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Explaining the "afterglow".

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mTowncLa55ic

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Is there a biochemical explanation for "afterglow" or is it purely psychological?


I've gotten it about three times now, and one of the times it was really intense for about a week afterwards. I had this weird buzz in my head and everything seemed to me to be as beautiful as it is when high.

I was just wondering if there's any biochemical explanation for this phenomenon.
 
Never thought of that, but I too would wonder how sometimes you get that good feeling.

((NOT TRUE, JUST MY GUESSES))
1.) This sounds stupid, I have no bio-body-ology knowledge, but does seratonin last after it is released, like how some drugs get metabolized and still have effects afterwards?
2.) It's all in your head.

Someone who knows please post.
 
Ya, I was thinking that your serotonergic system gets right fucked up and releases amounts higher than usual afterwards for a while. Perhaps? It would make sense, given the way I felt especially during that one afterglow.
 
Of course it has a biological explanation, the entirety of perception/cognition has a biological explanation, exactly what it is I wouldn't have a fucking clue, and I doubt anyone knows.

I've never experienced anyform of positive comedown so I can't make any intuitive assumptions, but I can say it's not because of serotonin still floating around (serotonin in the brain probably has a half-life in the order of a 100ms), and I doubt it's due to lingering MDMA, although MDMA has a much longer half life, than the half life of an MDMA-induced experience... but there's no way any significant amount of MDMA will be floating around 4 days after your drop.

There are just so many possible explanations I can't even begin to pick one...
 
BilZ0r said:
I've never experienced anyform of positive comedown ...
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I can't recall meeting anyone who has never had a positive afterglow,
I have met plenty of people who's comedowns become more negative with repeated use and or abuse.

Ive been using ecstasy for 3 years now, on a way too regular basis, I still get afterglows but I find that whereas I used to be able to rely on them, now I find I'm often on an emotional see-saw , overall though I usually feel good the next day but it alwaysmakes me too lazy to do anything.

I have friends who suffer dysphoria, I can honestly say that the if it ever starts making me feel like that then I will quit taking it.

Regards
Steve
 
I think the answer is more psychological.

If I have a wicked wicked night, with a couple of pints down the pub, and laugh loads (like last night), I feel absolutely fantastic the day after (like today).

If I have a wicked wicked night, dance my ass off, tell people what I really think of them and how lucky we are to be alive on this planet, and laugh loads (like when I am on E), I feel absolutely fantastic the day after.
 
Hmm, kind of posted there before I had finished... What else I was gonna add was that : yeah, I have definitely experienced some E-like experiences when I have gone out and danced like a loon the night after, even when I've only had a couple of pints. Also the day after, everything just feels so so nice to touch. Can it be so simple that there is still some MDMA in your body somewhere?
 
seriously we as humans know very very little about the brain, how it works and of it's capabilities. Amazing what a few cell and a tiny bit chemicals can do to you.
 
I had a few nice afterglows..mainly the first 2 or 3 times I took MDMA, 99% of the time now, 6 years later, it´s more of a horrible comedown than an afterglow...

I think the reason is partly biological partly psychological, like everything else in human emotions...

suppose you had a great night, took not too many pills...serotonin flow is high.... the lingering MDMA in your system after the peak, is still releasing serotonin...this lasts for a few days...until suicide tuesday or wednesday or whatever.

I had a huge smile plastered on my face for more than a week after my first MDMA experience...partly because I had such a great time than just remembering it made me smile, partly because I had removed so much shit from my chest during the xperience, partly because it was all so new...
 
Interesting. It's just that this one afterglow I had (and it lasted for a good seven days) was just too surreal.

I felt like I was in a dream. Everything had that special glow to it. I remember telling my friends that I felt kind of high still, without the physical symptoms (ie: nystagmus, sweating, high heart rate, etc).

It was definitely an awesome experience.
 
