• MDMA &
    Empathogenic
    Drugs

    Welcome Guest!
  • MDMA Moderators:

Will I die? MDMA overdose

C

chrisss9

Greenlighter
Joined
Oct 17, 2015
Messages
10
Two weeks ago, I went out with a couple of friends and sniffed some MDMA. We took about 50mg lines every time, in total I think I done about 700mg which is stupid I know. Anyway, while I was high I had like a 5 second panic attack where everything changed colour and I started to feel really dizzy. Other than that it was a fun night. The day after I was fine, it was the day after that when things started getting horrible. I started reliving those panic attacks but they were coming all the time and I felt dizzy and my heart beat was irregular. I also experienced pains all over the chest and other random places. After an extremely intense panic attack, I went to A&E where they checked blood pressure, pulse and they did an ECG and everything was fine. I've been in to A&E a lot thinking that I was going to die but they said it was just anxiety. Its been two weeks now and im starting to get a little bit better, but im still worried that i've done some damage to my heart. Any help would be appreciated :)
 
Hi there Chris, I would practice relaxing and take some deep slow breaths in through your stomache, and remember to do this next time you feel a panic attack coming on. Slow breathing through the stomache is key.

What's very classic is that when people have panic attacks they hyperventilate using their ribcage/chest to breathe, rest assured this is not harmful to the heart at all even though your heart rate has risen and you can feel your heartbeat during an attack, but chest breathing can end up causing various musculoskeletal pains and problems. Pectoralis Minor (a muscle used in inhalation) pain from hyperventilating is classicly confused with heart pain, and the ribcage moving so much can cause weird pains all over, as well as cause you to feel your heart rate more distinctly from some different arteries (not your heart itself) being close to your collarbone.

Would you say you're in okay shape otherwise? Not very old or overweight and such? Your heart rate/rhythm going nuts during a panic attack and palpitations and such is completely normal, and although it's uncomfortable it is pretty harmless. Dizziness and other problems with pins and needles and strange feelings are because of the bloodflow changes with all the adrenaline and oxygen changes with the hyperventilating, don't worry you're not dying and your heart is vey likely just fine :) Also vision color changes are classic with the changes in oxygen/blood flow to the brain that come along with hyperventilating/panic attacks.

Don't let the stigma of anxiety convince you otherwise! Anxiety is an incredibly powerful thing and can convince us we have all sorts of things wrong with us. Things will get better as you get some rest and nights of good sleep. Meditation can also help greatly, practice letting your mind go quiet and pay attention to the sensation of breathing slowly, this can help with your panic attacks. But don't worry your heart is just as strong as it was before you did the MDMA :) If you wanted to be absolutely certain there was nothing wrong (just to get the anxiety out of your head) I would pursue an echocardiogram but not really to check for damage or anything, just purely to get the anxiety out of your head.
 
Last edited:
Thank you, and I am 17 and in shape. I also smoke and drink from time to time.
I was hoping I haven't triggered serotonin syndrome which suit some of my symptoms. Everything has cleared up apart from some random dizziness, irregular heartbeat and pains all over the body.
 
If you're 17 and in shape your heart itself is fine :) It takes decades of stimulant abuse to have heart problems once you're in your old age. The only real thing that could possibly be wrong (and I doubt this, if you had the ECG around the time of an attack it should've found it) is a genuine arrhythmia like atrial-fibrillation, however extremely rare in young people. Typical of a-fib is a feeling of the heart flopping, an episode can last more than a couple minutes to a couple hours. If you are really worried about this a cardiologist could set you up with a device to help monitor your heart rate, and when you have these dizziness/heartbeat spells you would use the device and it will gather better information. A-fib itself is relatively harmless and you can live with it for many years especially as a young person but it does scare people. There is also cardiac stress testing, they will monitor your heart while they make you run on a treadmill. I think the stress testing would be best because it would be nice to clear you for exercise, cardio is extremely helpful for recovering from hard rolling. But don't stress yourself silly over this XD

When you had the ECG would you say you were in the midst of having what you would describe as irregular heartbeat/dizziness or was the irregular heartbeat/dizziness gone by the time you had the ECG? If you had the ECG near an "attack" then it should have found an actual arrhythmia and there would be not much point in pursuing other cardiac monitoring. It could be summed up to bad anxiety/panic attacks in that case.

