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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

First of all I would just like to say that I'm sorry you've had such troubles after MDMA and that I really feel for you, I am in a similar predicament ever since MDMA abuse when I was young and invincible.

There is a meta analysis of 7 studies showing very mild evidence supporting the use of HBOT in TBI but it seems the small improvements were related to reduced swelling and such that would not apply to MDMA users unfortunately. I think getting actual bloodflow through all areas of the brain would be much more helpful to be honest. The bloodflow decreases after MDMA have been shown to persist at least 6 weeks but I think in practice (with deconditioning especially) bloodflow is affected in abusers for a while longer. Bloodflow is really what MDMA users need, not necessarily just oxygen.

At this point there is no evidence that MDMA hurts the sertotonin cell body itself, but rather it harms the axons and dendrites, which are akin to the branches and roots of the cell. Thankfully, the axons and dendrites have been shown to grow back (to a degree) but it seems that the brain is better at doing this sort of growth under certain conditions. I would consider it our goal to maximize these conditions of growth. In general, stress has been shown to impair neuronal recovery and stop the growth of new neurons. On the other hand, cardio has been shown to increase neurogenesis of serotonin in a very important serotonin projection. It also builds new arteries in the brain. In total there are well over 1000 chemical changes that happen with cardio. I really can't recommend cardio enough, and I would definitely keep up a regimen of 30 minutes, 4 times a week for a couple months before knocking it. If that is hard for you then at this point the chronic deconditioning is probably very real and it will leave you feeling like shit with numerous physical symptoms. It has been shown that cardio is essential for recovering from amphetamine abuse as amphetamines (and long term comedowns) often cause severe deconditioning.

I think sleep is essential to recovering from MDMA, how has your sleep been? Sleep is one of the things that I firmly believe in medicating if it's not all hunky dory. Most of your brain repair and growth as well as growth hormone release occurs during sleep.

The other thing I should mention is part of MDMA's long term effects is very likely due to an uninhibition of certain brain areas because the serotonin that was once inhibiting them is reduced, so you can help treat some symptoms by shutting down those brain parts that serotonin used to control.

Take care, and feel free to tell me about all your symptoms, I think medicating problems to alleviate stress so you can allow the proper conditions necessary for healing to flourish is important. Once again I can't recommend cardio enough.
 
I'll definitely try to get more cardio soon. Sleep has not been good since this started, although it is improving as of the last month.

For the first 3 months after the incident that sparked this, I could not get more than 3-4 of sleep per night no matter how hard I tried. Ambien didn't work. The only thing that has worked to help me sleep is 50-100mg of Seroquel. I don't like taking it but I do like sleep. Luckily I was able to move in with my parents, and I'm quitting my job soon because of this. Going to work for 8 hours a day after getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep is no fun.

My symptoms have been awful. The intense insomnia was pretty bad. But there's also been basically complete inhibition of sexual function. Complete anhedonia in general. Food does not taste as good. Smells are not as strong and sometimes smell different. My body odor is different (or my sense of smell is, hard to tell). More rapid hair loss. Beard hair is more coarse or feels that way. Cognitively I cannot think abstractly anymore. Constant headaches. I often misspell words when typing or writing whereas before I would NEVER misspell things or if I did it was very very rare. My digestion has changed. Before this I would have bowel movements about twice a day. Usually right after I woke up, and once or twice during the day after. Also I would have to urinate probably at least 4-8 times per day if I had to guess. Now I can go multiple days between bowel movements and I only urinate 2 or 3 times day. I would say I was dehydrated buy many times when I pee my urine is mostly clear.

Also I don't really get hungry or thirsty anymore. Sometimes I will feel faint hunger, but that's it. Also only if I've gone more than a few hours without drinking anything will I feel the least bit thirsty. And it's like I don't even feel thirsty like normal, it's just that my mouth is more dry and so I know I should drink something. I'll usually have a glass of water when I get up, and then a glass of water with lunch and one with dinner and that will be it, and I won't feel thirsty otherwise which is very different from before this happened.

Also my motor coordination is off. Not that I was the most active person before, but I can't run up or down stairs, for example. I feel weak and out of balance. I have to be careful going up and down stairs and I can only do so at a moderate pace. I can't leap and skip steps like previously or rapidly descend stairs like I used to be able to. Even when I drive in the car, whereas I used to always drive fast now I'm extremely cautious and it's a challenge to drive fast. Hard to explain this feeling.

Perhaps the worst, aside from the sex and insomnia, is my inability to enjoy music. Music just doesn't sound good anymore. It doesn't necessarily sound bad, but it really doesn't do anything. Whereas before I would constantly be listening to music and going to shows was a very very big part of my life. Now I can listen to a piece of music and not be moved at all. It's unfortunate.

Incidentally, I did come across a link to a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy place in Texas that says it is a useful therapy to overcome drug addictions.

http://www.txhbo.com/learn-more/hbot-for-severe-addition

They seem to think it helps with bad drug reactions. Either way, I'm not totally going to discount this, it seems the most promising thing I've seen so far.

I did have a bad acid trip the night before I took MDMA, and then two days before the lsd trip I took what I believe was MDA. I rarely did mdma or mda and completely forgot about the dangers.
 
I believe that most of your symptoms are really from chronic sleep deprivation and that if we improve your sleep everything else will fall in line.

