Okay to roll if you have mild depression&anxiety, and take clonazepam?

[phantomcosmonaut]

So my friend wants to try rolling, first I should start by saying that my source is completely pure MDMA, so no worries about adulterants. She has depression which she is handling very well through therapy, and anxiety which is handled with therapy and a 3x-per-day dose of .5mg klonopin pills. If she didn't take her prescription until after the roll would she feel effects (knowing that downers block the action of psychedelics)? I know that it builds up in your body, so would not taking it for the day even help? And aside from that, how would her comedown be? Everyone I know who has done this MDMA has never had any hint of a comedown or hangover, but would she possibly have a depressing comedown/hangover? Knowing the latter would surely deter her from doing it, and obviously if the former is an issue it just wouldn't work.

 

[Foreigner]

That's a tricky subject.

Some research shows that MDMA can have a therapeutic effect on depression/anxity, but it depends on what the root of the depression/anxiety is. For instance, people who have social anxiety or find it difficult to change their highly introverted personality can become depressed due to feeling excluded from the world. MDMA helps these people as it tends to induce a degree of extroversion and sociability in the right setting.

On the other hand, if the depression is heavily related to an ongoing biochemical imbalance that doesn't seem responsive to changes in lifestyle, then MDMA could really mess a person up.

If you are prone to depression and you do MDMA once in a blue moon, it should not have a significant impact on your brain. Just don't do it often. If your friend is dosing for the first time, I would recommend a low initial dose, mostly to get an understanding of what the post-MDMA recovery would be like. If it seems ok, then the next dose could be a bit higher. I would recommend waiting a minimum of one month before doses, but longer is better.

I say this as someone with a history of depression/anxiety who did MDMA extensively and was on medication for depression.

 

[F1n1shed]

In general MDMA will do nothing good for depression and anxiety and actually causes it to become worse in many occasions. If she must roll just to try it and doesn't want to take no for an answer i would allow her to do it just once and not again. It actually causes people to developed panic attacks and anxiety attacks, people who never got these before. I was one of those people, i don't roll anymore and the anxiety attacks are gone. But yea, simple answer. Not a good idea for the long term that is.

 

[StrutterGear]

I would definitely not advise stopping prescription medication for depression just to take MDMA. If she is on SSRI medication it may completley diminish the effects of the MDMA, and if shes on MAOIs taking MDMA may be FATAL.

I cannt stress the importance of this enough.

If your friend decides to do it (and only he/she can make this decision, not YOU) then she has to be familiar with the risks. Please show her this forum to educate them of the risks.

 

[Folley]

MDMA and clonazepam is not a fatal combination at all, in fact it is SAFER than taking MDMA alone. She may experience a diminished roll, but as long as she is tolerant to the drug (has been taking her meds for a while) and takes a lower dose (say 1-2 pills for 2 days before and one pill the day before the night she rolls) she should still be able to have a great experience on MDMA


Just make sure she is not on ANY other medication as well




Benzos like klonopin dull MDMA a lot though, they give IV clonazepam to MDMA and LSD "overdose" (as in, took too much and are freaking out) patients

 

[StrutterGear]

MDMA and clonazepam is not a fatal combination at all, in fact it is SAFER than taking MDMA alone. She may experience a diminished roll, but as long as she is tolerant to the drug (has been taking her meds for a while) and takes a lower dose (say 1-2 pills for 2 days before and one pill the day before the night she rolls) she should still be able to have a great experience on MDMA


Just make sure she is not on ANY other medication as well




Benzos like klonopin dull MDMA a lot though, they give IV clonazepam to MDMA and LSD "overdose" (as in, took too much and are freaking out) patients

I have never used or known anyone to use cloazepam so was just reiterating the fatality fact in case it fell under that category. Why's it safer out of curiosity? As I said i have no knowledge of the drug or its interactions.

 

[Folley]

Benzodiazapines are much different from SSRIs in that they have a very calming effect on the body, almost completely getting rid of anxiety while giving the body a sedating effect. Since clonazepam would lower heart rate and generally just dampen the roll (as well as it's side effects), common sense would tell us that a roll with it would be safer, though much less fun, than without it.

IME, benzos dampen the roll quite a bit, making it almost nonexistent

 

[F1n1shed]

I think you would have to take a super high dose of a benzo to kill the roll completely. But i've rolled on a full xanax bar (no tolerance) combined with alcohol. It was much more of a floory roll, where i feel extremely relaxed and sedated. ANyway i agree with folley, benzos will slow down your heart rate in a safe way and dampen the roll just a bit. Thus decreasing neurotoxicity, because the neurons are not firing at such a fast rate. Also if she wants to roll i wouldn't recommend her to stop taking klonopin until after the roll. She will get rebound anxiety and the come up is gonna kick her ass, trust me. Maybe she should just take 1 of her doses and save the rest for after the roll.

 

[phantomcosmonaut]

So what I'm seeing is that this is good to happen. I'll tell her to take 2 klonopin the day before and the day of she can roll early, like the afternoon, and then once she's coming down she will take 1 klonopin. She's taking 90mg so it shouldn't be hard on her.

 

[scureto1]

I second what Folley said. Benzodiazepines like clonazepam aren't dangerous at all with MDMA, but they will very much dampen the roll. My wife and I have a stash of clonazepam that we keep on hand for when we're done with a roll and want to sleep, or if a psychadelic trip gets too intense or we're ready to cut it short and go to bed - that's how much they dampen the effects of most psychadelics. I think that if your friend takes her first dose that day, and skips the afternoon and evening dose, her roll will be just fine, then she could take her third clonazepam when she's done rolling to help her get a normal night of sleep. She should be on guard for her anxiety to be a bit worse in the few days following the roll. Sometimes, the next day or two a person will feel in a better mood than usual and more resilient against sadness and anxiety, other times it is just the opposite and a person will be mopey and sad and anxious - its hard/impossible to predict which will happen for her, so she should be prepared for that. All in all, I think its still worth doing, as long as she knows what she's getting into.

Benzos don't build up in your system the way anti-depressants do. If she takes actual anti-depressants, that's a different story and you need very different advice from this.