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NEWS: News.com.au - 19/03/08 'Stronger highs, worse comedowns for women'

hoptis

hoptis

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Stronger highs, worse comedowns for women
By Tamara McLean
March 19, 2008 11:47am

WOMEN who take ecstasy get a more euphoric drug high than men and suffer a much harder comedown in the days after, an Australian review has found.

Mental health experts say drug findings presented at an international medical conference in Melbourne today should warn women that the effects of the party pill will hit them harder.

"What we've seen from all the evidence is that the highs are higher and more intense for women," said lead researcher Dr Kelly Allott, from the University of Melbourne.

"And the low in the following days after taking the drug appears to be much lower. So they tend to experience the extremes of the drug experience."

Australian data shows one in five people in their 20s have tried ecstasy or MDMA, making it the third most popular drug after cannabis and amphetamines.

Dr Allott reviewed 29 studies from Australia and abroad to collate the latest evidence on how the drug affects men and women differently.

The findings from three lab studies of ecstasy users overseas suggest that women respond more strongly, with more and stronger hallucinations and euphoric feelings, she said.

In the days after they have a lower mood then men, with biological studies suggesting females may also be hit harder by the longer-term negative effects of the drug. Women were also more at risk of a potentially fatal ecstasy-related coma.

Men were more likely to die after taking the drug, but toxicology tests showed that was probably because of higher doses and the use of several drugs at once rather than the drug itself.

Dr Allott, who has presented her research findings at the International Congress on Women's Mental Health, said it was still unclear why women felt the effects differently, but there were a few theories under investigation.

"It's possible that (the female sex hormone) estrogen increases the sensitivity to the effects of drugs such as MDMA, which act on the serotonin system affecting mood," she said.

"There may also be gender differences in brain structure, or differences in how men and women metabolise the drug in the body."

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, director of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre in Melbourne, said the findings, published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, should enlighten drug takers and emergency physicians.

"We know women are more sensitive in the way they are affected by alcohol and prescription drugs, but it's very important we get that same depth of understanding around illicit substances," Prof Kulkarni said.
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News.com.au
 
"And the low in the following days after taking the drug appears to be much lower. So they tend to experience the extremes of the drug experience."
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From personal observations over 20 or so years, I tend to disagree with this finding. I'm still amazed at how most of the older (40+) women users I know can bash E and stimulants really hard, yet get up the next day and work long hours without any thing more than slight tiredness the following night and no comedown to speak of after that. How do they do it!
 
Maybe age interacts with gender to give this effect - most of the research on ecstasy use tends to be done with a young adult population. Seldom are adults over 40 sampled within these studies. And age would make a difference to hormone levels. Just a thought!

Most of the people I have met who seem to be machines when it comes to drugs are males. But I don't know what that proves ;)
 
"It's possible that (the female sex hormone) estrogen increases the sensitivity to the effects of drugs such as MDMA, which act on the serotonin system affecting mood," she said.
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So if you pre-load with estrogen, you'll get a stronger high? ;)

I think there's probably more to this than just gender. A persons diet, their fitness level and body mass might be contributing factors. Personally speaking, I find I need a significantly lower dose than friends (of either gender) to achieve the same effects from MDMA - generally around 70mg will give me the same effects as 100+mg would for friends. Times where I've consumed 100+mg have generally been unpleasantly strong - highly nauseous, difficulty focusing eyesight, unwillingness to speak or move - for many hours. On the other end of the spectrum, I also know a few friends that would be considered "hard heads", in that even when they had little or no experience with MDMA, they could take around 100mg and would feel little effects (their pupils weren't even dilated).
 
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To be honest, I still can't say the estrogen thing is the answer. Some of these girls I've known over that 20 year period, and really, there's nothing much different today. It's usually a few of us older boys that tend to find excuses whenever one of the girls brings up the question of 'partying'.
 
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