ecstasy and amphetamine abuse questions

[mazzoj]

I been using ecstasy and speed 3-4 times a month, sometimes two times a week for 6 months, also done ice twice and occasionally ketamine.
For the last 2 months I been taking 1mg xanax weekly.
The whole time I was going gym 3-5 times a week, forced myself to eat healthy and actually put on 6 kgs because I was bulking.
I quit one month ago, I get derealization, insomnia and feel a bit empty and bored by my self, but when i'm around people it makes me feel good.

Just wondering, is it normal to get a 2 day headache (so far), 1 month into quitting drugs? or it may be my acne medication (Sulfamethoxazole and Trimethoprim)
Can I still continue to take 1mg xanax weekly?
Ever since I started drugs, weed gets me pretty anxious/weird around people, but smoking by my self before bed really relaxes me. I only smoke about 2 times a week, would starting every day get me anxious when im sober?

 

[drug_mentor]

I don't know if you are using 'speed' (methamphetamine) and 'ecstasy' (hopefully MDMA, unfortunately reasonable chance not...) together or individually, but first off I should point out that using both drugs at the same time increases the neurotoxicity to the brain, I believe via oxidation of dopamine but my recollection could be wrong on that.

While eating healthy is definately a good thing, I am not positive that going to the gym up to 5 times a week would actually be beneficial in this situation. As I am sure you are aware, nutrition and rest are the two most important factors in recovery from exercise, if you are using speed and/or ecstasy up to twice a week and hitting the gym the other 5 then I do not feel this necessarily gives your body time to recover from all the stress and may begin to mitigate some of the benefits from your good nutrition.

I would not say that a month after quitting drugs that any new symptom that arose could be attributed to any kind of drug withdrawal or belated side effect of the drugs you were taking. A quick wikipedia search of your acne medication states "Headaches commonly occur when taking sulfamethoxazole," this suggests to me that is probably your problem.

In regards to xanax/alprazolam, you can continue taking 1mg per week without any fear of becoming addicted, it is pretty inevitable that at some point you will develop a tolerance and require more for the same effect if you use it as often as once a week though. Personally, I use benzodiazepines for anxiety relief and for drug comedowns, as well as ocassional use to potentiate alcohol, but no longer find them desirable as a recreational drug on their own. If you no longer have to put up with once or twice weekly comedowns, unless you are using it for the relief of anxiety then I don't think it is particularly worth your while, to each their own though.

Getting to the cannabis, I would say there is a very strong chance that starting smoking cannabis everyday would cause you to experience greater anxiety than you do currently. I can say for me personally that smoking cannabis frequently has exacerbated any anxiety problems I already had and for many, if not most heavy cannabis users (which would comprise the majority of my friend circle...) that I am acquainted with the story would be similar. It sounds to me like you have a predisposition to overusing drugs, and it is probably unwise for you to be considering daily cannabis use just because it is less harmful than other things you could be taking at such frequency. I would also say that it seems you are quite fitness oriented, and it probably would not take long before daily cannabis use started to affect this part of your life detrimentally.

In summary, you are better off using any drug in moderation if you decide to use it. You were using shit reasonably frequently but it sounds like you have got your act together now, the headaches are likely caused by the medication you are currently using and should pass once you stop taking it. If I were you I wouldn't jump the gun to regular cannabis or benzodiazepine use when it doesn't seem beneificial but ultimately the choice is yours... I hope this post answered some of your questions.

 

[naughtynicknails]

You haven't quit drugs

Cannabis itself can cause derealization, have you tried going without for longer than a week?

I would suspect that you stint of drug abuse more than likely caused everything you describe but I wouldn't worry too much.. Just lay off the drugs (speed / mdma type drugs) and you should recover fine.

I too have abused speed and MDMA (more so than you describe) and i too now cannot smoke weed around people.. or even alone.. it makes me very paranoid and anxious.

The headache will have nothing to do with the speed and MDMA you stopped taking a month ago.. "Headaches commonly occur when taking sulfamethoxazole" from wiki.. I'd just ask your doctor about it I highly doubt it has anything to do with your recreational drug use.

 

[mazzoj]

Thanks for that guys, this headaches just kept me inside for 2 days, and it's the first time ive been depressed since a come down a while ago, I thought new symptons were occuring. I also couldn't finish a ciggy and didn't smoke all day yesterday and I had sleep paralysis last night, which i hadn't had in a while.

I'm not going to smoke any more cannabis and hopefully it all goes away when I stop this medication.

I was getting a bit paranoid I was going to be stuck in those nightmares everyone talks about, but i'm feeling a bit better today and just enjoyed a ciggy.