I just thought I'd share my experience with serotonin syndrome. After experiencing it, I realize how many ravers are in great danger of this and don't even know it. Some people may have even gotten it and just thought they got really bad pills or something. It is serious and it can be lifethreatening. 5htp is NOT always your friend. Main point I want to show you is that you should never take 5htp before, immediately after, or especially during your roll.
Here's my story:
It's about 7am, been rolling since 9pm the night before. Took a total of 4 mdma pills with some speed in them too. Too many, I know. I'm finally coming down. At my friends house Feeling you know, empty, awkward, depressed. Normal for that many meth bombs. Try to sleep for a couple hours, doesn't work out. At about 10am I feel totally sober again, ive been back to reality for a while, so I take a 100mg 5htp, thinking that it will help boost my mood during the next couple days and get me out of the depression.
11am, I'm driving on the interstate going home. I suddenly start to feel nauseous, sweaty, sick, hot. thought for the first few minutes i was just starting to get the flu. But then I felt even more sick, wanted to pull over to vomit but didn't. Sweat was now pouring down my face so bad that I couldn't wear my sunglasses in the bright sun cause they would be covered in sweat after 10 seconds. Then I noticed I was becoming really fidgety. Like I couldn't stop moving around in my seat while i was driving. Then I realized that I literally couldn't stop "smiling". My facial muscles were spasming and tightening. My body temperature was obviously extremely high. My heart was racing. ALL of theses symptoms suddenly appeared, and within a 10 minute period it went from no symptoms to all symptoms. At first I was thinking maybe I'm just freaking out, having a panic attack or something. But I already knew about seratonin syndrome, I just didn't want to believe it.
So Im like 30 min from home still at least. I'm paniced, sweating, sick, can't stop moving my body or face. Thoughts are racing, not thinking clearly. Mild confusion. Should I go straight to the hospital or try to make it home and see if it gets better? The symptoms also come in waves. like every 15 minutes it would get a bit better, then it'd get worse again, and so on.
So I make it home, terrified, because I know seratonin syndrome can be life threatening. I look it up on wiki and EVERY specific symptom matches up perfectly, 100% sure it is SS. I call my friend she comes over, I explain to her what it is, we decide not to go to the er and to just wait it out since symptoms weren't getting any worse and slowly getting better. For some reason I managed to never throw up. After a few hours, the symptoms are gone, I thank God for that.
I'm not sure if this is related to it or not, but here's what happened later: All the symptoms have been gone for hours, and I go to sleep, relieved it's over. but is it? I wake up at 3am with bad chest pain. indegestion? idk. can't sleep though, so i get up to look it up onilne and it gets worse. I stand up and start walking out of my room to get some help from my roommate maybe, and I start to loose all my vision. I'm now completely blind, standing in my kitchen screaming for my roommate to take me to the er, trying to grab a glass of water but i am blind so cannot. Vission starts to come back, and we head to the er. I explained to them i had serotonin syndrom earlier in the day, and they said it wasn't really related and it couldve been low blood sugar and me standing up too quickly. They said my heart and oxygen was healthy and released me quickly thankfully. So I don't really know what that was. Maybe triggered by an off balance of serotonin after the SS?
Long story short. Don't underestimate the power of 5htp. DON'T take it right when you are done rolling, even once you are sober. Wait till the NEXT DAY to start taking a 5htp every day. I hear of people taking 5htp right before, right after, and even during there roll thinking that it will just boost there roll. Doesn't work like that. It is a very dangerous drug interaction. Also I think the fact that I had meth in my pills may have contributed to my SS due to the fact that meth is a much longer lasting drug than mdma so i was technically still on meth when I took the 5htp, and any amphetamine can be a factor for SS, not just mdma. After experiencing SS, I am extremely cautious with 5htp or any drugs or supplements. It obviously does it's job though since serotonin syndrome occurs when there is too much serotonin in the central nervous system. If I took 1 more 5htp or maybe took it just an hour earlier, it couldve been a fatal case of serotonin syndrome, I have no doubt about that. I'm just trying to protect you guys.
