MDMA and sleep paralysis

[Ella84]

This is not exactly a question thread, but more of a 'Hey, this happens to me, let me see who else experiences it' type of thing.

In short, whenever I take MDMA, I experience intense night terrors and sleep paralysis in the nights following. Usually it won't happen that night of and sometimes not even the night after, but then will happen for a few nights after that. Example: I took about 300mg MDMA on Saturday night (one bigger initial dose and two smaller redoses - yeah, I know, not ideal). On Monday night and last night I had very vivid nightmares, lucid dreams that I couldn't wake up from and sleep paralysis where I felt like I was being crushed and was unable to move, even for a few seconds after waking up fully.

Anyone else? StrutterGear, I feel like you have tales to share here.

The first time it was really frightening, but now I know it goes away after a couple days and it doesn't bother me too much. I don't see much difference whether I take 5-HTP or not, but if I'm really good about taking omega supplements I find that it helps. Or maybe that's just a placebo effect?

 

[thumbellina]

My guess is this is all related to seratonin. I used to experience VERY vivid/lucid(not really good vivid dreams, mostly frustrating) dreams when I was on an SSRI, and when I weened myself off of it I had bad sleep paralysis. It should fade, but if you're prone to it I don't know that you can do anything to stop it. Just my guess though. I find sleeping on my back made it worse.

 

[rollonsafely]

Look kid, you shouldnt take what you cant handle smoke weed drink but dont take anything else that you cant handle.

-Stupid kids.

Did you just come into this forum, pick a random thread, and decide to copy paste some kind of generic warning?

How often do you roll? Do you follow the six simple rules of MDMA and are you on any medication? Its rare for this kind of symptom without abusing MDMA but fairly common if a person does abuse the drug.

Edit: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/657228-Six-Simple-Rules-To-MDMA <-- here is the link to the six simple rules thread

 

[vancbc]

Interesting topic. I have experienced sleep paralysis following E, but it generally only happened when I used 5-HTP. That's the reason I quit using 5-HTP; I'd much rather feel fried for a long time than have sleep paralysis for any amount of time.

The way sleep paralysis affected me is that first I was sure I was awake, such as I hearing the front door opening and someone I know coming in, I hear them talking, etc, etc. Then for some reason I get terrified and start to scream, and I'm totally convinced I'm wide awake screaming. Then at some terrible moment I come to the realization that I'm actually asleep and can't move, and then comes the terrible struggle to awaken and move. Finally after fighting and fighting I jerk myself awake, but the bad part is that one episode of sleep paralysis generally involves several in very close succession in the same night. I never had the "text book" sleep paralysis which I understand often involves a feeling of being crushed or of an dark presence.

I haven't had sleep paralysis in years (knock on wood), but toward the end I was learning to recognize what was happening and just will myself to lay still and not fight it. Calming my mind and reassuring myself that I was fine made it more bearable. I even got to a point where sometimes I could tell the first tell-tale signs and even though I was asleep I was able to recognize it and make myself wake up so that I could avoid it. The problem with that was that once a sleep paralysis cycle starts it tends to repeat multiple times in one night.

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

How long did you take the 5-HTP for?
For it to have any affect you should be preloading as well as continuing afterwards if you believe it's serotonin levels causing this.
But to answer your question no I've never had this and never heard of it happening with anyone else.
That really sucks to hear dude, MDMA can be so much fun, whereas sleep paralysis is one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had, thank god it's only happened once

 

[matt2012]

I never had vivid dreams or nightmares but I did find sleep paralysis to be quite a neat feeling. I would always try to remain as still as possible as to not wake myself from the experience. I like the feeling of being unable to move but fully aware I found it more interesting than scary. the wosrt part was that I was almost always jolted out of the condition by an intense brain zap.

 

[Ella84]

How often do you roll? Do you follow the six simple rules of MDMA and are you on any medication? Its rare for this kind of symptom without abusing MDMA but fairly common if a person does abuse the drug.

Edit: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/657228-Six-Simple-Rules-To-MDMA <-- here is the link to the six simple rules thread

I'm not going to say that I follow the rules exactly, but I am pretty aware of harm reduction. I ususally space my rolls at least a month apart (I aim for three months but that doesn't always happen) and I use tested product, never taking more than 130mg max in a single dose. That said, I do also usually redose once when rolling (a smaller amount an hour later) and, on rare occasions like Saturday, I redose twice. I'm not on any meds and I lead a very healthy lifestyle aside from MDMA use (regular exercise, balanced pescetarian diet, no smoking, only social drinking, etc.). So, in short, while I'm not necessarily a picture perfect MDMA user, I definitely don't think I abuse the drug.

What's also interesting is that I very rarely experience depression or anxiety during my comedown. Honestly, other than the weird sleep symptoms , I usually feel totally normal. At worst, I'll have some mild dizziness for a few days. (Oddly enough, LSD, on the other hand, gave me the worst depression ever in the days following.)

What vancbc described does sound a lot like what I experience. I think next time I roll I'm going to make a point of not taking 5-HTP and see what happens. I know I said I didn't think it made a difference but now I'm not so sure.