I wouldn't worry about an arrhythmia too much though.
Typically an irregular heartbeat is from there not be a steady flow of oxygen (usually from irregular breathing). The heartbeat can be changing a lot not because of a rhythm problem, but just because your body is trying to guess how much oxygen you need and slow down or speed up your heart rate accordingly. It's in this manner that irregular breathing leads to an irregular heart rate for many people. This is really a sign that your heart rate is actually functioning well, just that you're having anxiety etc. problems :(

The serotonin system can become a little dysregulated for a while after some heavy rolling, this will sort itself out in time but in general healthy living will speed things along. You could try some 5-HTP if you wanted, maybe 50mg in the morning but I wouldn't keep it up if you get more anxiety/sleep issues or whatever while taking it. A multi-vitamin would likely do some good if you don't take one already. A couple things get thrown off after heavy MDMA use that sort themselves out after about 6 weeks or so, especially bloodflow to the brain which messes everything up. If you're feeling up to it and it doesn't provoke your symptoms I highly recommend some exercise, especially light cardio a couple times a week for 20 minutes or so but even just a long walk would be good. Could you be anymore specific with these pains that you are having? Are they at all like pins/needles or zaps?
 
Last edited:
I've had 3 ECG's in the last two weeks and they've all been fine. I was dizzy when I had one of the ECG's but I didn't feel my heart to see if I was having a palpitation. I have gone for a few walks and felt a bit dizzy afterwards.
The pains that I have are normally on my armpit, anywhere around the chest, wrist and legs. They are either aches or a slight burning sensation (mostly aches). I have got pins and needles in my hands too but only when I am anxious.
 
Your heart is most definitely doing good rhythm wise then, the only thing left to rule out cardiac issues would be an echocardiogram but I wouldn't worry about it unless you want it to completely rid yourself of anxiety related to something being wrong with your heart. You are a young lad and your heart should be just fine :) I believe this is not only anxiety but post-MDMA binge problems you are having, how has your sleep been doing?

The pins and needles in your hands is likely from oxygen problems in your peripheral nervous system, too much oxygen is a big cause of pins and needles that start in the extremity. This is technically known as respiratory alkalosis. When you breathe too quickly your blood fills up with oxygen and not enough CO2, which means that even though you have lots of oxygen in your blood stream your cells actually can't use it because your cells need CO2 to do the gas exchange basically. So you have so much oxygen that your tissues are being deprived of oxygen. Have they ever taken your blood oxygen levels during one of these episodes? Its counter-intuitive because you will be gasping for air when the problem is actually too much oxygen. This is common with panic attacks though and is a big reason why breathing quickly makes things worse. This is a big cause of feeling lightheaded with panic attacks, blood flow/oxygen to the brain is very reduced during respiratory alkalosis episodes and blood flow to the front part of your brain is reduced for around 6 weeks after MDMA as well. This ain't a good combo.

You could think about buying an oximeter (probably 30-40$) to investigate this respiratory alkalosis theory, I'm sure your oxygen saturates when you're having an attack anyways but it would be helpful to have it on hand if you are exercising and also to check your blood oxygen during your dizzy spells. 100% blood oxygen definitely ain't the goal here.

That you could be having problems with pins and needles in your hands associated with anxiety hints that the respiratory alkalosis is likely very real, but adrenaline constricting your blood vessels reduces blood flow to the nerves as well and can kick up pins and needles. This lack of blood flow and oxygen can make for bodily pains all over, serotonin dysregulation aside. When your muscles don't have natural oxygen they find a way to make their own oxygen and this results in a mild burning.

Its good that you're walking and getting out there though, I would continue to take some light walks and stay hydrated with electrolytes, don't eat too much garbage and avoid alcohol. If you can pin down that you're having oxygen problems with the oximeter I suggest exercising more whole heartedly (no pun intended), but I wouldn't be surprised if it makes you light headed with weird body sensations like pins and needles sorta until you get your breathing under control. Any questions fire away, good luck.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for your input.
I have been sleeping roughly 3am till about 10am every day.
Yes they have taken my blood oxygen levels when I felt extremely dizzy. (a blood test straight from the artery) Everything came back ok.
Honestly it's probably all in my head. The strange thing is that when im taking my own pulse, I feel it skipping beats every now and then, but when other people take it they cannot feel the skips.
Because my oxygen levels are fine does that rule out a lot of heart problems?
 