Just checking, do you ever have a hard time breathing through your nose? For example, when laying on your side does one side of your nose close off and you have to breath through your mouth? Or do you ever find yourself waking up gasping or out of breath? Just checking for sleep apnea. MDMA has been shown to actually cause sleep apnea.

The kind of repair and growth that you want is really done during sleep. Including "detoxification", which is normally a word I don't like to use. I really think you should try Clonidine. It will help you get more slow wave sleep which is where your brain releases all its growth hormone (very important for the brain) and removes harmful oxidants from the brain. If you have the money Belsomra is quite unique and non addicting (I can vouch for this) but there is no generic for it yet. Trazadone will likely perform even better than Seroquel (I like low dose Seroquel as well); but once you get up to a couple hundred mg Seroquel it becomes a bit of a different drug, so beware of that, but also be aware that it might be what you need. We have to get you as close as we can to 8-9 hours of sleep, however impossible that sounds. The other technique that will help you is mindfulness meditation, the goal is pretty much to turn off your thoughts and let your mind go silent. Focus on the way your breathing feels. Each and every time a thought comes, return your attention to the breath.

Regular exercise has also been shown to increase slow wave sleep and deepen sleep in all stages, and it really does build new brain cells as well as new arteries in the brain. I also have to give a big warning about the chronic sleep deprivation causing chronic deconditioning- this is something that you want to avoid at all costs. If I were in your position I would be very fearful of the chronic deconditioning getting any worse. Please do the cardio religiously. Nothing could be worse for your brain at this point than chronic deconditioning, which it sounds like is already here to some extent.

Exercise, rational polypharmacy, and mindfulness meditation will likely be your saving graces. Any questions are welcome, you can always message me. I really wouldn't think too much about HBOT, I really think what your brain needs is sleep and exercise instead. The fact of the matter is that some of the your brain cells "branches" have not necessarily been damaged as much as they are just completely gone, so we have to encourage the different growth factors that encourage your brain to build new things entirely, and that really happens during sleep and exercise. I could see your optimal polypharmacy consisting of Clonidine, Belsomra, and either low dose seroquel or Trazadone but mixing Clonidine with either seroquel or Trazadone could cause low blood pressure so you might be limited in how much Clonidine you can use by that, which will be unfortunate.
 
I have also been of the same opinion. Really since the very first week that all of this started I kept telling myself if I could just get adequate sleep that my problems will resolve. Especially since my mdma usage and weekend in general resulted in me being awake for over 4 days straight. It wasn't until I got a massive amount of xanax from a friend that I was able to sleep. And, well, since then things haven't been the same. The first month I was completely manic, basically schizophrenic, but that calmed down. Everything else has remained the same though.

No real sleep apnea that I've noticed. I can breathe fine in any position. I will look into Belsomra and Clonidine. Unfortunately trazadone did not help me. It was what I was initially prescribed but it made me tired for a little bit but usually not enough to help me fall asleep. Same thing with ambien. But seroquel works. Perhaps now that my sleep is somewhat more normal trazadone would work again.

I've also debated travelling to a legal state and getting Rick Simpson Oil to see if that would help at all. Even though weed is still...odd for me, I would like to try it.
 
Personally since I abused MDMA thc has become incredibly activating for me and causes insomnia. But if I were you I would definitely look into Clonidine, I think you'll find it is very powerful. Unfortunately it can cause low blood pressure so you might be limited in dose by that.

You could also push the dose with Seroquel. Schizophrenia doses run as high as 900mg. It behaves very differently at those doses.

I really recommend mindfulness meditation, even though our brains have something off in their "biology" we can still try to do something consciously to change the function of our brains. The main problem is our brains are too excitable. Mindfulness meditation is great for addressing this.

One of the reasons why our brains are too excitable is that sertotonin used to be inhibiting parts of our brain that are now running wild. I believe you are actually a good candidate for Citalopram because of this, there is a good chance that if we increase your serotonergic tone over those excitable parts of your brain that you might sleep better, and I also believe that your brain will recover better in the long run. SSRIs increase neurogenesis of serotonin. They do cause insomnia for some people but I still think there wouldn't be much harm in trying them.
 
vecktor said:
high pressure oxygen is dangerous. causing lung damage and damage to the retinas

read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity

before you damage yourself with this stupid health fad read up on it.
Click to expand...

I agree completely, I work in medical research and had to convince the clinic I work at not to use this, for of all things, orthopedic conditions. If you have the benz, then you might need it, or if you have a large percentage of your body surface burnt - established medical uses for HBOT. Just because there are a lot of research articles on something doesn't mean they are legitimate - always look for randomized controlled trials on new medical techniques/drugs etc. (look up a practice known as prolotherapy for another example, or even essential oil therapies).
 
I'll def look into Clonidine, hopefully I can get a prescription.

Also funny that you mention Citalopram. Initially my doctor wanted to prescribe me that, but I refused, thinking that if I took an SSRI it might impede my brain from regenerating those structures naturally. Do you think it would still be of use this late in the game?
 
Oh yes, new brain cell growth happens throughout the lifetime of humans in many places, the main places that SSRIs increase neurogenesis are actually some places where you build new cells constantly.

Improving your sleep with Clonidine will help you build more brain cells and synapses as well. You'll also just plain feel better.

Sometimes SSRIs cause insomnia but ex-MDMA users are typically unique cases. Either way you could combo Citalopram with Clonidine and that might be the best combo for you.
 
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