 

[Alaska457]

I had sleep paralysis the first 1-2 nights, but I took a large dose of Mdma (800MG) over 3-4 days, and now every time I try to go to sleep, I will wake up about 1-2 hours later. It's happened the past few days every time I fall asleep. And you know how hard it is to fall asleep on a come down, at least for me. So I'll wake up and then not be able to go to sleep, and then go through the whole day trying to stay up until night time so I can get back on a schedule, and the same thing happens.

 

[severely etarded]

How long did you take the 5-HTP for?
For it to have any affect you should be preloading as well as continuing afterwards if you believe it's serotonin levels causing this.
But to answer your question no I've never had this and never heard of it happening with anyone else.
That really sucks to hear dude, MDMA can be so much fun, whereas sleep paralysis is one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had, thank god it's only happened once

Don't pre-load 5HTP unless you want serotonin syndrome...

 

[severely etarded]

I had sleep paralysis the first 1-2 nights, but I took a large dose of Mdma (800MG) over 3-4 days, and now every time I try to go to sleep, I will wake up about 1-2 hours later. It's happened the past few days every time I fall asleep. And you know how hard it is to fall asleep on a come down, at least for me. So I'll wake up and then not be able to go to sleep, and then go through the whole day trying to stay up until night time so I can get back on a schedule, and the same thing happens.

every single time I had trouble sleeping I took way too much MDMA in too many doses OR the pills had methamphetamine.

 

[severely etarded]

I think next time I roll I'm going to make a point of not taking 5-HTP and see what happens. I know I said I didn't think it made a difference but now I'm not so sure.

I've said it at least a dozen times, FUCK 5HTP. There is absolutely no need for it. Eat healthy, let your body do it's natural thing to get homeostasis, and never pre-load the shit. Your brain/body has chemistry it likes to maintain so when you fuck with it it tries to balance itself out, if that makes sense..

 

[Maya]

I did get sleep paralysis a couple of days after my last intake and it went on for a few more days.. I agree with Thumbellina that this is related to serotonin being low at this point.. It should definitely wean off as it did for me. But the thing is the last time I overdid it..

 

[thumbellina]

I had sleep paralysis the first 1-2 nights, but I took a large dose of Mdma (800MG) over 3-4 days, and now every time I try to go to sleep, I will wake up about 1-2 hours later. It's happened the past few days every time I fall asleep. And you know how hard it is to fall asleep on a come down, at least for me. So I'll wake up and then not be able to go to sleep, and then go through the whole day trying to stay up until night time so I can get back on a schedule, and the same thing happens.

Alaska,

That was exactly how my sleep schedule was the first few weeks of my comedown. I'm on about week 5/6 now. It gets better. I still feel fatigue through out the day, but I'm sleeping better. Hang in there.

 

[Alaska457]

Alaska,

That was exactly how my sleep schedule was the first few weeks of my comedown. I'm on about week 5/6 now. It gets better. I still feel fatigue through out the day, but I'm sleeping better. Hang in there.

Hey,

I really hope so. I have a bad ankle that really plays a big role in all this, I think I'm going to get surgery on it if these workouts don't work.

Seriously this is how my life was,

-- Top of the world, worry free, tons of friends

-- Ankle injury

-- Depressed

-- Really depressed, anti-social

- Completely isolated, anti-social, easily irritated, hard to get along with


I just hope everything can be reversed. If I do come out of this I have sworn to never do drugs again. Maybe once or twice if they're light, but nothing like I use to do, or do now.

 

[thumbellina]

Hey,

I really hope so. I have a bad ankle that really plays a big role in all this, I think I'm going to get surgery on it if these workouts don't work.

Seriously this is how my life was,

-- Top of the world, worry free, tons of friends

-- Ankle injury

-- Depressed

-- Really depressed, anti-social

- Completely isolated, anti-social, easily irritated, hard to get along with


I just hope everything can be reversed. If I do come out of this I have sworn to never do drugs again. Maybe once or twice if they're light, but nothing like I use to do, or do now.

Thinking about how your life used to be will hinder your healing process. Your life is different now, and you will create different and unique memories. Things are never going to be the same as they were because we grow and change. That doesn't mean things will always feel worse, just different. I struggled with this feeling a lot when I was 19/20 years old, accept new lows/highs in your life and keep on growing. Things gets better, you will learn and become stronger from such hardships. Super cliche I know, but it's true.

 

[RUSHDAFUNK]

My guess is this is all related to seratonin.

I struggle with sleep paralysis on a normal basis (few times a month) so I am pretty familiar with dealing with it and I can say for sure after having taken substances that release a large amount of serotonin the frequency and intensity of my sleep paralysis increases. Usually this coincides with my body rebalancing its serotonin levels. After a day or two I'm usually back to normal .

Serotonin is important in the brain brain for regulating the sleep/wake cycle. If you know how the sleep/ wake cycle and REM sleep is related to sleep paralysis you can see how these would be connected.

Don't worry to much though everything should go back to normal once you let your levels go back to normal.