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What's this even mean...? study on ecstasy

its.euphoric

its.euphoric

Bluelighter
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There was this study on ecstasy recently that said this

Cowan and his colleagues examined brain activation during visual stimulation, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in subjects who had previously used Ecstasy (but not in the two weeks prior to imaging) and in subjects who had not previously used Ecstasy.

They found increased brain activation in three brain areas associated with visual processing in Ecstasy users with the highest lifetime exposure to the drug. The findings were consistent with the investigators' predictions based on results from animal models: that Ecstasy use is associated with a loss of serotonin signaling, which leads to hyper-excitability (increased activation) in the brain.

The hyper-excitability suggests a loss in brain efficiency, Cowan said, "meaning that it takes more brain area to process information or perform a task."

The investigators found that this shift in brain excitability did not return to normal in subjects who had not used Ecstasy in more than a year.

"We think this shift in cortical excitability may be chronic, long-lasting, and even permanent, which is a real worry," Cowan said, noting that the Ecstasy users in the study are young (18 to 35 years old). "The question is what will happen to their brains as they age over the next 60 years."

Cowan said that the pattern of hyper-excitability is similar to that observed in fMRI studies of individuals at risk for, or with early, Alzheimer's disease.

"I'm not saying that these people are at increased risk for dementia, but that there's a loss of brain efficiency in both recreational Ecstasy use and early Alzheimer's."

The findings suggest that brain hyper-excitability (increased activation in fMRI scans) may be a useful biomarker for Ecstasy-induced neurotoxicity, which the investigators will continue to study.

Like some things I would like answered is.. Is this seen in other types of behaviors? Like other drugs, or lack of sleep, lack of eating etc..
Also, it doesn't explain how bad this really is, it just says that this is seen in other diseases. Okay you need to use more brain function... Idk this study seems vague

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/224161.php <<< study
 
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I'm sure Ecstasy affects the body/brain, but these kinds of studies really have to be taken with a grain of salt. There is a LOT of missing information in this report, such as: how many people were studied, how much ecstasy they did, how long they had been doing it for, the extent of their use, how many other drugs they'd used (legal or illegal), etc. There is just so much information missing, the data seems interesting, but not all that useful.

Just my $.02. ;)
 
sm7125 said:
I'm sure Ecstasy affects the body/brain, but these kinds of studies really have to be taken with a grain of salt. There is a LOT of missing information in this report, such as: how many people were studied, how much ecstasy they did, how long they had been doing it for, the extent of their use, how many other drugs they'd used (legal or illegal), etc. There is just so much information missing, the data seems interesting, but not all that useful.

Just my $.02. ;)
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ya I know, that's what I was thinking. But I would still like to know more about this since it didn't really explain much
 
if I get dementia I'm gonna be fucking pissed! HAHA. I donno about all of this. I mean let's think about this logically.... ecstasy was popularized around 1986 I believe meaning that it has been around for 25 years (really 100 but not everyone was taking it), which means that there were probably 35 year olds taking the drug at that time. This would leave them 60 years old and I think we would be hearing about early alzheimers related to ecstasy use by now. Maybe I am wrong and this is kind of scary. On the other hand, I'm sure most users were around 25 years old, meaning that they are now 50 and have probably NOT developed alzheimers yet. This means that we really have another 10-20 years to find out what the real damage is. It is just too new of a drug to really know. I think the best thing we can do is be safe when we roll, space it out and drink lots of water. Lightshows and going into trances are probably not the best idea either.
 
I can't think of anything good that can come from going into a trance from lightshows. Do we know definitively that it is safe to do lightshows? No. We don't know all that much about anything w this, although I'm willing to be e-hugs are horrible for you
 
chitown rollin said:
I can't think of anything good that can come from going into a trance from lightshows. Do we know definitively that it is safe to do lightshows? No. We don't know all that much about anything w this, although I'm willing to be e-hugs are horrible for you
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I suppose if your epileptic..
 
rickolasnice said:
^ Urrmmmm :\ What?
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And all you have to add to the article is the "participants had been massively abusing x for months at a time... blah blah taking gram doses every day"


I think today there is more and more evidence that the brain is still able to grow and change and improve when it is older honestly.
 
This study is MASSIVELY lacking any details about the participants. When they provide a more complete study i'll take them more seriously.
 
its pretty much just to make you aware of the destruction ecstasy/mdma can have on you.
its not to bad if you dont do it too often, but with abuse theyre definitely consequences.
 
That it's muchhh higher than any other region of my brain, and it seemed that the frontal lobes were relatively underactive..
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I had a very similar EEG. Apparently the frontal lobes are the most prone to damage because of their position in the brain and their low oxidative capacity. To speculate; It could be that some of the frontal lobe got fried and other parts of the brain are compensating for the lower functioning.
 
I looked up the full text of this study ... a few things I noticed.

First off, the sample was 20(!) former MDMA users (abstinent for a year) and a control group of 20 non-users. This is a very small sample size (which is unfortunately kind of necessary, given the amount of effort and resources necessary to run an fMRI study). So it's unclear whether or not enough information has been gathered to generalize this data.

Thirdly, the upper end of MDMA usage on this study was pretty high. The subject who had rolled the most had reportedly rolled 155 times, with a reported lifetime intake of 10 grams (which seems low for 155 rolling episodes, but whatever). The average was 33 reported lifetime uses, and about 2.6g reported lifetime intake. With no way of knowing how often they rolled, we have no way of generalizing this data with spacing out rolls, redosing, etc in mind. It's possible (although improbable) that one of the people had only eaten 1g in their entire life but did it all over the course of a week on consecutive days, which would obviously do a LOT more damage than eating 2-3g over the course of a few years, with 30-60+ day breaks in between. Basically, this information isn't enough to generalize with regards to recreational use, aside from simply saying that your risk goes up as you do more.

Finally, looking at the results ...
npp2010244f3.jpg


This is a pretty loose correlation.

All things considered, this doesn't really change the prevailing wisdom on MDMA use. The risk involved goes up as you take more. Take less, and do it less often, and you'll be in better shape. This doesn't provide us with any more specific conclusions regarding the problems you might face, but it supports the conclusion that you might face problems if you overdo it. It'd be great if it offered a better window into what "overdoing it" actually looks like, but there's just not enough data here for that.
 
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