerned, salt is your friend. I'm talking himalayan or celtic. Sea salt at the worst. But not table salt. The adrenals create a hormone which regulate sodium/potassium levels. Plenty of salt!
 
Signs and symptoms. Adrenal symptoms of low cortisol can be a more accurate indicator than all lab testing. Diagnosis should be based on these findings. Common signs and sypmtoms of adrenal weakness (hypoadrenal) include low BP and dizziness on standing (orthostatic/postural hypotenstion), unexplained and chronic fatigue, aches and pain, hypoglycaemia, sugar and/or salt cravings, frequent infections and difficulty shaking infections, poor response to stress, crashing with stress, shaking with stressful events and carbohydrate intolerance. can give a very early indication of adrenal issues, showing up adrenal and thyroid problems years before they become visible on blood or saliva tests.

other symptoms

Asthma, allergies or respiratory complaints
Dark circles under the eyes
Dizziness
Dry skin
Extreme tiredness an hour after exercise
Frequent urination
Joint pain
Lines in your fingertips
Loss of muscle tone
Low blood pressure
Low blood sugar
Low sex drive
Lower back pain
Numbness in your fingers / Poor circulation
Weight gain
Trouble getting out of bed
Trouble thinking clearly or finishing your tasks
 
Another tell-tale symptom of adrenal fatigue is getting more energy at the end of the day. I hear this numerous times on the forum from people suffering from LTC's
 
Wow there are some really positive comments on here this thread i would describe for some people as a "Lifeline" whilst you are stuck in this space.

This comment btw reading through is beautiful:

"Life is not as serious as the mind makes it out to be".

I have not so much recovered as become a new person.

This really summarises so well how things have been for me. An AWFUL experience and I mean just truly AWFUL. It seemed at the time i was so alone but just some how with the help I got on here I got through it all.

Nice to hear all the success stories of recovery and best wishes to anyone in this current space just hang in there and as now confirmed so many times in the end it becomes a distant memory.

futura x x
 
Approaching the two year mark, I take 2-3 ADHD stimulant per week and never experience unbearable anxiety, woohoo. I only experience a strong fear of dying about once a week now! Progress!
 
Hi all!

Hope you are doing well. It's great to read that alot of you have now recovered. I just wanted to get some advice on here to help me move on from the subject. Like you all, I have had my fair share of suffering, all the symptoms can basically be described as severe generalized anxiety with bouts of depression/DP. I never suffered from cognitive issues (in fact if anything I probably feel a bit smarter), never experienced HPPD or brain zaps, and insomnia was never really an issue either. I really want to move on from this idea of 'MDMA/LSD/drugs fucked me up oh noes', because it's a pretty depressing way to look at things. I actually had a very long stretch of normality, which I will describe below (I got a bit creative and included a timeline).

I suffered from my 'LTC' from July 2013 for about 6 months more or less. I had some pre existing anxiety, mainly panic attacks that came and went. Haven't touched any synthetic drug since June 2013. Here is how things went for me regarding my LTC (hate that term aha).

July 2013 - The beginning, life was pretty much hell, but I did have moments here and there where I felt peaceful.
November 2013 - Things gradually improving. Zest for life returning
January 2014 - Had about three weeks of feeling 90% recovered.
February 2014 - Minor setback, mainly just low mood/mild anxiety
April to June 2014 - Feeling all good. Fluctuating around 85-95%
July to September 2014 - Setback, almost felt back to square one. There actually was kinda a reason for this but I won't go into that!
Late September 2014 to June 2015 - I essentially felt like my old self again before this all began, with the occasional week where I had some anxiety flare up, but nowhere near as severe.
June 2015 - Square one, once again there was a reason for this.
July 2015 - I went to Europe and everyday just felt a wee bit better. Within a few weeks I was pretty much all good. By August I was feeling normal again.
Late September 2015 - Back from Europe. About four days after I was back I re-triggered the anxiety due to complications with a girl I guess.
November 2015 - Feeling worse than ever - probably due to researching on google and scaring/despairing myself into a state.

So as you can see I did experience a very long period where I went back to normal. Unfortunately during this anxiety flare up I decided to jump on Dr Google and do some research on MDMA Neurotoxicity. I regret this alot but hey it's in the past so whatever. Most of the stuff I read (studies by Ricaurte, Andrew C Parrott etc - hate these guys haha) was grim to say the least and suggested that I was fucked for life, but then I would read an article stating the opposite - that MDMA neurotoxicity is over stated - David Nutt's studies was one of these. After hitting one brick wall after another I decided it was a lost cause and it was just confusing the hell out of me. But it reinforced the fear that maybe I did mess myself up and now I have to live with it. I would love to not think this way and I would love to accept this as simply just anxiety, and not permanent damage. However that crafty brain of mine just loves to send me reminders several times a day, which really brings my mood down/flares my anxie.

