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MDMA Recovery (Stories & Support - 4)

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robmatch22 said:
Has anyone on here got/had hypersensitive reactive tinnitus ? Basically I'll be lying in bed trying to sleep and if there is a knocking noise from somewhere, someone closing a door downstairs, floorboard creaks (you get the idea), I get this sudden zap/jump feeling in my brain about 0.1 of a second after the noise occurs .... It's horrible ! It happens maybe like 70% of the time and mainly when I'm tired whilst my tinnitus is blairing, my brain seems to be really hypertensive to sudden noises which it's not expecting .. Long term sufferer of brain zaps and feel as if these are linked. Please help ! Cheers
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I have the EXACT same thing, my whole body almost shutters even if my GF is just putting the plates away, mostly at night just like you mentioned, which is also when my tinnitus is loudest.
 
I get it very slightly in the mornings when my symptoms are the worst. The noise from the air conditioner will give me problems. Lately I'll start the day at 30 percent by the end of the day I'm at 75 percent.
 
Yeah it's horrible ive had it now for about a year and only healed very slightly can't find anything anywhere to help !
 
ADubbs said:
I have the EXACT same thing, my whole body almost shutters even if my GF is just putting the plates away, mostly at night just like you mentioned, which is also when my tinnitus is loudest.
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It's called EXPLOSIVE HEAD SYNDROME

Individuals with exploding head syndrome hear or experience loud imagined noises as they are falling asleep or waking up. In his article, "Clinical features of the exploding head syndrome," J. M. Pearce asked individuals with exploding head syndrome to describe what noises they commonly heard during an episode. Examples included a loud bang, explosion, shot gun, thunderclap, loud metallic noise, firecrackers, and "noise as if head will burst open". Because the sound seems to occur abruptly and with apparently great force, patients may be so alarmed that they may initially and inaccurately describe the noise as pain. In fact, in a clinical study, some patients reported the sound as an "enormous roar, so loud it could kill me". However, upon closer questioning in several studies, there is no pain associated with the syndrome. It is important to note that in some cases, some subjects reported that the sound was mild.[10]

In addition to noise, some people report fear, distress, confusion, myoclonic jerks, tachycardia, sweating, tinnitus, simultaneously seeing flashes of light, and the sensation that felt as if they had stopped breathing and had to make a deliberate effort to breathe again.


The pattern of these auditory hallucinations is variable. Some patients report having a total of two or four attacks followed by a prolonged or total remission, having attacks over the course of a few weeks or months before the attacks spontaneously disappear, or the attacks may even recur irregularly every few days, weeks, or months for much of a lifetime. Furthermore, some patients reported having up to seven EHS attacks throughout the night.
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I've had it for a long time, during my LTC. It eventually went away (~1 year, a bit more maybe)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome
 
It sounds like a sensory/sensorimotor gating issue.

The brain receives tons of input from the environment but needs to be able to decide what's noise and what's useful information. An area called the thalamus acts as a filter.

The area of the thalamus that pertains to vision, the lateral geniculate nucleus, has found to be over excitable in abstinent MDMA users. The area of the thalamus that pertains to audio, the medial geniculate nucleus, is close by; it might not be unreasonable to predict that some people would have issues with the audio thalamus as well.
 
nightElf said:
tumblr_nokesjY0lW1qz74hxo1_1280.jpg


This image really helped me back in the day :)
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This is really awesome thanks for posting!
 
shugenja said:
Stop taking the 5-HTP

I artificially stops your serotonin receptors from returning to homeostasis by keeping serotonin artificially high and can actually be causing what many people think is a LTC


  • 5-HTP may cause
  • agitation,
  • ggressiveness,
  • anxiety,8o
  • depressed mood,8o
  • dizziness,8o
  • drowsiness,
  • ear buzzing,8o
  • euphoria,
  • fatigue, 8o
  • headache,8o
  • hypomania,8o
  • irritability,8o
  • lowered blood pressure,8o
  • muscle pain or weakness or breakdown,
  • nausea,8o
  • palpitations,
  • restlessness,8o
  • sleep changes,
  • taste changes,
  • vertigo,8o
  • vivid dreams8o


Sound familiar anybody ??? -- looks like a list of complaints from the LTC sufferers in this thread
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Do you have a source for this. Personally I think 5htp is helping. I cut my dose in half recently and my depression and brain fog practically went back to square one. As soon as I went back to 200 mg a day I went back to a steady decrease in symptoms. At this point although I still take it twice a day I'm feeling about 90% recovered. Just some occasional mild depression and daily head pressure. I have also had two health care professional's advise me to continue taking it.
 
