4 ms·

> remember that they help change your perspective and allow you to look at problems from new angles For anyone who thinks this is airy-fairy crap, I can provid

> remember that they help change your perspective and allow you to look at problems from new angles For anyone who thinks this is airy-fairy crap, I can provide a very real example. I've been taking MDMA regularly for the last 6 months (~2 doses x 2 instances per month) and recently, after coming home while peaking I admitted to my partner of 9 years how I'd been abused as a child by particular relatives. I'd never told anyone up until that point, and it was what had been driving my alcoholism since my early 20's (now early 30's). As I recalled some of the details to her, what would have normally made me break down instead made me reflect on those events. I moved those memories from a traumatic area to a (for lack of a better phrase) "done and dusted" area. I made peace with those people and made peace with myself. Since then my desire to drink to excess has waned, and what was a constant anxiety is quickly fading. For anyone who has a dark side, I recommend you try MDMA - especially in the company of someone you love or trust.

zone411 14y ago
I wouldn't want to tell you what to do with your own body, but I hope you realize that at this usage frequency you are abusing this drug. The current thinking is that such frequent use does not give your brain nearly enough time to recover and can lead to serious negative life-long consequences, such as depression. Another consequence worth looking up, if you didn't hear about it previously, is so-called "loss of magic."
- alwaysinshade 14y ago
  > I wouldn't want to tell you what to do with your own body, but I hope you realize that at this usage frequency you are abusing this drug. I disagree. Twice a month (two pills /in one night/ ~ two weeks apart) and doing it in a social situation isn't indicative of abuse or dependency. It's indicative of recreational use. > The current thinking is that such frequent use does not give your brain nearly enough time to recover and can lead to serious negative life-long consequences, such as depression. You are correct regarding depression - at least on a temporary basis. However the latest and most comprehensive study funded by NIDA has shown no marked residual cognitive effects in ecstasy users. See my other comment for more details including a link to the study: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4541273 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4541273 > if you didn't hear about it previously, is so-called "loss of magic." I hadn't heard of it but I looked it up. My experience to date, having tried different [MDMA] pills, is that you have mixed results. The most recent ones I've taken have been the best in terms of shortest activation time, "peak" and lack of come-down. It's likely correlated to the total MDMA content of the pill. YMMV.
  - kin 14y ago
    I'm happy that your experiences has helped with your drinking but your usage frequency is quite high even if 'recreational'. At the very least since you're using different [MDMA] pills please be safe and use a test kit or only use pure ones since there are a lot of people out there selling unclean presses containing speed and meth that can seriously damage you at your current usage rate.
matznerd 14y ago
I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you, but I'm glad you are making progress in getting over it. Based on your dosage, I do not think you have a lot to worry about, just don't become dependent on it. Here is a pubmed study regarding higher frequency than you report (although I do not know your dose) "MATERIALS AND METHOD: We prospectively studied, as part of the NeXT (Netherlands XTC toxicity) study, sustained effects of a low dose of ecstasy on brain function in 25 subjects before and after their first episode of ecstasy use (mean 2.0 +/- 1.4 ecstasy pills, on average 11.1 +/- 12.9 weeks since last ecstasy use), compared to 24 persistent ecstasy-naive controls, also measured twice and matched with the novice users on age, gender, IQ, and cannabis use. Cognitive brain function was measured in the domains of working memory, selective attention, and associative memory using fMRI. RESULTS: No significant effects were found of a low dose of ecstasy on working memory, selective attention, or associative memory neither at the behavioral level nor at the neurophysiological level. CONCLUSIONS: This study yielded no firm evidence for sustained effects of a low dose of ecstasy on human cognitive brain function. The present findings are relevant for the development of prevention and harm reduction strategies. Furthermore, the study is relevant to the discussion concerning potential therapeutic use of ecstasy. " http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17476480 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17476480
stinos 14y ago
A word of warning on those amounts: while the effects you are seeing now are mostly positive, there are possibly longer term negative, maybe irreversible, effects. For instance, it took my brain months to get rid of random psychedelic flashes occurring, ie seeing/hearing things that are not there. Funny at first, gets really annoying after a while. Also a couple of weeks after quitting regular usage I felt rather down and depressed, obviously due to the mess MDMA creates in the serotonin/dopamin system. For other effects: there are quite a lot of studies on them, and none of them are particularly good news. I'm not denying MDMA can give you nice insights and learns you how to cope with certain problems, I experienced that myself multiple times, but definitely stay away from sustained usage of more than a couple of months.
- ZoFreX 14y ago
  But then again, those side-effects are no worse than an average SSRI anti-depressant, so for those struggling with abuse, anxiety, stress disorders etc this may turn out to be a viable treatment option.

