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Would this be damaging to my Serotonin receptors / brain (SSRI's and MDMA)?

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R3PTIL3

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Aug 16, 2012
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Okay, so I've done MDMA properly twice. The first being around the 18th of June, the second being the 3rd of July. I say 'properly' because I've taken it 3 or 4 times, one of which was an awkward underdose that had me feeling very uncomfortable for a few hours, after which I still had to suffer the comedown - which wasn't fun and the other I stupidly did (Only one line ~50 - 70 mg's) while coming down from the 3rd July's experience (so the 4th July).

However, on the 12th of July I started taking 50mg Sertraline (Zoloft) daily, which is an SSRI. This is primarily due to my (social) anxiety causing attacks of stomach cramps / IBS symptoms etc and after telling my Doctor that weed and Valium both completely make me feel okay, he prescribed me these (despite being an entirely separate type of drug lul).

Now, obviously I don't wanna get Seratonin Syndrome which means that I can't take them both together and if I want to feel anything from the MDMA I'm gonna need at least a week cold turkey from the Zoloft I would've thought / can anyone clarify this?

I'm asking primarily because, unexpectedly a friend whom I haven't seen in years is coming over from the other side of the world and there's a free festival on the 27th - 28th of July. I'd really like to take MDMA on at least one night, perhaps the 28th to give myself more time without the Zoloft in my system, so would immediately stopping the Zoloft today (hasn't even been the two week trial period yet, seeing my Doctor next Wednesday to see if I've had much of an improvement (which I haven't much, but it's only been a week) and to get my prescription renewed if so.

Also, ideally I'd like to not be on SSRI's all the time anyway and was thinking I might just not take them for the summer, where I'm not in 'forced' social environments - such as work / college / etc - and only take them when I go back to my new college (where I won't know a single person <3)

So my main questions are:

- Will I even roll if I've been on Zoloft for a week, then go cold turkey for a week?
- Will doing the above damage / overwork the seratonin receptors in my brain / cause any lasting damage?
- Should I take 5HTP the day after rolling or go back to my Zoloft?
- Does this sound like an overall bad idea / should I just not roll and finish the 2 week Zoloft trial?
- How long should I wait before returning to my Zoloft after rolling or can it be the next day / 24 hours?

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated
 
R3PTIL3 said:
Okay, so I've done MDMA properly twice. The first being around the 18th of June, the second being the 3rd of July. I say 'properly' because I've taken it 3 or 4 times, one of which was an awkward underdose that had me feeling very uncomfortable for a few hours, after which I still had to suffer the comedown - which wasn't fun and the other I stupidly did (Only one line ~50 - 70 mg's) while coming down from the 3rd July's experience (so the 4th July).

However, on the 12th of July I started taking 50mg Sertraline (Zoloft) daily, which is an SSRI. This is primarily due to my (social) anxiety causing attacks of stomach cramps / IBS symptoms etc and after telling my Doctor that weed and Valium both completely make me feel okay, he prescribed me these (despite being an entirely separate type of drug lul).

Now, obviously I don't wanna get Seratonin Syndrome which means that I can't take them both together and if I want to feel anything from the MDMA I'm gonna need at least a week cold turkey from the Zoloft I would've thought / can anyone clarify this?

I'm asking primarily because, unexpectedly a friend whom I haven't seen in years is coming over from the other side of the world and there's a free festival on the 27th - 28th of July. I'd really like to take MDMA on at least one night, perhaps the 28th to give myself more time without the Zoloft in my system, so would immediately stopping the Zoloft today (hasn't even been the two week trial period yet, seeing my Doctor next Wednesday to see if I've had much of an improvement (which I haven't much, but it's only been a week) and to get my prescription renewed if so.

Also, ideally I'd like to not be on SSRI's all the time anyway and was thinking I might just not take them for the summer, where I'm not in 'forced' social environments - such as work / college / etc - and only take them when I go back to my new college (where I won't know a single person <3)

So my main questions are:

- Will I even roll if I've been on Zoloft for a week, then go cold turkey for a week?
- Will doing the above damage / overwork the seratonin receptors in my brain / cause any lasting damage?
- Should I take 5HTP the day after rolling or go back to my Zoloft?
- Does this sound like an overall bad idea / should I just not roll and finish the 2 week Zoloft trial?
- How long should I wait before returning to my Zoloft after rolling or can it be the next day / 24 hours?

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated
Click to expand...

1. I'm not too sure, hopefully somebody else knows about the half-lifes etc of Zoloft. Try searching online for how long an SSRI will remain psychoactive even after cessation. Wiki suggests it has a pretty long half-life of 13-45 hours.
2. If the SSRI is still psychoactive, then it will block the effects of MDMA. This is because SSRI's bind to the 5-HT receptors - blocking the reuptake - hence the 'reuptake inhibitor.' MDMA comes in and tries to bind to the same 5-HT neurons and is unable because the SSRI is already there, so MDMA cannot release as much serotonin, hence the experience is dulled. This would cause the opposite to Serotonin Syndrome, which is caused by a severe amount of serotonin released in the brain, so I wouldn't worry about that.
3. You can do both, if you wish to do so. I read a study which co-administered 5-HTP, with a SSRI, and found that the co-administration reduced symptoms of depression more than either alone. Whatever you feel comfortable doing.
4. I don't know enough about Zoloft to really conclude if this is a bad idea. It is relatively safe, but there is a good chance the experience won't be the same. This is something you have to decide.
5. You could take the SSRI during the roll as it is metabolised rather slowly (Wiki says 4-6 hours), so it won't even be fully psychoactive until then. There is also a theory that it could stop any MDMA-induced damage through the mechanism I mentioned before - binding to the serotonin receptors.

Hope this was useful.
 
The half life of the SSRI is not the problem. SSRIs make lasting changes to the way your brain works and can take months return to normal after stopping them. some people who have been on them fo years and years say they can never roll again.

you should never stop taking an SSRI just to use MDMA. most come with bad withdraws if you do not taper the dose. taking MDMA with depression can worsen your depression.

My advice is keep taking your meds and for get about rolling until you get you shit sorted and no longer need the SSRIs...then you can try to roll.
 
The SSRI will block the MDMA and not necessarily cause any health risks. Plus the effective duration or halflife of the SSRI means nothing for this comparison and thus stopping the SSRI for a day or until it should theoretically be out of the system wont work.

You would need to stop the SSRI for the entire duration of the potential withdrawals and can also be linked to the duration the SSRI requires to build up in the system or take effect when started, likely due to the required buildup of the drug in the system.

So it could take about 2-4 weeks from last usage before the drug in theory no longer has any effect on other substances and thats only from a physical level and not a "long term changes on the brain" level.

Anyways, trust me i tried to eat MDMA like candy on paxil near OD doses to get something out of it and only got as far as a shitty mild speedy high. It sucks.
 
you probs wont get high on ecstasy.
they put me on sertraline i used to be out my nut for hours off 120mg - 150mg

after beeing on ssri for a while then trying the same batch of mdma that had floored me so many raves and taking half g and not really getting anywhere just sweaty and hot and energetic.

id say dont bother but its your call
 
Don't wanna dig up an old thread, but this could be useful for anyone in this circumstance in the future...
Went cold turkey off my Zoloft for 10 days before taking approx 300mg's MDMA (spread across the night as a ~100 bomb, then the rest insufflated). It was a very good evening, with plenty of good / happy / loved up feelings and I even managed to trip! (I'm assuming the SSRI would affect the 5-ht2a receptor too - i.e. no hallucinogenic effects)
 
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