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MDMA Recovery (Stories & Support - 4)

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2631647/

For specifically memory the people with LL at the 5-HTTLPR seem to be worse off than people with SS (people with a short allele) but this study isn't concerned with memory.

It's possible that vulnerability to HPPD is somewhat heritable as it could be due to gating (filtering) issues and those could be heritable, depending on the 5HT2A gene.
 
So for that go / no-go test, it sounds like a "block" is a section of the test consisting of 18 words, half of which are happy and half of which are sad. The subjects are instructed to respond (clicking a button etc) to either only the sad words or only the happy words. If instructed to respond to only sad words, the sad words would be the targets and the happy words would be the "distractors". Every 2 blocks, the words (sad vs. happy) that you're supposed to respond to change - this would then be a shift block.

Part of the idea there may be that the test has some sensitivity to detect how well people "change gears" or "shift" on the shift blocks; If you've had 2 blocks in a row detecting only the sad words, then the next block would be a shift block, where you only respond to happy words. If you don't do very well at switching to responding to the happy words (or vice versa), this could say something about neural function.
 
socrilus said:
Sorry if this is TMI lol but does anybody have problems with orgasms?
Like I can get it up even though its difficult but upon ejaculation I just don't have all the pleasurable sensations which are supposed to be there.
Does this return to normal and become the powerful orgasms they used to be? Will Kegel Exercises help speed it up?
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This will get a lot better with time, but I really recommend stretching the pelvic floor along with exercising it, tension and glued-together muscles is oftentimes more so the issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlV8ca81HPE - The stretch she's doing 2 minutes in is the one you want. Go slowly at first lol.
 
Cotcha Yankinov said:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2631647/

For specifically memory the people with LL at the 5-HTTLPR seem to be worse off than people with SS (people with a short allele) but this study isn't concerned with memory.

It's possible that vulnerability to HPPD is somewhat heritable as it could be due to gating (filtering) issues and those could be heritable, depending on the 5HT2A gene.
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Very very interesting.

I watched a lecture by Robert Sapolsky a famous neuroendocrinologist on the serotonin transporter and depression. He also mentioned how the short one is a susceptibility for clinical depression should an event occur which causes it. And I don't remember but I think isn't this the gene that also is intertwined with controlling cortisol somehow?

Maybe like what you said earlier--the LTC is a result of some physiology being disturbed but its also physiology that would be disturbed in typical clinical depression? Except that one is triggered physically and the other through psychological circumstances? So could correcting the pathways that got messed up potentially speed up recovery of at least the non HPPD symptoms.
 
Sapolsky might have been talking about gene/environment interactions. You'll notice in the study I linked that there weren't really differences between the control short alleles and control long alleles on the no/no-go test (if I recall correctly), yet the MDMA short alleles did worse than the MDMA long alleles.

I've wondered why the short alleles are more vulnerable to negative after effects from MDMA (also more negative after effects from dietary tryptophan depletion) and I think there are some possible scenarios, probably involving minute differences before MDMA that are just exacerbated.

"isn't this the gene that also is intertwined with controlling cortisol somehow?" - Development of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (that the no/no-go test is testing to some degree) is associated with a decrease in cortisol, and a decrease in serotonin release correlates to low function of that brain area.

I think there are probably a lot of pathways that you could use to help treat an LTC that don't even have to be related to the direct cause of the LTC. For example, SSRIs can treat depression even if there isn't a serotonin deficit. Mindfulness, good sleep and cardio will all do an LTC sufferer a lot of good in the long run as well, and you might find it is to some degree the opposite of those three that I mention that can all contribute to the development of an LTC.
 
There are some serotonin receptors like 5HT2A and 5HT2C that have found to be over-expressed in depressed individuals, and downregulation of those serotonin receptors has been associated with an improvement of depression symptoms. So yes, too much serotonin can definitely be a bad thing. 5HT2C for example inhibits dopamine when activated. Processing is best when 5HT2A activation levels are low. So yeah, serotonin isn't just this "happy chemical" I guess lol. There are a lot of theories on how SSRIs work and there are probably multiple mechanisms in practice.

Some people do get worse initially on SSRIs but that's typically because of overactivation of 5HT2A/5HT2C, they can take a while to desensitize. Libido stuff can happen but mainly it's just a delay of climax.

As far as a more direct way to address the issue, unfortunately that would require knowing just what the hell the issue is lol.

Concerning the study, if I'm recalling correctly the MDMA short alleles were worse than the MDMA long alleles, whilist the control short alleles were about the same as the control long alleles, so that example of a possible gene environment interaction could be saying the difference is so minute when you don't have that life stressor that it could be hard to detect otherwise, but it can snowball into something detectable with a stressor. Although I think there are various weird connections with the serotonin transporter gene but I can't seem to recall much right now. I think the short allele is associated with neuroticism.
 
