MDMA and past substance use

[push]

My friend will be soon trying mdma for the first time in a couple of days and has a small question regarding how past use of various substances may dampen or affect his experience. His main worry is how his use of mephedrone in particular and some bad experiences caused by use of this may in some way affect his taking of mdma and its effect. In fact one particular worry he has, and I have been trying to reassure him of its unlikelihood, is as he had some bad experiences in his use of mephedrone at times he has now got the notion that due to such experiences, his brain has been badly effected in such a way that he has destroyed neuro transmitters that will prevent him from achieving any kind of positive experience, in short, feeling the positive effects of the roll, from mdma.
I really have no insight on how true or absurd this may sound but I am sure there are people out there that have used mephedrone and similar substances constantly or had bad experiences on these substances, causing anxiety or panic attacks or such, and still enjoy the times they roll. The last time he took anything was methylone, around 4 weeks ago (around 100mg), and even then his experience was negative (this more than likely down to the small dose and set and setting, i.e. taking the substance alone). Prior to this he took around 50-100mg methylone every 2-3 weeks before.
Has anyone any similar experiences or insight to share, he has no known medical problems, bar perhaps minimal anxiety and minor panic attacks very seldom (the latter usually only occurring when on methylone or mephedrone). I really want to reassure him as much as possible the experience will be magical, and going into it with minimal anxiety for the smoothest experience, obviously in his case anxiety will more than likely be present during the comeup. I have reassured him this is perfectly normal however.
The main thing troubling him I can see though is as previously mentioned, and I really don't know what to say to him on this, is the fact due to bad past experiences on mephedrone he will somehow be unable to trip due to damaged or ineffective serotonin transmitters or his neuro balance has in some way been being badly affected by such experiences, and the possibly likelyhood of a panic ridden or bad trip due to this. What are peoples thoughts around here on such a theory? Having done a small amount research I for one think this is a very unlikely theory.
I will be rolling with my friend, and I believe a large part of his past bad experiences on the research chemicals was down to small dosage and his taking such substances alone, set and setting being a large factor in how they transpired.

 

[Jewel]

I'm by no means an authority on this, but, I've never heard of someone having a bad experience on MDMA if 1. they weren't allergic to it 2. the pill wasn't adulterated with some other garbage and/or 3. they weren't in a bad head before taking it.

If your friend gets pills adulterated with piperazine he might freak out (the one time I had them they made me very very anxious), but that's not MDMA. Have you tried these pills before? It's pretty unlikely that MDxx will give him a bad experience, but if there is something else in there, that might effect him negatively, depending on what it is.

If the pills are legit, the worst that would probably happen would be that he feels nothing- but that's not the worst thing in the world. But, I think that's unlikely just from drug use. I've been around people who do a ton of other drugs, aside from MDMA, and as far as I've seen, they roll with no problems. I've heard a number of stories of people not having any effect from MDMA for various reasons- usually tolerance or SSRI's. But I think it's very unlikely he'll have a downright bad experience.

Also, maybe you shouldn't talk it up too much and just try to relax him. The more you talk about it, and the more he thinks about it, the more stressed out he'll get if it's something he's worried about. Does he smoke weed? If so, that might relax him beforehand. I hope he's going to stop using that other stuff if it's giving him bad experiences

Good luck, and I hope your friend has a great experience

 

[Bearlove]

Cross tolerance can happen with Mephedrone and methylone - if he has been abusing either of these upto the experience then he may not feel the full effect of the MDMA.

MDMA alone should not trigger any panic attacks etc but if he is stressing about it then he has got a bigger chance of bringing on such an event. Going into any drug experience thinking 'I’m going to have a panic attack, I’m going to be bad' isn’t really a good thing.

My advice - give it a good couple of weeks after his last meph/methy use and give him time to understand that the panic attacks were due to the nature of those drugs. Once he understands that MDMA is a different drug and has different effects (panic attacks are quite rare and are mainly down to first time users of stims taking too much and in the wrong setting) then the experience should be a better one.

It may be a good idea to find out where these panic attacks stemmed from and address them? It could have been the setting, the risk of being caught, the risk of taking a ‘new’ drug that has very little information about etc. If your in a safe place, with experienced users and know that you have enough time to come up, roll, come down and chill in peace then it’s a different ball game entirely.


In short until he is chilled out about it and ready dont do it - it could just trigger the same thing and completely spoil his (and your) experience. If you do roll prior to him being ready have something that could take the edge off if things go bad (weed, downers etc)

 

[push]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think a lot of his anxiety was down to over worrying about his heart while under the influence of stimulants but also in normal everyday life. Obviously while on methylone this amplifying that anxiety ten fold.
His main worry was his heart would stop suddenly, and this continued into everyday life. From what I could see he would constantly be monitoring his pulse and checking blood pressure. Anytime he experienced normal palpitation for example, he would think his heart was in danger, this obviously being far worse when the normal effects of stimulants on the heart took effect (higher blood pressure / pulse rate).
In the last week he did go to see the doctor, in preparation for the mdma and how such feelings could send the trip in a bad way, but more importantly for peace of mind. He had a general checkup and an ECG done and the latter came back normal and the doctor told him he had nothing to worry about, his heart was in normal working order.
Following this, from what I can see and he tells me, he doesn't feel the constant need to check his pulse and such and any normal palpitations he can brush aside. In my opinion, his anxiety and minor panic attacks he experienced on methylone were centered around the unnecessary worrying of his heart. I also believe this was the biggest catalyst in his and many bad experiences. The anxiety over how his heart may be being baldly affected or in danger consuming any positive experience. As he has been formally accessed now when the inevitable faster beater of the heart does occur on the comeup he should be able to put it down, to the normal neutral effects of the drug.
We will be getting pure mdma powder / crystals and for optimum peace of mind I will use my testing kit beforehand to test a small amount. I have also arranged for a more experienced user of MDMA to accompany us. This should add to the setting, the knowing of someone present who has been around people and pretty much seen a wide spectrum of users and effects with MDMA in the past. He will be on hand to assure my other friend that anything he has perceived as abnormal in the come up is perfectly normal for any user of MDMA to go through; i.e. the anxiety on the comeup. In addition to this none of us have anything important to attend to the following day so chilling out will be possible.

 

[Black]

i've heard of previous mephedrone abuse leading to tolerance/loss of magic with mdma, but that of course doesn't have to be the case.

another thing is to have benzodiazepines ready if one is prone to anxiety. not so much for use before/during the experience but much rather afterwards. ime mdma does impair emotional stability for at least a few days after the high.