Hi chris, concerning the blood oxygen levels what I really meant was did they ever put a small device on the end of your finger and say if your oxygen was saturated or whatever? If it was they may not have bothered to elaborate.. That's called an oximeter and it checks to see if you have low oxygen (normally the concern and the one nurses are looking for), however in your case my concern is actually too much oxygen and not enough CO2, I think you could be suffering from this and I don't expect that they would have checked for this or known that too much oxygen is really a problem (my personal experience with this is most medical professionals don't know about it, especially nurses). So they might have noted it to themselves that you were oxygen saturated but all they told you was the simple answer: Anxiety.

This is often a transient problem and it can come and go (and therefore escape testing because it can correct itself within a minute if your breathing relaxes enough). Though at that point it might not be detectable in the periphery (measurement from your finger) the recent lack of oxygen could still be affecting your brain.

Feeling lightheaded/dizzy is often times your body telling you to lie down so your brain can get some more oxygen.

If it is irregular breathing/adrenaline leading to your perception of "skipped beats" but you control your breathing better when your friend is taking the pulse for you (maybe you are more conscious of your breath when they are taking it and not when you are on your own) I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's causing the difference. You could actually check your heart rate accurately with an oximeter though.

But if you have the blood results and wouldn't mind posting them, I'd be curious to see if they took your arterial blood gas levels. But honestly an oximeter (if you know some old person that has one and can borrow one for a couple days) could prove very useful to see if your oxygen levels are riding high when you are having problems.

The ECGs have ruled out heart rhythm problems and you are much too young to have another kind of heart issue, I really wouldn't worry about your heart itself. Especially since you're having pain outside of your chest too, don't get freaked out by chest pains. The chest is a large area and there are lots of things on it that can hurt :D

Could you describe the dizziness spells a little bit? Any vision changes like tunnel vision or seeing small dots/specks of light like you're looking closely at a TV/computer? Does the dizziness get better when you lie down for a while?

I advise you to get all the sleep that you can get, sleep is incredibly important.
 
They did but a small device on my finger actually, they said that was fine too. They also listened to my chest and said that was good.
Sorry but I don't have the results. :/
The dizzy spells were constant for the first week, I felt completely out of it and everything seemed like a dream. I have a very very small black dot in my vision, but that was there before the mdma. It helps alot when I lie down after these dizzy spells although they still can occur when i'm laying down. Now I get these dizzy spells about once a day for about 1 minute, so they are dramatically improving.
 
I suspect when they said it was fine they were just saying you didn't have low oxygen, this is what they're trained to look for and the only usually concern. And if they did happen to notice your oxygen was running high they probably wouldn't tell you your oxygen was saturated, just that you had anxiety (anxiety was the source of the oxygen saturation). So in that case the elevated oxygen would just be a symptom of the panic attack. But if oxygen saturation itself is giving you problems down the road (pins and needles type stuff) I'd say its important to think about. Its good that they listened to your chest, with that I believe its safe to say your heart is doing 100% fine. The only other heart problem you could've remotely possibly had (and the one that happens decades down the road of heavy MDMA abuse) is ruled out with that if they had a listen.

I wonder if these dizzy spells aren't more related to blood pressure/brain blood flow, which is reduced for a couple weeks post-MDMA. But that it helps when you lie down suggests it might have something more to do with classic light headedness and blood flow. One of the metabolites of MDMA is actually a high blood pressure medication, it seems to kick in post-MDMA and give some people low blood pressure problems bad for a while after but it goes away. I think this might be some of what you're getting, combined with the reduced bloodflow (from changes in serotonin) you could be having these dizziness problems. I should've asked, is this something that gets kicked up if you lie down for a long time and then stand up suddenly? Maybe this is just classic low blood pressure and they didn't necessarily say so. Because they'd really only be looking for a high-blood pressure heart attack kind of situation. In the same sense they wouldn't be caring about too much oxygen, they'd only care about low oxygen. Also blood pressure taken from your arm (with an inflatable cuff) doesn't always correlate to how much blood flow/oxygen your brain is getting very well, but lightheadedness/dizziness itself is caused by some sensors in your neck essentially. They tell you to get dizzy/lightheaded to make you lie down when they think you're not getting enough blood, and sometimes these sensors go off a little much. In this case you could feel dizzy/etc. but your blood pressure wouldn't be horribly low.

