I had tightness in my chest for several days during the first week.
The first night I literally felt it stop, then start racing like never before.
A heart-attack was my very first self-diagnosis.
Literally the scariest pain I ever felt in my life...
The hallmark symptom of serotonin syndrome is quick onset tachycardia.
The person feels fine, then suddenly their chest hurts, their heart races, and anxiety spikes to high levels.
You aren't really describing severe tachycardia.
If you were, you would be panicking while writing - proclaiming loudly how fucked up your heart is.
You are having minor changes in heart rhythm.
I got this once prior to my 'comedown'...enough that it really bothered me.
But it went away within a few days.
I was fine.
People on BL would have assured me it meant nothing.
Until my next use of MDMA, about 2 months later.
Anyways...
What you are describing still exists on the spectrum of serotonin syndrome.
The hypothalamus is hyper-innervated during serotonergic injury and recovery.
It is a small but critical part of the brain that controls many important functions - such as blood pressure, heart-rate, body temperature, and digestion.
Think of it like a relay station for the brain.
Serotonin nerves extend from the brainstem to the frontal lobes through the hypothalamus.
The relationship between the hypothalamus and serotonin has been scrutinized for decades, as it is relevant to many types of depression and other mental disorders.
No, you didn't fuck up your hypothalamus.
Not that badly.
But you did move a few nerves around, and right now the hypothalamus is exciting the heart.
In a purely scientific approach - ALL users of MDMA are antagonizing their hypothalamus/serotonin connection when they roll. Most of them experience increased heart-rate and small increases in body temperature while rolling. Gastrointestinal discomfort is also common. These are all caused by the hypothalamus.
The same is true for the feelings of love and euphoria - these arise from the hypothalamus' control of the endocrine system.
It is a normal part of the drug's activity.
When it goes horribly wrong - people end up in the ER with severe tachycardia and fever.
But the 'therapeutic' effects and the 'acute' effects share many symptoms in common.
It took 3 days after my last dose of MDMA to experience serotonin syndrome.
And a stupid dose of benedryl.
In reading I found many stories of delayed onset of SS in MDMA users.
So yes - it is fairly common for it to take a few days.
This could be due to the fact that MDMA isn't cleared for 3-5 days.
And the nasty metabolites can take a week.
But I believe the real culprit is the intestines - the primary site of serotonin.
Interruptions in digestion and appetite are also a normal symptom of MDMA use.
Most people prefer healthy or high-protein diets for the first day or two after a roll.
When the intestines do start moving again, they jump-start serotonin activity in the brain - which inevitably impacts the hypothalamus. Most people start back up without incident. But if enough serotonin nerves have been 're-organized'...
That gives you some influence, by the way.
Try eating small meals frequently throughout the day.
Lots of fruit, veggies, and water.
No shitty carbs as they increase serotonin in the brain.
A variety of lean proteins.
The only other thing that will help to control this is exercise.
Eat well and exercise, and your brain will be MUCH more capable of adapting to whatever changes you have made.
And YES - you have made changes.
Other posters on BL often wish to belittle the significance of this.
They could say that I like to exaggerate it.
Then they refer to their own use of ridiculous quantities and how it had little consequence.
This type of behavior is extremely arrogant, much more so than anything I post.
The fact that the brain is resilient and capable of accepting these modifications is NOT a good enough reason to redefine what is considered 'damage'.
Even long-term HEAVY users with severe psychological problems typically recover 'clinically' within 2 years of abstinence.
According to this 'arrogant' logic even these people are 'fine'.
Lets just ignore the fact that they can experience long-term changes in body temperature regulation, complete lack of libido, altered appetite....oh and reduced response to serotonin agents even after YEARS of healthy living.
No, I am not trying to scare you BFD.
I am trying to scare a few readers.
Because threads that involve a person taking a GRAM and a HALF in ONE night.....deserve some reality.
It is the height of DENIAL for other users to join threads like these and belittle the significance of taking a STUPID dose of a known NEURO-TOXIN.
Yes - you are probably going to be FINE.
I really believe that.
You cannot imagine how much worse it can be.
In 'reality' you are going to be ok.
But 'reality' also dictates that taking SEVEN times the dose needed is going to cause some 'damage'.
It at least deserves some mentioning.
Maybe even a short explanation based on....hmm...science.
If not, we cannot call ourselves a 'harm reduction' board at all.
MDMA is a drug, and with all drugs - the dosage makes the poison.
The dose required to cause severe consequences with MDMA is often MUCH lower than other drugs.
MDMA can hurt people, and the level of damage it can cause to a person's mind, body, and life are deserving of attention in threads like this.
Welcome to Bluelight.
