Permanent MDMA nerve damage? Or...?

[Octane151]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I made this account solely in hopes of finally finding an answer to this. I've scoured the internet for countless hours trying to figure this out. A lot of you sound pretty smart, so hopefully you can shed some light on this.
Apologies in advance for the length, so if the experience details are too long please just scroll down to the bold paragraph and see if you have an answer.




To jump right into things, a guy I used to work with (we'll call him Fred) has intensive MDMA experience and had been using it regularly for about 5 months, quit for about 9 months, and then got back into it off and on for about 3 months. MDMA was Fred's favorite hobby to the point where he knew more about it than anybody I know.
He has been clean from all drugs (aside from marijuana) for some time now, but only because he was frightened into giving it all up.
Fred went to pick up some MDMA one night and when he got there, this stuff had a light blue hue to it and was in solid crystal form in rocks ranging from .5 to 3 inches. Think of the "Blue" off of Breaking Bad. I'm assuming this is from the methylamine.
Anyway, after assuming he just got ripped off for $110 a gram, it turned out to be the best purchase that Fred has ever made to date.


Fred went home that night and did an average sized line of this MDMA. Immediately after he felt how insanely euphoric this was compared to all other previous MDMA, he instantly did another. This turned out to be the best 10 hours (yes... 10) of his entire life, and probably always will be.
Everyone always says their molly is "pure MDMA". No it's fucking not. This was. According to Fred.
Well Fred didn't sleep at all that night, nor was he tired, so the next night he did one fat line and waited for the best night of his life round 2. Nothing happened. So he did 2 more lines. Nothing happened other than a slight head change. After a total of 7 FAT lines, Fred gave up and would have cried with disappointment if he wasn't so intoxicated with a drug that mainly just numbed his emotions instead of euphoria. His serotonin was completely depleted.


This is where my question comes in. Fred got out of bed the next day and his fingertips and the tips of his toes were completely numb. He played this off for a week, just thinking that it would go away once it was out of his system.
It's been a few weeks shy of 6 months, and Fred still has complete numbness in the tips of his fingers and toes (increasing in numbness from thumb to pinky, oddly) and Fred and I are both wanting to know... WHY? What happened that night? Did he just fry his nerve endings? Is it some other physical issue? I'm just looking for an explanation, and what to do to heal/fix this? I will be very, very appreciative for any insight on this matter, as well as if anyone has had the same issue.

Thanks in advance

 

[Maya]

^So as I understand OP, your coworker did not test the product at all? The number one rule before taking mdma is to "always test your product"

I was guilty of just randomly ingesting mdma without testing it, and I too suffered from some nasty effects for about a year. Has your coworker visited a doctor just to make sure it is not another issue? We can't assume at this point that this has been caused by mdma and your coworker might have some type of underlying condition that is totally unrelated to mdma.

I will transfer this to the MDMA forum as I think you will get better responses from there.

 

[Octane151]

Maya-

My coworker did test the product and liked it a lot. However, when he tested it it felt just like any other MDMA because he didn't take into consideration that he only did a very small bump and got the same effects. I suppose it was his own fault for not thinking hard enough about the potency, but until that second night, everything was more than perfect and the potency was enjoyable.

True, that it could be an underlying condition but I just believe it to be more than coincidence that this arose only after heavy MDMA use within a 2 day period. His doctor is a family friend so unfortunately he isn't comfortable talking to her about it, although he has thought of it many times.

And thanks, didn't see that forum.

 

[neurotic]

i guess what Maya was trying to say by 'testing your product' was using a MDMA test kit (one of these reagents and shit that change color bla bla bla) to verify if what you had was in fact MDMA and not something else. i don't know if you understood that, but when you said that your coworker 'did test your product and liked it a lot' it seemed that you understood as if Maya was referring to 'test your product' as do a small line before and see if it's good.

don't know if i expressed myself right... english's not my first language... i don't have experience with MDMA though, just had to point that out... also, what about seeing a different doctor, that is not related to you???

 

[Octane151]

neurotic-

Ohhh okay. Yeah I thought Maya meant trying it out.

