Questions about Antidepressants & Ecstasy?

[Rolex]

During the past few months I've been going through an Ecstasy phase (25-30 pills in the last 4 months) I've been taking 5-HTP supplements to regenerate serotonin, and it has been pretty helpful but I'm having a problem with my serotonin recepters, I don't know how to describe it, but I don't feel completely normal. My question is do Antidepressants help grow back the recepters? And if my brain is already suffering from neurtoxicity from those damn X pills, can Antidepressants reverse that damage? And is there a difference between Prozac and Zoloft?

I know I screwed up, and I regret doing ecstasy. It's just that initial high I've been trying to chase, which DOES NOT HAPPEN. So now, I need any info on how to reverse the damage

[Utsukushii]

nothing can reverse the damage brain loss all you can do is strenghen up wht brain cells ou have left

[Brandy C]

Ok, I went through the X phase too. 5-HTP supplements are great. Antidepressants will not reverse the damage (if there is any) but will make you feel better. Zoloft is a good one. Prozac has bad side effects. A lot of my friends, (who do X) take Zoloft and it helps them. Hope this helps you. Also, you probably already know, but Vitamin C is your friend.

[Jasper]

The thing that ecstasy does to create the euphoric feeling, is that in synapses in your brain, where serotonin is usually taken back into the synapse, ecstasy blocks it being taken up, a bit like an anti depressant, and prolonged use does destroy serotonin receptors on the other side of the synapse.

The thing is once serotonin receptors are destroyed they DONT grow back, and this can make you feel depressed in the long term... the thing is that it is the risk with drugs like ecstasy, so you took the risk and your receptors might not be completely destroyed, but you should probably stop damaging them as soon as possible.

antidepressants wont help they will probably make things worse, but if youre feeling depressed, take them.

[littleelttilmik]

Your question really reveals that you are researching and self medicating some underlying problem you sense. This is probably dangerous....you need to be under a doctors care. I gather 5-HTP is the amino acid tryptophan sold OTC in america and you're trying to promote an increase in 5-HT, the neurotransmitter by taking its precursor in your diet. Finally, zoloft and prozac are the real thing for depression and your research obviously led you to this conclusion. The mention of that initial high suggests you use ecstasy as a means of treating some underlying depressive problem by counteracting it as a high.

Well...it'd be easier to just go to the doctor quite frankly and safer. Ecstasy isn't as harmless as it seems and its possible to undergo rhabdomylis , an acute wasting of muscle that shuts down your kidneys, quite rapidly and unpredictably despite prior use. The "damage" you're talking about is probably ecstasy worsening your underlying illness and reinforcing brain pathways that make you feel unreal/hopeless/lacking in confidence in a negative way despite the initial temporary high

Ya gotta stop treating yourself and researching stuff and applying your laymans science to this and do the obvious thing...go to the doc, tell all and follow his advice Goodman. Go to it now and don't waste anymore time on bullshit research

[MEME55]

I dont think the antidepressants can reverse the damage. But getting over x can take time, your body was takin in a major drug, give your body some time and stay away from the pills. trust me I know its fun for the moment, but after the high is down, u feel even worse than before, so just give your self some time, and I heard zoloft was better.

[richardsimmons]

My friend and I went on vacation for a week to South Beach Miami. We took our best clothing, money, lots of condoms and 4 Packs of Trip2night. That is enough Trip2night for around 60 people to party.

After getting settled in a few nights and getting burned badly at the beach. We decided to go to a club called Club Space. The chics are hot and act crazy dancing to techno music and stuff. That is cool with me.

We both did one dose each of Trip2night before we left the Penguin hotel and we when we got in side the effects of the trip2night started to kick in. the chics were hot; lots of models I think. Some tourist like me, since they had the same burn of there face as us from sitting in the sun all day like us.

Then me and my friend started dancing with some chics that on the dance floor; my friend got a mad woody from the trip2night but the girl did not care she was actually grinding him. It was crazy. After the night was over we got there numbers; they were actually leaving in hours; they decided not to sleep that night; go to the club and take a flight back to NJ were they are from. We gave them one of the Trip2night packs for them and they have invited us to come and stay at there parents house next month. They are going to take us to New York City to go the night clubs there. All in all, I had the best time of my life in Miami and the Trip2night really helped too. I guess we are now formally dating these girls

[atb]

Let me share my story, though I'm not a doctor I've learned a thing or two. Back in 2000 I used ecstasy heavily while in Miami, for a period of about 5 months, heavily, every weekend for about three days straight, mixed with every club drug you could think of. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I switched to cocaine which had its own nightmarish addiction and side effects. At the time, my biopsychopharmacology book emphasized the long-term damage to the hippocampus caused by ecstasy, and I believe it. (Hippo is for memory mostly).

However, I believe I was self-medicating depression, and I think you are doing the same thing. Get to a doctor, tell him your symptoms. If you want prozac, which I was on for ten years with no problems, tell him you were stabilized on prozac a couple of years of ago and he'll give it to you. Any of the ssri's (proza/fluoxetine or sertraline/zoloft or paxil or snri's like effexor) have neuroprotective effects. After 7-10 days on prozac monotherapy you will NOT be able to feel high or euphoric on ecstasy, presumably because the regulatory effect on serotonin trumps the destructive "give it all up now" idiocy of the ecstasy. Or it could have to do with the blood-brain barrier, which by the way ecstasy destroys for a time even longer after you took it---up to 30 days---which means all the toxins out there that cause cancer and can't easily cross the barrier just jump right over.

You may feel some amphetamine like effects while on prozac if you take ecstasy, which I would not advise (the ecstasy, not the prozac, which is good).

About those damaged receptors----don't worry about them. They won't regrow, but if you stop now, the brain has billions and billions of synaptic connections and a remarkable ability to replenish serotonin levels (by the way, 5-htp, the precursor to serotonin---good idea---but taking x the next weekend defeats the purpose) though as with any psychiatric disorder and comorbid substance abuse it's sometimes difficult to discern whether the serotonin depletion was caused by the drugs or there before the drugs and exacerbated or a combination of the two.

Anyway, it's now ten years later after I quit ecstasy (the other drug took a bit longer, sadly, but I did beat it). Recently I had an MRI done on my brain for . . . well I won't go into that . . . but the MRI was completely normal. So was the CT. The transient ecstasy use was not enough to alter the brain's structural pathways to levels detectable by our best and brightest brains and machines.

Get off it, stay off it, and you'll feel better immediately and normal in a year or two provided you get medical help to rule out any depression. And in ten years, you'll be waxing nostalgic about the times you got high in Florida and the story of how you got off it (was it Florida for you? I forget)

[atb]

almost forgot. if you don't have money for a doc, you could take the money for x and buy prozac or any other antidepressant without a prescription or doctor's visit at thegenuinepills.com