So I was wondering, how the hell do I move past this? I know there's some great advice on here already, but if I go looking for it I will most likely read stuff that probably isn't healthy for my mental state too, a real catch 22 haha. My mind feels somewhat poisoned from reading worst case scenario stuff. I'm sure you can all relate to this alot!

Currently I am doing mindfulness meditations, reading books such as 'A New Earth' by Eckhart Tolle and 'At Last A Life and Beyond' by Paul David, exercising, dragging myself out of the house and trying to live life, distracting myself by watching movies and TV shows such as Naruto and the new Dragonball series (I'm loving this, especially the hilarious Japanese voices - watching Vegeta cooking is probably the funniest shit I have ever seen haha).

Anyways, any advice would be really helpful. Like I said I would truly love to move on and accept it as just anxiety, but my mind just goes over and over it. Like my mind has taken on a mind of it's own so to speak. Thanks all :)

Edit: if anyone is reading this and freaking out like 'omg he's still suffering after all this time?', rest assured I did go back to normal for a while.
 
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Its your thoughts, try to think positive and confince urself ur perfectly fine, since u also did feel normal for a while.
 
So 27 month status update:

These symptoms having been pretty constant for like 23 months since I got over the initial horrific trauma of my TBI.

Very very little motivation;
Almost total anhedonia;
Blurry vision;
Poor short term memory;
Brain just seems slow and stupid. I'm unable to process information like I used to. Almost like I have the start of dementia; ( I eventually lost my job as was unable to perform like I used to);
Loss of 'self'. Who knew you could actually lose ones self. It feels as though the old me has died and I am just an imposter. Like I look the same, sound the same but every action I do is forced and I respond in a way that I recall I used to but it is not genuine and does not come naturally;
I assume depression. Some will say that depression causes the loss of motivation and anhedonia but I say I have lost my motivation and ability to feel pleasure thus this is labeled as depression. (I have tried anti depressants and these don't work);
I used to be alive but now feel dead (like literally lost my persona). I feel as though I am just trying to get through each day. Day after day after day. Like adrift in the middle in the ocean treading water;
I am emotionally disconnected from people (including family) and my environment;
I have NO anxiety but did have horrid anxiety for the first 4 months but this literally stopped overnight. ( I have never had a panic attack).

I believe I have exhausted every recovery avenue. I have done mindfulness, transcending mediation, exercise, pharmaceuticals, even fasting. I have checked adrenals, hormones, all blood work, you name it. I have had about 80 CBT sessions with a psychologist but don't really believe these have helped. I have spent hundreds of hours researching and reading various blue light stories and suggested 'recovery' tips and tried these. And sure there are some great stories of recovery and certainly some great advice which is being offered and undoubtedly does help for some.

So why has the above not worked for me and why have I not recovered and am permanently in this constant state? I think the following puts me in the very small category of individuals who unfortunately don't recover. i) I took 3 or 4 very strong pressed pills (it was my first time) ii) I was very drunk and dehydrated and on an empty stomach at the time iii) I have zero memory of the entire evening (including taking all but one of the pills) iv) the pills were not tested so undoubtedly could have been any adulterant v) I clearly had some allergic / toxic reaction as my lip was incredibly swollen the following morning ( looked like something out of a Sifi film - and no I was not punched or bit my lip) vi) I literally had a burning brain sensation, like a million fuses had blown and vii) I had previously had a very bad Lyme / rickettsia infection which was finally treated but which I believe in hindsight probably made my brain more supseptible to a neurotoxic event.

So there you have it. Wishing the rest of you who can (and undoubtedly will) the best with your recovery.
 
Hey Nambo you are not alone I am coming on three years and have accepted the face this is my constant state. I'm always achy pressurized head and a former shell who I used to be. Tried everything you have but to no avail. I wish I was a meth addict instead at least I would have had an adequate recovery. Been to at least 100 doctors just like you . I still feel I have a heart problem caused by mdma like pots that I never had before . It's been hell man.
 
Im the same every minute of everyday is a struggle.
Got a pet/ct a week on Friday not a cure but hopfully get some answers from what's going on
 
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