No, he did not use a test kit. He knows they exist, but has never seen one or know where to buy them. Not that he needs it anymore though.
As for a different doctor, I've thought about that too. Unfortunately, since he's in the process of moving out of his parents' house and are on their health insurance it would be difficult to come up with a reason to see a different doctor since they know he doesn't have a problem with the current one.
"Hey mom and dad, I need insurance to switch doctors so I can talk to him about drugs" doesn't sound very good

 

[neurotic]

shit, man... only thing i can think of is may be going to this related doctor and sayin your fingertips have been completely numb for like 6 months and you don't really have an idea why, i don't know? may be it in fact is unrelated to your MDMA binge or whatever (hopefully)... but i don't know much about MDMA... these effects lasting for 6 months is the part that scares me the most

good luck man hope you get better...

 

[Yellow-Pudding]

from this thread http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/563327-Arms-tingling-and-fingers-tensed
personally, nerve damage doesn't happen on me so i'll just quote

I have seen these sort of symptoms in people who roll for long periods of time without taking in adequate nutrition. It's hard to say which particular vitamin or electrolyte deficiency can cause this as many deficiencies can cause tetany (involuntary contractures) of the fingers, but in an otherwise healthy adult my first guess would be an acute deficiency of magnesium which can be caused by a decreased intake of water, excess sweating, and excess salt intake. Hypomagnesemia can cause tingling in your skin as well as muscle rigidity and tightness.

MDMA itself is unknown to cause tetany, but the state of acute nutritional deficiency that your body may suffer during and after a roll certainly can. More importantly, it is these nutritional deficiencies that are the greatest danger to people who roll, and not the MDMA. As you know, nutritional deficiencies can kill you (particularly hyponatremia from drinking too much water).

These deficiencies can manifest themselves days after your roll if you do not correct them. They can be extremely dangerous. Fortunately, avoiding these problems is ver, very easy. Make sure you take a multivitamin before and after your roll. This is not just pop-science and rave-culture talk of old wives' tale ways of making rolls better. It makes a real difference. Also, drink only the water that you have lost. Better than water are electrolyte replacement drinks such as Gatorade. By taking vitamins, eating a well balanced meal the day of and after the roll, and replacing water and electrolytes that you have lost, you can virtually eliminate all acute risks of MDMA.

Please be careful.

 

[Octane151]

I also want to clarify since I know this will come up again at some point in this post:

Although he has no concrete proof that this was in fact MDMA, Fred has tried almost every well known drug, including crystal meth.

Meth is what would seem like the obvious one. He's tried meth. He's also bought drugs cut with meth. There is an Extremely profound difference here. Fred hates the feeling of meth, and is very familiar with MDMA. This was a once in a lifetime chance to buy MDMA that was synthesized, then sold straight to Fred without a middleman. I won't say where it came from, but I heard it had something to do with bitcoins. Whatever those might be...

 

[Octane151]

neurotic-

Thanks, he has no other symptoms now thank god but it's just really bothering him that part of his body isn't working properly without knowing why.


Pudding-

^^This. This makes a lot of sense. My coworker was up for a little over 4 days and is already known to have a small appetite due to Vyvanse prescription, so maybe this lack of eating much before the roll triggered this side effect and the lack of sleep made it permanent? This is the best I have so far, but it seems like he would have recovered after replenishing these nutrients...

Thanks

 

[zebrafish]

Octane,

Has your numbness increased in severity or changed in distribution over the months?
Are you able to feel your fingers and toes at all, or are they just subjectively numb?

Also how old are you? Do you have a history of diabetes?
Is there any difference in the skin texture of your fingers or toes or change in color? Does the numbness get worse when you are in a cold environment?

If this is going on for 6 months, you should probably find a different doctor and get it checked out. What you are describing sounds like a peripheral neuropathy.
In the absence of an underlying genetic based condition, there are several possible causes of this:
Diabetes is the most common cause of peripheral neuropathy, but I am assuming you are young, and this tends to happen with more advanced diabetes.
Electrolyte abnomalities such as hypercalcemia (high calcium) can cause this, however the classic finding with this is perioral numbness.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause a peripheral neuropathy.
Exposure to certain toxins such as lead, arsenic, or mercury are known to cause peripheral neuropathy.
This may also be due to relative ischemia to your fingers/toes due to increased vascular tone to your periphery, such as Reynaud's phenomenon.

You should get at least general lab work done including a B12 level. If it continues to persist, think about getting an electromyography/nerve conduction study.
You should rule out other causes before attributing this to MDMA damage.