Well, I think I f*cked myself

[Theroyalflush]

Hey folks,


This is my first post, and I want to say I'm seriously amazed at the level of understanding some of you have regarding not only drugs, but the human nervous system in general. You really shatter the stereotype of "burn out druggies".


First a little backround. I'm a 23 year old male, I have moderate experience with drugs, meaning I smoked cannabis daily for about a year, have used shrooms about 7 times, mdma/mda 3, lsd 6


This past new years I ate mda for the first time. I absolutely loved it and tried it again 2 weeks later. No negative side effects at all immediately after. After about a month I started getting paranoid I did damage (I have mild/moderate ocd) so after researching a bit I found an article about mdma frying serotonin receptors and causing "permanent jet lag". This freaked me the fuck out, and low and behold from that night on I started having SEVERE insomnia (averaging about 3 hrs of sleep a night). This lasted about 3 months until I saw a sleep specialist and took a sleep study. The doc said I was just suffering form psychological insomnia. Much to my relief I soon started sleeping consistently again.

Naturally, I believed the doc and simply thought I had developed some sort of fear of sleep. Fast forward to to may 31st I attended a festival and did 2 hits of some acid. The acid didn't seem to have any effect so I thought it was bunk and didn't worry much. Soon after, I noticed that when I slept I was only getting very light unrefreshing sleep. Like I'll lay there and wake up every hour with these crazy vivid dreams and be exhausted throughout the day. I thought this would simply pass but has been persisting since June.

I went to the doc and got prescribed trazodone. Curiously, the trazodone seems to only work certain nights. For example, this past weekend I slept great and thought this was finally over with and then the last two nights have been back to the typical fragmented sleep.

I would really like some insight as to what is going on and if any of you have an herbal/nootropic regimen to follow that would repair any damage.

Comments, insights, suggestions would be HIGHLY appreciated !

 

[sam Ketchum]

Are you physically active? like... exercise routinely?
If not, i would highly suggest you try running like maybe... 1-2 hours before you try and sleep?
or even walk. like a hour.
I could almost assure you it would help.

 

[das_feuer]

Are you physically active? like... exercise routinely?
If not, i would highly suggest you try running like maybe... 1-2 hours before you try and sleep?
or even walk. like a hour.
I could almost assure you it would help.

Exercising too close to bedtime can actually make it more difficult to get proper sleep:

...Exercising vigorously right before bed or within about three hours of your bedtime can actually make it harder to fall asleep. This surprises many people; it's often thought that a good workout before bed helps you feel more tired. In actuality, vigorous exercise right before bed stimulates your heart, brain and muscles -- the opposite of what you want at bedtime. It also raises your body temperature right before bed, which, you'll soon discover, is not what you want...

Source: http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/basics/how-to-fall-asleep1.htm

To the OP: I think you should just keep working with your doctor and sleep specialist. You may have to try a bunch of things before you find something that works. Definitely make sure that you get regular exercise and eat a healthy diet, but try not to exercise right before you try to sleep if you are already having issues getting any sleep to begin with.

 

[georgewc2001]

Regarding the frying of your seratonin receptors...I'm no doctor, but I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about with just of few uses of mdma or mda or whatever.

Please be careful what you read because the negative effects of ecstasy are WAY overexaggerated and often just outright wrong. I know this from many years of personal experience.

You need to use ecstasy very frequently over a long time period to blow out your receptors...you'd know it cause you'd experience the "loss of magic" people talk about. And, even if you did get to that point, guess what...eventually your receptors refresh and your seratonin levels come back.

Sleep is in fact the one thing in my experience that ecstasy effects the most and I'm sure it has much to do with seratonin's roll in sleep. However, the amount of times you rolled is just not enough to fuck you up. If it were, there'd be nothing left of my brain and, according to your reading, I'd have died from jet lag

 

[Thick_as_a_Planck]

I'll second what the posters above have said: you are very unlikely to have any sleeping troubles because of the drugs you have taken. Firstly you simply haven't taken that much. E can damage your brain (just like any other substance) when used to excess - but you haven't used it to excess, in fact you've barely used it at all, from the sounds of it. How many times have you dropped in total? Four, five? That's nowhere near enough to cause permanent sleep issues.

