Pills and paranoia

Hi, I've been using ecstasy regularly for almost two years now and this month I've experienced two cases of drug-induced paranoia which I've never encountered before.

In both cases I was at a familiar club or venue, had nothing other than pills and had not been up for days.

In my paranoid mode I constantly thought people in the club were staring and talking about me. I would tell myself that it was all in the mind but every time I looked around there would be people staring and talking, like they were talking about me. I also get an uneasy feeling of tension in the air, like groups of people were plotting something and something big like a brawl was about to break out.

Like I said before this only started happening recently after two years of use so I'm a bit worried about these paranoia symptoms and my mental state. I know paranoia with speed and ice is pretty common but I don't think I've heard of people suffering paranoia from pills before.

* If I took longer breaks between pills will it reduce or eliminate the paranoia symptoms (ie. reducing the amount and frequency of use)?

* I used to take 5-HTP regularly (post-loading) to assist in the replenishment of serotonin but stopped taking them 4-5 months ago. Could this be one of the main contributing factors for the paranoia?

* I also started dabbling with ice and marijuana a few months ago, I wasn't under the influence of these drugs when I felt paranoid (only pills) but was wondering if they somehow could be responsible for the onset when I take pills?

Thanks in advance.

Let me tell you one thing. Contrary to popular belief, pills whether they be predominately mdma based, or meth based could possibly make you experience paranoia. Especially if you have abusing the two regularly, some adverse symptoms can unfold.
The thing is mdma and methamphetamines are both classed as 'amphetamine-like drugs', so mdma, although having minor psychedelic and empathogenic qualities, as opposed to say, meth... still has many of the qualities that meth has alone. If that makes any sense?

But, it could have also been due to your frame of mind, or the surroundings of the club you were in. I know some of the harder 'rave-clubs' can have some really dodgey, shadey crowds these days and this is one of the reasons I no longer attend such clubs.
Anyways, I don't think your sort of paranoia is really that unsound, as for some people it is normal to feel uncormfortable in such environments, whether on pills or not.
My suggestion to you is, maybe either have a break, or change your surroundings.

here here

yeh i recently had a really bad night of paranoia on pills and a fair bit of goey, but later times when i went out just on pills i also experienced the paranoia. I thought that everyone in the club was a plain clothed or undercover cop and they were all planning on busting me with my measly few pills. To beat this i started taking my pills before i went out, so i had none on me. I had some earlier nights than usual, but it is slowely beating my paranoia, so that a couple of nights ago i was able to go out with pills on me, and i only experienced slight paranoia that i was able to dismiss.
I know that the way i fixed it wont work for you, but im just saying that you need to maybe just do pills with some good friends in a totally safe environment then slowely work back up.

Only time I get paranoid is if while im pilling I meet up with people who usually dont get along with me and coz we are on pills we are like 'SORRY MAN YOUR A FUCKIN SICK CUNT' then you go back to thiers for a smoke or whatever, come down and relise your right in enemey territory and the people you are with are actully useless shitheads

I got the exact same thing a few weeks ago. I was at a rather large rave n was having an awesome time for the first few hours and then as the pills were wearing off I suddenly started getting really paranoid and I honestly believed every single person there was looking at me. Everywhere I looked it seemed as if there was groups of people all staring n talking about me. I've gotten paranoid on pills before (usually on the comedown) but never nothing as bad as this. I used to take pills regularly and have cut down a lot recently and hadnt had any drugs at all for about 2 months previous.

maybe u had a couple of real speedy pills is all, wiv MDMA and meth in them
i neva feel paranoid on pills, in fact they mellow me out and make me LESS paranoid than id b normally
ive had plenty of tweaky rolls that do their best to make me paranoid tho

Set and Setting. Trust me.

*holds head*

i think the paranoia can be elminated with a few well placed drinks over the night....for me anyhow

Pleonastic said:

Set and Setting. Trust me.

*holds head*

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Too true. I have noticed that when taking MDMA at house parties where there are alot of people I don't know that on the tail end of the experience towards the point of coming down I often get very self-conscious. This is more so the case if everybody is just sitting around talking as I feel that I cannot come up with conversation topics that are interesting and that what I am saying sounds stupid. Best just to go for a walk, or leave altogether in my opinion. If you find yourself getting paranoid, then a change of setting can work wonders regardless of the drug you are on. If you are getting paranoid in these clubs, then go and grab one of your mates and go outside and have or walk or a chat with them, it will get your mind of the paranoia and talking through it with a friend might help you see that what you are thinking is all in your head. Also I find if you smoke a fair bit of pot on the tail end that this increases paranoia and self-consciousness

I'd stop taking drugs for good, it will only get worse from here I guarantee you.

I had to stop taking drugs because of the same thing happened to me while out a few times. After it happened a couple times I thought I'd be ok and kept takin pills/meth etc but it got worse and eventually became every time I went out I'd get paranoia.

So I stopped all drug use and I'm pretty much back to normal after a year with no drugs, but it wasn't pleasant.

I find I can tend to be a worrier at the best of times, so sometimes pills will enhance this part of my personality.