There's no way the lingering MDMA is releasing serotonin the day after... For one, the serotonin releasing effects of MDMA stops after maybe 5 hours even if you keep taking MDMA constantly, for two, after 24 hours, the amount of MDMA is down to 5% of the peak concentration, and after another 10 hours, the amount is basically undetectable.
 
Could the excitation of the SERTs be responsible? For example, if I'm 'sober' and something makes me happy there is some type of transport going on. Would it make sense that if serotonin levels weren't severely depleted, that the SERTs (in a 'confused' state) may take in more serotonin?

There are a couple things that don't support my highly uneducated theory, such as the lack of comedown after the 'afterglow' but I'll just wait for some one else to shoot some holes in this theory first.
 
BilZ0r said:
There's no way the lingering MDMA is releasing serotonin the day after... For one, the serotonin releasing effects of MDMA stops after maybe 5 hours even if you keep taking MDMA constantly, for two, after 24 hours, the amount of MDMA is down to 5% of the peak concentration, and after another 10 hours, the amount is basically undetectable.
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Ya, I knew that my idea couldn't possibly be right but it's the only thing I could come up with that might explain the afterglow so I just threw it out there for others (more knowledgeable) to shoot it down.

I wonder though. I mean, there seemed to have been definite physical symptoms that were detectable by me during this one afterglow.
 
They're probably were detectable symptomes, if I had an object report of what they were (i.e. blood pressure, heart rate, pupil dilation, knee jerk sensitivity vs normal) it might be easier to make comments.

DocHoliday: The so called 'excitation' of SERT, aka SERT reverse transport, only happens when MDMA is present, as MDMA is cleared from the brain, and hence the synapse, reverse transport stops...

One theory I have is that MDMA causes SERT (and DAT and NET) to be internalized, which would mean in a normal system, there would be more serotonin floating around, and more serotonin receptor stimulation. The problem with that theory is that serotonin is drastically depleted, and the serotonin receptors will be downregulated, so the increase in free serotonin should lead to less serotonin that is noramal... but maybe it doesn't.
 
Ill tell you straight up - Most likely nobody can answer your question!!

There has been lots of studies done, and with how impure pills are these days its stupid to not have a tester kit .(I dont, hehe , but im getting one)

Pills have so many differen chemical combo's in them who knows what kind of after effects you get, you definately need to get a tester.

PS: Sorry if im not making sense, I just got some supposedly pure MDMA tabs dropped off and im rolling so hard I can barely type.

Stay up, smoke one!=D
 
BilZ0r said:
They're probably were detectable symptomes, if I had an object report of what they were (i.e. blood pressure, heart rate, pupil dilation, knee jerk sensitivity vs normal) it might be easier to make comments.
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You know that "buzz" feeling you get in your head when you're high? It was like that but, obviously not as intense as when high. This feeling was hugely exacerbated by nicotine as well, I found.

That's pretty much it. The rest seemed to be psychological. ie: everything was especially beautiful...and I mean EVERYTHING.

My vision wasn't exactly normal either. Now, I don't know if my pupils were dilated but I do know that everything had this...sort of glow to it and was rather fuzzy. It wasn't so "fuzzy" that I thought there was a problem though.

It really is hard to explain unfortunately.
 
Ive had bad hangovers at festivals like the 3rd, 4th time i did it and they went away after a few hours of drinking smoothies and taking cold showers. Then, the night after, I would rage and feel great.
To this day, If I do them at festivals taht are 3 + nights long, I have great afterglows cuz Im so happy to be at the fest. But at home, I just poop out. ITS ALL STATE OF MIND!!!!
 
^^^I disagree. Where/how do you think I spent the 7 days of my afterglow? I sure as hell wasn't anywhere special nor doing anything special.

It has to be more than pure psychology.
 
There is no such thing as "psychology" in this sense, if a drug causes an effect that it is due to phsyiological effects.
 
Humans can feel [physical] emotions just with memories or situations so can't psychological effects result in phsyiological effects?
 
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