I would advise that when you do decide to come off of 5-HTP, that you taper very slowly over a period of a month or so.
 
Cotcha Yankinov said:
It sounds like a sensory/sensorimotor gating issue.

The brain receives tons of input from the environment but needs to be able to decide what's noise and what's useful information. An area called the thalamus acts as a filter.

The area of the thalamus that pertains to vision, the lateral geniculate nucleus, has found to be over excitable in abstinent MDMA users. The area of the thalamus that pertains to audio, the medial geniculate nucleus, is close by; it might not be unreasonable to predict that some people would have issues with the audio thalamus as well.
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Is it certain that these effects are completely irreversible or may it just take years for them to subside? Are there maybe studies with long (> 5 years) abstinent users? Is it possible that really all impairments disappear after maybe 10 or 15 years?
 
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7 months in today exactly.

To say I posted a few weeks ago in a pretty bad state of DP/DR, I've been doing pretty well for the past week :D Not out of the woods yet but I've been a lot more positive and have been pretty stable in terms of anxiety and pretty much no depression! One thing I have noticed is that I can feel no anxiety, feel almost completely normal mentally but my vision still feels slightly off. For those who have experienced a DP/DR based LTC or for those who are in the know, is vision the last thing to return to normal?

Feeling much more positive and im sure I will go back at some point to that worse state but I have learnt not to be so scared about it and know that things do not stay the same! :)
 
Amml said:
Is it certain that these effects are completely irreversible or may it just take years for them to subside? Are there maybe studies with long (> 5 years) abstinent users? Is it possible that really all impairments disappear after maybe 10 or 15 years?
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The increased excitability of the lateral geniculate nucleus was seen in a study of abstinent MDMA users with an average of about 500 days of abstinence, and they were severe abusers. There are a couple studies I recall that were (as a side) interested in the effect of abstinence of cognitive issues (they checked to see if increased abstinence was associated with lessened cognitive deficits) - abstinence is definitely correlated with cognitive improvement, and we see a return to normal serotonin markers on brain scans like levels of serotonin transporters. I don't think 1-2 years is very long though.

None of these issues necessitate any sort of neuronal damage, long term compensations are a feature of drug use but they will disappear slowly and surely. Correction of thought patterns that perpetuate cognitive issues is important (mindfulness meditation is my weapon of choice). Benzodiazepine withdrawal for example can drag on for quite some time. That doesn't mean that just because you aren't back to 95% normal by 2-3 years that you won't ever be.

Cardio, mindfulness, good sleep and challenging intellectual activity will all help with long term recovery. If mental illness has been uncovered with MDMA you could need to address that as well.

Unfortunately I don't recall any studies that examined users with longer than about 3 years abstinence.
 
Cotcha Yankinov said:
The increased excitability of the lateral geniculate nucleus was seen in a study of abstinent MDMA users with an average of about 500 days of abstinence, and they were severe abusers. There are a couple studies I recall that were (as a side) interested in the effect of abstinence of cognitive issues (they checked to see if increased abstinence was associated with lessened cognitive deficits) - abstinence is definitely correlated with cognitive improvement, and we see a return to normal serotonin markers on brain scans like levels of serotonin transporters. I don't think 1-2 years is very long though.

None of these issues necessitate any sort of neuronal damage, long term compensations are a feature of drug use but they will disappear slowly and surely. Correction of thought patterns that perpetuate cognitive issues is important (mindfulness meditation is my weapon of choice). Benzodiazepine withdrawal for example can drag on for quite some time. That doesn't mean that just because you aren't back to 95% normal by 2-3 years that you won't ever be.