It mostly happens when I am at my regular club where I know everyone. I start to get a little paranoid the people around me, who I know through friends etc, are judging everything I am doing, what I am wearing etc etc. I am worried they're looking at me saying "god look how wasted she is". When in fact its completely opposite. I had a DJ friend of mine ask me one night after he finished his set if I had a good time, because I didn't seem to be jumping around crazy like I usually did to my favourite tracks. And the reason was because I was worried that he would think I was an idiot. Alcohol, and sober, I never care, and just do my own crazy thing. Pills I start to worry what people are thinking and become more reserved.

However, at a club where I know nobody, I go mad on pills. Have no paranoia whats so ever. I've decided to give up pills at my regular club, because I just don't enjoy the night as much.

So I guess, for me set and setting are way important!

Oh I do get parnoid like uni bum about getting busted. Regularly. I too have to consume before I leave the house. Then its all cruisy.

Hmm very interesting feedback and experience from all you guys so far, thanks for your input.

Like I said before I've never been paranoid on pills in the last 2 years of taking them until recently, the last psychosis occurred last Saturday at my favourite club and I was with good friends. I go to this club at least 2-3 times a month and I always had a ball so it was quite bizarre that it occurred then.

I think the recent change in perception of the rave scene could of also played a part in the recent paranoia episodes. I think the crowds are getting really seedy/messy and a lot of people I knew and had fun with have faded away from the scene. Hence when I go out there are a lot more strange faces and a lot more distrust. I think it's possible that in my head "sketchy crowd" + "I don't know a lot of these faces" = "paranoia".

I also remember in the earlier days of going out I had no problems with going crazy and clowning around on the dancefloors. These days even when I'm not paranoid I'm a lot more self-conscious and less inclined to have a rock on the dancefloor.

So I reckon after my birthday celebration this weekend I'm going to slow down a bit, start taking 5-HTP again and look myself more. Hopefully this will give my head and body a bit of a chance to recuperate.

'Set and Setting' was the first thing that came to my mind reading this thread too. Getting over the whole scene and tolerance might be a part of it too, just out of curiosity do you test your pills?

psytaco said:

Also I find if you smoke a fair bit of pot on the tail end that this increases paranoia and self-consciousness

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About 2-3 months ago I started smoking bongs at the tail end of weekends to help me sleep and to take the edge off things, for example, on a Sunday afternoon after going out Saturday night. But I never felt paranoid when stoned in these situations (probably because I was always at home and with friends) and I won't have bongs again till the next tail end of a bender weekend.

So technically I wasn't stoned nor had significant levels of THC in my body when I took pills and went paranoid. But is it possible that whatever low-level of THC I had in my body brought on the paranoia?

Fry-d- said:

'Set and Setting' was the first thing that came to my mind reading this thread too. Getting over the whole scene and tolerance might be a part of it too, just out of curiosity do you test your pills?

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Yes, I do test my pills with both the Marquis and Mandelin kits but I'm a lot more complacent about it these days.

From reading your set and setting link I could relate to a lot of things that were discussed about losing the excitement of going out and taking pills.

What the guy said about the change in music tastes is so true, I used to like playing and listening to cheesy/happy music but these days I cringe when I hear it and only get into darker and harder music like hardstyle (please keep your hardstyle comments to yourself hehe). I used to love wearing candy and phatties but now cbf'ed a lot of the times.

I'm really starting to agree that my mindset, the setting and the overuse of pills is responsible for my paranoia.

aside from set and setting what about the effects of low levels of dopamine and serotonin in the brain before taking pills? i found this on another forum

MDMA releases serotonin and dopamine, along with a little adrenaline.

- If your serotonin levels and your dopamine levels are good then you will have an experience that oscillates from eyes rolling back, knees wobbly, and warm fuzzies (high serotonin) to superman energy, sociability, and confidence (dopamine).

- If your serotonin reserves are low then your experience will be mostly hyperactive euphoria (dopamine & a little adrenaline).

- If your dopamine levels are low then you will have a very sedate 'smacky' experience with lots of eyes rolling back and inability to stand up - you might also be more withdrawn and less sociable (serotonin).

- If your dopamine AND serotonin levels are very low then you will get none of the nice dopamine and serotonin effect and your experience will primarily focus on the adrenaline response. In effect you will have a very messy anxiety attack. Although, there are many shades of this and they can range from just being very messy and irritable to being emotionally empty and of low selfesteem, right across to full blown paranoid delusions that can last for days afterwards.


A change in transmitter levels from one week (or month) to the next can be all it takes to provide a totally different experience to exactly the same drug. In most cases the progression is from having enjoyable experiences to suddenly or gradually having yucky experiences, but the reverse also happens (for obvious reasons this is not reported as frequently).

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atom_boy: Do you have the URL/source for that? If you do, could you post it? Thanks

Atom_boy that information is very interesting as I don't think I've come across anything like that before. If you can provide the link it will be greatly appreciated!

Motion Thirded - that's quite interesting, and seems plausable enough. Would explain a lot of weird and different experiences I've had and also seen people have.