Remember the ONLY time you should be taking 5htp, is 24 hours AFTER you have come down. Never right when youre done rolling, or you may end up where I was.
Thank you guys very much for reading, stay safe, and learn the easy way!
PLUR and God bless
Here's my story:
It's about 7am, been rolling since 9pm the night before. Took a total of 4 mdma pills with some speed in them too. Too many, I know. I'm finally coming down. At my friends house Feeling you know, empty, awkward, depressed. Normal for that many meth bombs. Try to sleep for a couple hours, doesn't work out. At about 10am I feel totally sober again, ive been back to reality for a while, so I take a 100mg 5htp, thinking that it will help boost my mood during the next couple days and get me out of the depression.
11am, I'm driving on the interstate going home. I suddenly start to feel nauseous, sweaty, sick, hot. thought for the first few minutes i was just starting to get the flu. But then I felt even more sick, wanted to pull over to vomit but didn't. Sweat was now pouring down my face so bad that I couldn't wear my sunglasses in the bright sun cause they would be covered in sweat after 10 seconds. Then I noticed I was becoming really fidgety. Like I couldn't stop moving around in my seat while i was driving. Then I realized that I literally couldn't stop "smiling". My facial muscles were spasming and tightening. My body temperature was obviously extremely high. My heart was racing. ALL of theses symptoms suddenly appeared, and within a 10 minute period it went from no symptoms to all symptoms. At first I was thinking maybe I'm just freaking out, having a panic attack or something. But I already knew about seratonin syndrome, I just didn't want to believe it.
So Im like 30 min from home still at least. I'm paniced, sweating, sick, can't stop moving my body or face. Thoughts are racing, not thinking clearly. Mild confusion. Should I go straight to the hospital or try to make it home and see if it gets better? The symptoms also come in waves. like every 15 minutes it would get a bit better, then it'd get worse again, and so on.
So I make it home, terrified, because I know seratonin syndrome can be life threatening. I look it up on wiki and EVERY specific symptom matches up perfectly, 100% sure it is SS. I call my friend she comes over, I explain to her what it is, we decide not to go to the er and to just wait it out since symptoms weren't getting any worse and slowly getting better. For some reason I managed to never throw up. After a few hours, the symptoms are gone, I thank God for that.
I'm not sure if this is related to it or not, but here's what happened later: All the symptoms have been gone for hours, and I go to sleep, relieved it's over. but is it? I wake up at 3am with bad chest pain. indegestion? idk. can't sleep though, so i get up to look it up onilne and it gets worse. I stand up and start walking out of my room to get some help from my roommate maybe, and I start to loose all my vision. I'm now completely blind, standing in my kitchen screaming for my roommate to take me to the er, trying to grab a glass of water but i am blind so cannot. Vission starts to come back, and we head to the er. I explained to them i had serotonin syndrom earlier in the day, and they said it wasn't really related and it couldve been low blood sugar and me standing up too quickly. They said my heart and oxygen was healthy and released me quickly thankfully. So I don't really know what that was. Maybe triggered by an off balance of serotonin after the SS?
Long story short. Don't underestimate the power of 5htp. DON'T take it right when you are done rolling, even once you are sober. Wait till the NEXT DAY to start taking a 5htp every day. I hear of people taking 5htp right before, right after, and even during there roll thinking that it will just boost there roll. Doesn't work like that. It is a very dangerous drug interaction. Also I think the fact that I had meth in my pills may have contributed to my SS due to the fact that meth is a much longer lasting drug than mdma so i was technically still on meth when I took the 5htp, and any amphetamine can be a factor for SS, not just mdma. After experiencing SS, I am extremely cautious with 5htp or any drugs or supplements. It obviously does it's job though since serotonin syndrome occurs when there is too much serotonin in the central nervous system. If I took 1 more 5htp or maybe took it just an hour earlier, it couldve been a fatal case of serotonin syndrome, I have no doubt about that. I'm just trying to protect you guys.
Remember the ONLY time you should be taking 5htp, is 24 hours AFTER you have come down. Never right when youre done rolling, or you may end up where I was.
Thank you guys very much for reading, stay safe, and learn the easy way!
PLUR and God bless