Cardio, mindfulness, good sleep and challenging intellectual activity will all help with long term recovery. If mental illness has been uncovered with MDMA you could need to address that as well.

Unfortunately I don't recall any studies that examined users with longer than about 3 years abstinence.
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Hello ! What exactly is 'mindful meditation' and how do I do it ? cheers :-)
 
LTCsufferer said:
Do you have a source for this. Personally I think 5htp is helping. I cut my dose in half recently and my depression and brain fog practically went back to square one. As soon as I went back to 200 mg a day I went back to a steady decrease in symptoms. At this point although I still take it twice a day I'm feeling about 90% recovered. Just some occasional mild depression and daily head pressure. I have also had two health care professional's advise me to continue taking it.
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Some people already have not as productive versions of the enzyme that makes serotonin (tryptophan hydroxylase) or have increased MAO activity which results in more serotonin metabolism, so it makes particular sense in these cases that it might be hard to serotonin to really come into equilibrium if there is such a shortage.
 
I highly recommend headspace. I listen to it every night (have been doing so for about a couple months) and it's had a profound impact on my insomnia and anxiety, and I'm 6 years abstinent. It just goes to show you how important thought patterns are.

The whole idea behind mindfulness is to not be lost in thought, to really just pay attention to what you're feeling without thinking about it, or the past or the future. It will take practice so don't give up easily, and try not to be frustrated if it is difficult - if it's hard it just means you need it that much more.

There are also good guided meditations on YouTube, I would try some by Michael Sealey (spelling?).
 
martainnn said:
7 months in today exactly.

To say I posted a few weeks ago in a pretty bad state of DP/DR, I've been doing pretty well for the past week :D Not out of the woods yet but I've been a lot more positive and have been pretty stable in terms of anxiety and pretty much no depression! One thing I have noticed is that I can feel no anxiety, feel almost completely normal mentally but my vision still feels slightly off. For those who have experienced a DP/DR based LTC or for those who are in the know, is vision the last thing to return to normal?

Feeling much more positive and im sure I will go back at some point to that worse state but I have learnt not to be so scared about it and know that things do not stay the same! :)
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Glad to hear you're feeling better!
 
HPPD type visuals can take quite a while to go away, but they become much less bothersome with time and are generally pretty independent of the LTC itself (don't worry that your LTC isn't getting better just because your visuals aren't getting better).
 
Thanks , will read into! So in regards to sleep, how much sleep do you need to get which will help these LTCs? As much as possible ? Cos I've heard that apparentley oversleeping can be as nearly as bad as under sleeping so I'm not sure what to think .... Next week I've got a week off work and just plan to sleep as much as possible cos I only really get brain zaps when I'm tired and think this week off could really help. Cheers
 
robmatch22 said:
Thanks , will read into! So in regards to sleep, how much sleep do you need to get which will help these LTCs? As much as possible ? Cos I've heard that apparentley oversleeping can be as nearly as bad as under sleeping so I'm not sure what to think .... Next week I've got a week off work and just plan to sleep as much as possible cos I only really get brain zaps when I'm tired and think this week off could really help. Cheers
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Depends on what your 'LTC' problems you have? An LTC isnt actually a medical term so there is no specific amount of sleep for it. Are you suffering with DP, HPPD, anxiety, physical problems etc? Really 8 hours seems to be the average recommendation. Some people need more or some need less, its a personal thing. If you feel better on 10 hours then by all means sleep that long!! I perosnally find if I sleep more than 8/9 hours I feel groggy for a good half of the day. So i aim for between 7-8. Any less and it pretty much ruins my day and makes my DP pretty bad. Also, quality sleep is just as important as quanitity. You should aim to sleep and wake at similar times each day and sleep in total darkness. Try and eliminate the use of electronic devices an hour before bed.
 
Is there an explanation why everything's feels so uncomfortable while LTC? Before my LTC I loved to sit on the couch and watch tv and it felt really relaxing but now I have the feeling that my body just couldn't relax anymore and even if I cuddle with my dog it doesn't feel enjoyable anymore :(
It just annoys me extremely because I finally want to feel good again, even if I take benzos or something like that I don't feel relaxed. Somebody made similar experiences?
 
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