I'm glad they're getting a lot better though, with that rate of improvement you should be much much better in a couple weeks. Keep doing what you've been doing, don't lay around too much, walking and getting moving is important but don't stress yourself. If you're still having panic attack problems and that sort of stuff I would think about trying to borrow an oximeter and check out your oxygen but aside from that I don't think there's too much else to help you besides time and some light exercise. Hopefully months down the road more into regular cardio when you're feeling up to it.
 
Last edited:
No, these dizzy spells were 24/7 for the first week. Now they aren't as bad and only get dizzy when I stand up or if i've been standing up for a while.
I'll try and get hold of a oximeter if i'm still feeling bad in about two weeks. It seems everything is ok, but the palpitations are just horrible.
 
Oh shit, I feel so stupid I should've been asking about the low blood pressure before XD These are definitely blood pressure problems. Sorry, I thought this would have been talked about at the A&E (low blood pressure is healthy in many peoples eyes) but I think its very likely this is what you're having issues with and they just didn't find particularly low enough blood pressure to mention it (they're used to worrying about high blood pressure with heart attacks), or if they didn't bother to take your blood pressure going from sitting to standing.

If when you stand up you get dizzy and ESPECIALLY that you get dizzy if you've been standing for a while, this is so typical of low blood pressure problems, possibly related to some mild deconditioning and made worse by the MDMA but you can have problems regulating your blood pressure that come with the serotonin dysregulation. A lot of things can contribute to low blood pressure but if this dizziness, especially when standing, sticks around another couple of weeks my number one piece of advice is aerobic conditioning. This will help, I promise. The dizziness can stick around for a bit even after the low blood pressure is gone, so that's another reason why they might not have caught on at the clinic. And once again these blood pressure problems combined with reduced blood flow to the brain after MDMA can mix together badly, so even if the blood pressure is not very low, it can seem a lot lower in how it actually affects you.

The oximeter might not be useful for low blood pressure but it will be useful regarding the panic attack type stuff and to check out your blood oxygen when exercising, also it will reliably measure your pulse at least if that's still bugging you. The palpitations can be thought of as temporary tachycardia, your heart's contractions grow stronger and quicker to try to maintain your blood pressure, and the way your body measures your blood pressure and then tells your heart what to do your heart beat can vary a lot from moment to moment. So the heart rhythm can get a little nuts during low blood pressure. Especially upon standing is this typically noticed, and once again especially when standing for long periods. Its also a common complaint to have more of these low blood pressure type problems when you've been in a warm bath/shower for a while. The heat dilates your blood vessels and lowers your blood pressure even more.

Anyways, I believe your heart itself is doing great but you are possibly a little deconditioned and having some problems with blood pressure due to serotonin dysregulation, those last about 4-6 weeks I've heard. And once again blood pressure that's even a tad on the low side would be making this MDMA-brain-bloodflow change more severe. Goodluck, any questions welcome.
 
Last edited:
Is there any need to worry about low blood pressure? I've had my blood pressure checked 3 times and the doctors said it was fine. I should have mentioned that I have just started medication yesterday (lorazepam). The thing is before I took it I didn't feel that dizzy at all and maybe its a side effect of the drug. Another thing is when had my pulse checked, it's normally around 55-75.
 
Low blood pressure although uncomfortable is not dangerous at all aside from the risk of fainting and smashing your head. I suspect when someone said your blood pressure was fine it might have been on the tad low side of things, possibly elevated due to adrenaline/vasoconstriction at the time so maybe not reflecting the true value, but the true test is measuring your blood pressure change as you go from sit to stand. Or from lying down to upright. Anyways, like I said, blood pressure that's a tad on the low side can make for dizziness/palpitations when standing and its not something that jumps out when they take someone's blood pressure and its tad low, they say to themselves "I wish I had blood pressure like that". But no, no need to worry about it. And either through return of normal blood flow after the MDMA blood flow changes are gone or through some aerobic conditioning you'll find yourself back to normal eventually.