Secondly there's the even more telling point that you say you only started having problems several months after you did the E and only once you had read some (frankly bullshit sounding) article on the internet. This is clearly the cause of the situation since you state quite clearly the problem began immediately afterwards.

I'm not trying to belittle your situation in any way since I've had insomnia enough times to know it's no joke. It's simply that your situation is not chemical, but psychological. You are worrying about not sleeping and therefore not sleeping, a vicious circle, and a hard one to break.

My main advice would be the same that I was given in the past: first, don't go to bed until you are really ready to sleep. Don't do any stimulating activities like reading or using the internet in bed, it should be a place only for sleep. If you can't sleep after ten or fifteen minutes try getting up and doing some activity (some useful activity) for a preset time, like twenty minutes, then return to bed.

Distraction techniques like repeating a random word every few seconds can help, or counting backwards from 1000 (I have practically never been able to stay awake to the end of this when I've tried it)

Exercise is also good, but like the poster above said, not within two hours of the time you want to sleep. It should be a daytime thing.

To be honest the main thing I can tell you is also the hardest - just try not to worry about it. Tell yourself as it is, that the worst that can happen is you'll be really tired tomorrow. Nobody ever died of insomnia... in fact wikipedia tells me you'll probably actually live longer than people without it... and you'll have more time to do stuff anyway, so fuck it, not so bad eh? Just take it easy man.


Finally a word about the drugs. Try to use them sparingly - it's very easy to become reliant on sleeping pills.

Good luck and sweet dreams.

 

[Legerity]

As stated above I wouldn't worry about any potential brain damage. However if you find that the drugs are using are affecting you on a psychological level (anxiety, depression, paranoia, etc.), then that may be good reason to avoid them. This doesn't mean there is any actual damage done do your brain cells.

I've found that melatonin can be helpful for sleep. Also, a short meditation at night can help quiet your mind so you are not thinking so much once you get into bed. An overactive mind is one of the things that can keep me up for a long time. So the less stimulation you have before bed, such as TV, internet, phone call, etc., the easier it should be to fall asleep. I find it hard to avoid these, but I've often heard 1 hour to be the recommended amount of time before bed to avoid TV/internet.

Good luck

 

[oliphill]

I'd be far more concerned about your daily cannabis use than your irregular mdma use. I took a lot of mdma and i did indeed get the 'loss of magic feeling'. I went into a deep state of depression, but I've come back from it fine, ie my receptors sorted themselves out. But I also smoked cannabis daily and that has definately left some irrepairable damage, that and the lsd.

 

[Theroyalflush]

Thanks for the replies guys! The one thing im worried about is that perhaps the hits of acid I took at the festival were poorly produced and that did the damage? After taking the hits I didn't trip at all, but it was a couple nights after when the fragmented sleep started.

I'd be far more concerned about your daily cannabis use than your irregular mdma use. I took a lot of mdma and i did indeed get the 'loss of magic feeling'. I went into a deep state of depression, but I've come back from it fine, ie my receptors sorted themselves out. But I also smoked cannabis daily and that has definately left some irrepairable damage, that and the lsd.

In what ways did cannabis and lsd damage you ?

 

[NotQuiteAnonymous]

OP...you're psyching yourself out...

 

[Theroyalflush]

OP...you're psyching yourself out...

Story of my life, literally.

 

[MasterSplinter]

HeI'll lay there and wake up every hour with these crazy vivid dreams and be exhausted throughout the day. I thought this would simply pass but has been persisting

I get this too lately. Doctor says its because of the change of seasons, but Ive convinced myself its something much darker....I got to psuedo-sleep at 0400am and wake up at 12:30-1pm feeling totally exhausted and dreading another day alive i this fucked up society.

I feel guilty and useless. I wish I could make everything right but money is the ONLY solution for happiness in the new millennium...the elites have made sure of this.

 

[littlesparkle]

i dont think you have any damage...maybe its just in your head?or also could see a specialist for some underlying mental issues.

 

[dankstersauce]

Yeah I agree with some above posters, daily cannabis use can definitely fuck your head up. Daily smokers often completely ignore or don't believe in side effects.

And also as someone said above if 3-4 MDx experiences and 10 LSD/shroom trips really fucked you up, I'd be in an insane asylum years ago.

But everyone's body works differently so just be honest with your doctor and try to work it out.