Depression and Insomnia weeks after MDMA use

[Suth]

Hello,

I hope all is well. Three weeks ago, a friend of mine took three tenths of Molly. He had taken Molly very sparsely over the past 4 years(10 times max) and had a good time and no consequences from the trips, except for the one three weeks ago. He was drinking alcohol during the trip and went to sleep fine that night. The next night, he got freaked out thinking he had Serotonin Syndrome, and it kept him up all night, literally. The doctor told him that everything was fine. That week he kept having anxiety and thinking something was wrong, and was only able to sleep while on xanax, ambien, or alcohol(not mixed).

He realized that nothing was physically wrong with him, but for the past three weeks, he constantly thinks that the molly trip fucked him up. He fears that he is suffering from depression. He is still having immense difficulties getting 2-3 hours of sleep. He is scheduling a psychiatrist appointment this week to talk it over with a professional, but wanted to reach out to see if this had happened to anyone else?

The anxiety has gone down, but I'm afraid his depression has increased. Webmd mentions that this could last for weeks, but I just wanted to see if this is going to be permanent? Has anyone had this happen to them? Any advice?

 

[F1n1shed]

It is not permanent but it can last a longggg time.
MDMA can induce long term brain abnormalities after the first usage of it, and it actually happens pretty often.

 

[Suth]

Has this happened to you?

 

[Folley]

^^ Uh, no it doesn't. People take MDMA for the first time probably everyday with no "long term brain abnormalities".


OP, you'll (or your friend? I'm pretty sure it's you. If it is, just say so) be fine. It takes some time to recover, you worrying about this being permanent is really just the next stage of anxiety. Life goes on my friend, you'll be back to your old self in no time I'm sure!

 

[F1n1shed]

Has this happened to you?

I can remember feeling pretty off in the head after my very first time on MDMA. It lasted over a week at least, but i still rolled the next month because i was new to it. I have suffered some pretty long lasting comedowns from this drug, i stay far away from it these days. It has the best high out there, but imho it really isn't worth the high.

 

[Dawglaw]

It has the best high out there, but imho it really isn't worth the high.

True.

 

[ShytK]

I can remember feeling pretty off in the head after my very first time on MDMA. It lasted over a week at least, but i still rolled the next month because i was new to it. I have suffered some pretty long lasting comedowns from this drug, i stay far away from it these days. It has the best high out there, but imho it really isn't worth the high.

How long were some of your longest comedowns? Just wondering.

 

[Curious Christoph]

Hmm.. your friend should have taken post-load and pre-load supplements to aid the brain in it's road to short term recovery.. even though the damage is done, there are things your friend can do to improve things fairly quickly.

My suggestion, get your hands on some 5-HTP, they sell those in the vitamin section in the drug store. Along with various vitamins, magnesium, calcium, fish oil etc. Be cautious and DON'T EXCEED DAILY DOSES as recommended on the instructions. Eat good meals and exercise daily, sounds to me like the brain is having some trouble producing serotonin, the 5-htp and exercise will help with that and the vitamins will help with everything else. Sure they cost money but you can't put a price on your body's personal well being especially when you put it through hell and back. Your friend should be feeling back to normal in 3 days, maybe more depending. I only roll twice maybe even three times a year and I always make sure to prepare my body before and after I roll, come downs usually last 3 days max.

Good luck and I hope you share this information with anyone who rolls. It's priceless information that all mdma users should be aware of..

 

[Curious Christoph]

And don't worry, it won't be permanent... I don't think..

 

[Darksidesam]

Everyone is different. Everyones brain chemicals are at different levels somewhat, even one dose of mdma or any drug to the wrong person can cause an imbalance of chemicals, temporarily exposing personal weakness/ mental illness such as anxiety or depression.

It definitely sounds like Anxiety, which is a very hard one to combat, and i do not condone the use of more drugs to combat such anxiety, as benzos only make it worse in the long run.

Sitting around and thinking of damage that may have been done is like picking at a cut or a scab , it wont heal it will just keep bleeding out, you need to get on with some tasks and keep busy and get on with things again. If it persists then of course see a dr.

Stuff that helps with anxiety :

- Camomile/ Chamomile (drink with stevia for even better taste!)
- valerian root

and some foods:

- Whole Grain Foods
- Blueberries (also neuroprotective)
- Almonds

"anything with magnesium, vitamin B12 (and other B vitamins), zinc, and antioxidants can be beneficial for helping you deal with stress"

Avoid stimulants such as Caffeine as this will increase existing anxiety

and lastly, stay hydrated . Hope this helps

 

[its.euphoric]

It's the stress. A lot of people will take drugs be it mdma, lsd, amphetamines, even weed, and have a "bad trip". While the drug itself is relatively non toxic that is not what causes all the problems. People take the drugs and then think "it must have caused brain damage" or something ridiculous because they don't know any better and are ignorant.

It's the high stress that is caused to the body. This throws the body out of homeostasis. When your body and your stress response system, your hpa axis, are driven too far from resting point it becomes very hard for your body to return to normal. Not only this but once it's driven too far out of balance it becomes a negative cycle because your body becomes even more sensitive to stress. The same thing can, and I've seen it happen with other types of highly stressful situations. A person has a traumatic experience, rape, loss of loved one, victim in war etc..