Did you mean to say that after you took the lorazepam you didn't feel that dizzy? I thought you'd been having dizziness problems for a while? Was it just worse with lorazepam? I have a lot to say about lorazepam but suffice it to say its EXTREMELY addicting and withdrawals are horrible, try not to use it for more than a week or so, and avoid using it two days in a row if you can. Also that pulse is healthy. Its hard to say how efficient your heart is though or if you're not deconditioned, just having blood flow problems because of the MDMA.

It makes sense that if your dizziness problems are not entirely from blood pressure but rather panic attack/respiratory alkalosis that the lorazepam would help your dizziness. But benzodiazepines like that typically dilate the blood vessels and relax things, slowing the heart rate as well. If anything causing low blood pressure. Sorry its late and I'm fried lol. But there could be multiple things at work here anyways, your heart itself is in fine shape though. Maybe a little under conditioned.
 
Last edited:
To add another voice to help assure you, I also believe you are suffering from the effects of anxiety. Lorazepam is excellent for acute anxiety as it kicks in quickly and doesn't stay for long, thus getting you through panic episodes.

I too have low blood pressure. When I stand up I get dizzy sometimes .(I wish I had a giraffes heart sometimes, cos it would pump blood to my brain faster) It is perfectly natural, however, the lorazepam may exacerbate this effect while you are at peak levels.

You have nothing to worry about. Maybe the MDMA brought an underlying anxiety issue to the forefront of your mind that you had previously not known about. Anxiety is so common these days that there are so many ways to combat it. I use a breathing technique called heart mathematics. First I find my pulse. I then count it. I find a number I like, say three. I breathe in over three heartbeats accentuating the breathe during the heartbeats. I make sure to breathe in deeply so It feels like my stomach is filling up. Then I hold for a count of three heartbeats. I then breathe out over three heartbeats accentuating the breathe over the beats. I do this to combat panic attacks. It helps make you conscious of your heartbeat and breathing and helps keep it under control. If this and other techniques don't work, I take a .5mg xanax.
 
I had very bad dizziness for a week, then started to slightly improve. Taking the lorazepam worked for a bit, but when I woke up I felt even dizzier.
Last night I felt really relaxed but my heart randomly started beating very fast for about 1minute, until I took some deep breathes.
 
Sounds like a mix of anxiety and low blood pressure, normally drugs like lorazepam/Xanax etc. dilate the blood vessels a little and slow the heart rate a tad, leading to a little more low blood pressure. They also help relax your adrenaline, since vasoconstriction from adrenaline would normally raise your blood pressure it could be contributing to dizziness in that way as well. Typically after you wake up your body is very relaxed, your resting heart rate has dropped a lot and you don't have much adrenaline in your system, so your body is not as prepared to deal with the blood pressure change upon standing. Combine just waking up with a benzo in your system I think that makes for a low blood pressure scenario.

Sometimes your system slows your heart rate down too much and then once it figures out you need more oxygen your heart can go nuts for a little bit, this is likely just your body trying to sort out it's oxygen and it always will do a solid job of sorting it out for you, so don't worry about that, humans didn't come all this way because they're made of fragile fluff :D

Good work on the deep breathing, it really does work wonders once you get it down and can focus in on it and do it by instinct in stressful situations. Keep soldiering on and look into some light cardio in the future if the dizziness upon standing doesn't get better in a couple weeks. Sometimes a week of laying around and not sleeping too great after some drug use leads to some mild deconditioning, especially if you're laying down a lot because you're dizzy. Just for reference you have to re-learn how to walk if you are in a coma for just 4 weeks.

The original dizziness might have been from the MDMA but basically, since it made you dizzy and out of it, the deconditioning from that experience could be playing a role with the future dizziness. A classic supplement for people who have other types of low blood pressure problems is salt by the way, so don't be afraid to add in a couple shakes of salt on meals and also keep hydrated. Once again careful with using the lorazepam on a regular basis (2 weeks in a row etc.), good luck to you
 
Thank you for the help, do you think I'd be better off with or without the lorazepam?
 
My opinion is don't use it long term because it will mess up your sleep far down the road and is not healthy for you brain, and don't become dependent on it by using it too many days in a row. But some short term use (couple times a week for a couple months) should be okay. Take the minimum dose that you need though, no need to take the whole pill often times. But mainly its just not something you want to take every day for a month. Good luck, if you ever have any questions feel free to PM me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top