Cotcha Yankinov said:
There are some serotonin receptors like 5HT2A and 5HT2C that have found to be over-expressed in depressed individuals, and downregulation of those serotonin receptors has been associated with an improvement of depression symptoms. So yes, too much serotonin can definitely be a bad thing. 5HT2C for example inhibits dopamine when activated. Processing is best when 5HT2A activation levels are low. So yeah, serotonin isn't just this "happy chemical" I guess lol. There are a lot of theories on how SSRIs work and there are probably multiple mechanisms in practice.

Some people do get worse initially on SSRIs but that's typically because of overactivation of 5HT2A/5HT2C, they can take a while to desensitize. Libido stuff can happen but mainly it's just a delay of climax.

As far as a more direct way to address the issue, unfortunately that would require knowing just what the hell the issue is lol.

Concerning the study, if I'm recalling correctly the MDMA short alleles were worse than the MDMA long alleles, whilist the control short alleles were about the same as the control long alleles, so that example of a possible gene environment interaction could be saying the difference is so minute when you don't have that life stressor that it could be hard to detect otherwise, but it can snowball into something detectable with a stressor. Although I think there are various weird connections with the serotonin transporter gene but I can't seem to recall much right now. I think the short allele is associated with neuroticism.
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Exactly--the environment/gene interaction is what I was referring to. So the study is sort of showing that MDMA is a physiological stressor on the body and that the short allele makes it harder to deal with?
 
fnono33 said:
Has anyone tried to go on disability in the US for this?
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Worth a shot, although probably hard unless your doctors fully support you and your condition.

Has anyone had their cortisol tested during this?
 
fnono33 said:
I thought it showed up on the regular blood test no?
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I'm not sure I only had one at the hospital and they didn't tell me what it entailed. I get blood drawn next week so I'll ask for it. I get the feeling if we can get our cortisol/adrenalin under control then things start to fall in line.
 
I swear this just feels like a long drawn out waiting game sometimes. I'm not even worried about damage I'm just worried about how long its going to take to feel normal again.

That is what really gets to me is how long its guna take :| Can't take my mind off of the time. From observing my thoughts I've figured out thinking about how long its going to take to recover consitutes most of the thoughts. But I can't really dismiss it. Like if I try to meditate then I just start thinking alright I'm doing this I wonder how many times I have to do this until I am myself again.

Ugh...
 
For myself at least, there wasn't a day where I woke up and like oh I'm fine and back to normal, it was just everyday got a tiny bit better. Eventually, you do become yourself again without really knowing it, you don't think about it too much anymore, and you start to focus on real things in life besides the regret of possibly screwing up your brain. You laugh again, focus on work, have fun with friends, ...it will happen. Don't dwell on it too much and make yourself crazy researching for answers. Keep your head up.
 
Long term brain Zap sufferer here who has been having them for about a year and 3 months ... Everyone on here talks about how good cardio is so for the last 2 weeks I've joined a gym and do about 45 minutes of fairly intense cycling, rowing and then weights 5 days a week... But for some reason it's making them worse! I know they flare up every now and then which is normal cos I think it's how they get better but it's been noticably worse now for about a week and a half and I'm worrying it's making them worse. Or is this just a sign that they're getting better ? The increased blood flow to my brain is making them flare up and but will eventually start healing ? Please help ! Thanks
 
Brain zaps are known to be a peripheral parathesia - a peripheral nerve phenomenon affecting the nerves of the head. They're often known to coincide with movement of the head. So I would expect lots of movement to make them worse in the short term I guess.
 
socrilus said:
I swear this just feels like a long drawn out waiting game sometimes. I'm not even worried about damage I'm just worried about how long its going to take to feel normal again.

That is what really gets to me is how long its guna take :| Can't take my mind off of the time. From observing my thoughts I've figured out thinking about how long its going to take to recover consitutes most of the thoughts. But I can't really dismiss it. Like if I try to meditate then I just start thinking alright I'm doing this I wonder how many times I have to do this until I am myself again.

Ugh...
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Observing your thoughts is really important, but at some point you may want to make something of a summary, and then act on that summary. If your summary is that most of your thoughts are about your LTC, and that this slows down progress, then I suppose the action would be to continue to persevere with mindfulness, always watching out for rumination and returning your attention to the present moment whenever it happens.

Meditation takes quite a while to get decent at - don't give up.
 
MrBlue13 said:
For myself at least, there wasn't a day where I woke up and like oh I'm fine and back to normal, it was just everyday got a tiny bit better. Eventually, you do become yourself again without really knowing it, you don't think about it too much anymore, and you start to focus on real things in life besides the regret of possibly screwing up your brain. You laugh again, focus on work, have fun with friends, ...it will happen. Don't dwell on it too much and make yourself crazy researching for answers. Keep your head up.
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Fantastic your feeling better! What were your symptoms and how long did it take for you to recover?
 
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