zone411 14y ago

I wouldn't want to tell you what to do with your own body, but I hope you realize that at this usage frequency you are abusing this drug. The current thinking is that such frequent use does not give your brain nearly enough time to recover and can lead to serious negative life-long consequences, such as depression. Another consequence worth looking up, if you didn't hear about it previously, is so-called "loss of magic."

alwaysinshade 14y ago
> I wouldn't want to tell you what to do with your own body, but I hope you realize that at this usage frequency you are abusing this drug. I disagree. Twice a month (two pills /in one night/ ~ two weeks apart) and doing it in a social situation isn't indicative of abuse or dependency. It's indicative of recreational use. > The current thinking is that such frequent use does not give your brain nearly enough time to recover and can lead to serious negative life-long consequences, such as depression. You are correct regarding depression - at least on a temporary basis. However the latest and most comprehensive study funded by NIDA has shown no marked residual cognitive effects in ecstasy users. See my other comment for more details including a link to the study: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4541273 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4541273 > if you didn't hear about it previously, is so-called "loss of magic." I hadn't heard of it but I looked it up. My experience to date, having tried different [MDMA] pills, is that you have mixed results. The most recent ones I've taken have been the best in terms of shortest activation time, "peak" and lack of come-down. It's likely correlated to the total MDMA content of the pill. YMMV.
- kin 14y ago
  I'm happy that your experiences has helped with your drinking but your usage frequency is quite high even if 'recreational'. At the very least since you're using different [MDMA] pills please be safe and use a test kit or only use pure ones since there are a lot of people out there selling unclean presses containing speed and meth that can seriously damage you at your current usage rate.

matznerd 14y ago

I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you, but I'm glad you are making progress in getting over it. Based on your dosage, I do not think you have a lot to worry about, just don't become dependent on it. Here is a pubmed study regarding higher frequency than you report (although I do not know your dose) "MATERIALS AND METHOD: We prospectively studied, as part of the NeXT (Netherlands XTC toxicity) study, sustained effects of a low dose of ecstasy on brain function in 25 subjects before and after their first episode of ecstasy use (mean 2.0 +/- 1.4 ecstasy pills, on average 11.1 +/- 12.9 weeks since last ecstasy use), compared to 24 persistent ecstasy-naive controls, also measured twice and matched with the novice users on age, gender, IQ, and cannabis use. Cognitive brain function was measured in the domains of working memory, selective attention, and associative memory using fMRI. RESULTS: No significant effects were found of a low dose of ecstasy on working memory, selective attention, or associative memory neither at the behavioral level nor at the neurophysiological level. CONCLUSIONS: This study yielded no firm evidence for sustained effects of a low dose of ecstasy on human cognitive brain function. The present findings are relevant for the development of prevention and harm reduction strategies. Furthermore, the study is relevant to the discussion concerning potential therapeutic use of ecstasy. " http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17476480 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17476480

stinos 14y ago

A word of warning on those amounts: while the effects you are seeing now are mostly positive, there are possibly longer term negative, maybe irreversible, effects. For instance, it took my brain months to get rid of random psychedelic flashes occurring, ie seeing/hearing things that are not there. Funny at first, gets really annoying after a while. Also a couple of weeks after quitting regular usage I felt rather down and depressed, obviously due to the mess MDMA creates in the serotonin/dopamin system. For other effects: there are quite a lot of studies on them, and none of them are particularly good news. I'm not denying MDMA can give you nice insights and learns you how to cope with certain problems, I experienced that myself multiple times, but definitely stay away from sustained usage of more than a couple of months.

ZoFreX 14y ago
But then again, those side-effects are no worse than an average SSRI anti-depressant, so for those struggling with abuse, anxiety, stress disorders etc this may turn out to be a viable treatment option.