If you look up HPA axis dysfunction you'll find lots of information on it.

 

[smson_420]

After my first run in with Molly, the come down lasted almost a week. But we also dropped almost 2g's in two days < Real bad idea

 

[ShytK]

It's the stress. A lot of people will take drugs be it mdma, lsd, amphetamines, even weed, and have a "bad trip". While the drug itself is relatively non toxic that is not what causes all the problems. People take the drugs and then think "it must have caused brain damage" or something ridiculous because they don't know any better and are ignorant.

It's the high stress that is caused to the body. This throws the body out of homeostasis. When your body and your stress response system, your hpa axis, are driven too far from resting point it becomes very hard for your body to return to normal. Not only this but once it's driven too far out of balance it becomes a negative cycle because your body becomes even more sensitive to stress. The same thing can, and I've seen it happen with other types of highly stressful situations. A person has a traumatic experience, rape, loss of loved one, victim in war etc..

If you look up HPA axis dysfunction you'll find lots of information on it.

Wow you hit the nail on the head. I recently did MDMA for first time just like the OP and also have same symtoms (chronic fatigue, insomnia, etc , just not the depression ). Did a hormonal test and basically all my hormones were off balance. The lab that did the test did an analysis and said I had to first improve my HPA axis.

I been taking supplements to do that (Travacor / Calm-PTR) which they recommended to take. They recommended for minimum 2-3 months, from the sounds of it, it is something that takes a few months.

I have been feeling better slightly, but I also been cutting out sugars which helped TREMENDOUSLY.

However, one thing I disagree is with your "ignorant" comment and your part about stress. I was definitely NOT stressed about brain damage the first 1-2 weeks. Only after the 2 weeks passed by I realized it wasn't improving much and that's when I got stressed. But once I saw more improvement a month later I stopped stressing. So it cannot be the stress as initialyl I had no stress when symtoms set in. The reason I had no stress is because I was told by friends that it is normal to feel like that for a week and I was very happy thinking it'd go away in a matter of days. I work from home, have my house to myself, really had nothing to stress about.

The only thing that did happen which I think attributed to my issue is that when I took MDMA the second time I got seperated from friends and got lost. Went into a panic attack at EDC and kept circling the same tent not knowing where I was. The more I circled it, the more sweaty and panicked I got. Until lucky at the last minute I found my way and stopped panicking. Few hours later that night, all my symtoms started to set in.

Within 24-48 hrs, it was full blast.

So it was not stress from brain damage, I was not even aware of the possibility of that at that moment. In my opinion it was the fact that I got lost and panicked and that caused my central nervous system to go into a fight and flight response, basically a domino effect since then. A different type of stress..

Either way the HPA axis definitely sounds exactly what the issue is. I Googled it and it all finally made perfect sense.

 

[its.euphoric]

Wow you hit the nail on the head. I recently did MDMA for first time just like the OP and also have same symtoms (chronic fatigue, insomnia, etc , just not the depression ). Did a hormonal test and basically all my hormones were off balance. The lab that did the test did an analysis and said I had to first improve my HPA axis.

I been taking supplements to do that (Travacor / Calm-PTR) which they recommended to take. They recommended for minimum 2-3 months, from the sounds of it, it is something that takes a few months.

I have been feeling better slightly, but I also been cutting out sugars which helped TREMENDOUSLY.

However, one thing I disagree is with your "ignorant" comment and your part about stress. I was definitely NOT stressed about brain damage the first 1-2 weeks. Only after the 2 weeks passed by I realized it wasn't improving much and that's when I got stressed. But once I saw more improvement a month later I stopped stressing. So it cannot be the stress as initialyl I had no stress when symtoms set in. The reason I had no stress is because I was told by friends that it is normal to feel like that for a week and I was very happy thinking it'd go away in a matter of days. I work from home, have my house to myself, really had nothing to stress about.

The only thing that did happen which I think attributed to my issue is that when I took MDMA the second time I got seperated from friends and got lost. Went into a panic attack at EDC and kept circling the same tent not knowing where I was. The more I circled it, the more sweaty and panicked I got. Until lucky at the last minute I found my way and stopped panicking. Few hours later that night, all my symtoms started to set in.

Within 24-48 hrs, it was full blast.

So it was not stress from brain damage, I was not even aware of the possibility of that at that moment. In my opinion it was the fact that I got lost and panicked and that caused my central nervous system to go into a fight and flight response, basically a domino effect since then. A different type of stress..

Either way the HPA axis definitely sounds exactly what the issue is. I Googled it and it all finally made perfect sense.

Sorry I didn't mean stressing about brain damage I meant that people just think that it's brain damage when really it's not at all and it's something related to your body's stress response.

i meant that during these drug episodes they can cause extreme stress to the body and THAT is what is causing the problems.

 

[laugh]

MDMA can induce long term brain abnormalities after the first usage of it, and it actually happens pretty often.

wowzers, im speechless.. i can win the lotto every day for the rest of my life its not very likely though.

NSFW:

^^ Uh, no it doesn't. People take MDMA for the first time probably everyday with no "long term brain abnormalities".

agreed