X users....take a look

[rudedawg]

Disclaimer: I have never used Ecstasy....... I think the article jumps to conclusions, but I thought I would throw it out there for all you recreational drug users.



Ecstasy May Deplete Key Brain Chemical
ByJerry Gottlick
Health24News Staff Writer


WASHINGTON--The recreational club drug Ecstasy may severely decrease the levels of a key chemical in the brain that controls mood and emotion, Canadian researchers report in a tentative finding. A post-mortem analysis of a 26-year-old man who began using the drug at age 17 revealed serotonin levels that were 50 to 80 percent lower than in healthy subjects.

Serotonin is a chemical in the brain that controls key functions such as mood, pain perception, sleep, appetite and emotions. Ecstasy--known by the chemical name methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA--causes the brain to release serotonin. Users of Ecstasy, many of them young, report an overall sense of well-being and increased feelings of intimacy. Ecstasy is structurally related to the hallucinogen mescaline and the stimulant amphetamine.

The nine-year user of Ecstasy, who died from a drug overdose, began taking the drug two to three days a month initially; however, in the last years of his life, he had increased his use to four to five nights a week at rave clubs, according to the report. Normally, he would binge on the drug over a three-day weekend period, researchers in Toronto say. After such a binge, he would appear to friends as depressed and to have slow speech, movement and reaction times. Shortly before his death, he had also begun using cocaine and heroin, hair analysis showed.

The researchers compared the study subject's brain to those from autopsies of 11 healthy people and found in his much lower levels of serotonin in an area of the brain called the striatal, which plays a key role in coordinating movement. In addition, the scientists found similarly low levels of a chemical that is made by breaking down serotonin.

The study authors characterized the findings as "tentative" and said further studies are needed to confirm the role that Ecstasy plays in serotonin depletion.

The findings are reported in the July 25 issue of Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

For more information, visit the The American Academy of Neurology and the National Institutes of Health.

 

[moe dank]

so, asprin kills hundreds of people a year!

 

[YellowD]

Undoubtedly he would have MUCH lower serotonin if he had used Ecstasy anytime in the 2 months prior to his death. This does not at all address the question of serotonin depletion permenancy or its functional consequences. Any informed drug user can tell you, it takes quite a bit of time before serotonin is fully replenished after rolling.

 

[Rotten]

Use 5-HTP after XTC use and you'll be fine after a couple of days. Even though XTC has been around since he 30's it hasn't really been mainstream that long. I'd like to see the results after another 20 years.

 

[XXXL]

ever think about how the media jumps on the whole X thing? like if someone dies of a coke overdose and had taken some X too? the headline would read something like "Man/Woman dies of X realted drug overdose" then at the very end of the artical it will mention that it wasn't really the X that killed the person but actually the narcotis?

i'm still waiting to see an artical that reports of someone dieing from taking 1 pill only and nothing esle.

i don't see anything wrong with drugs as long as you keep your head and don't let things get too out of hand.

 

[crimson coal]

Rotten is right..you wanna preload with 5HTP and a few other items about an hour before and 5HTP a few times the next day to replenish what ya lost.

 

[crimson coal]

I had also heard that ectacy was actually a drug that phycologists would use on their patients to help break down walls and barriers. Anyone know anything about this?

 

[YellowD]

Use 5-HTP after XTC use and you'll be fine after a couple of days. Even though XTC has been around since he 30's it hasn't really been mainstream that long. I'd like to see the results after another 20 years.

5-htp theoretically can assist in restoring lost serertonin (5-HT), but it will still take at least 10 days before your brain can fully restore its stores, and even more with increased dosages.

And yes Crimson, MDMA was used widely in the early 80's as a psychological empathogen used to help patients open up. It still is used for this person in secret of course, but unfortunately, the government thought that it served no real purpose in assisting patients. There is still an ongoing debate, check the net, there's thousands of pages of info out there.

 

[donnie]

i say fuck it you only live once. and it is fun as shit
PUT YO WIG ON!!!!!!!!!!
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[dieslgrl]

is there anything...?

Is there anything out there that doesn't cause cancer, kill brain cells, distort chemical levels, ect, ect...?

Whether one enjoys X or not, I believe that it is obvious that something that feels so good, could not obviously be beneficial for long term health... common sense...

People using artificial sweetners, aerosol hair spray, eat too much fat, live in a city, breathe air, or is alive, can expect to someday be harmed by something out there.

Education is always a great thing, so I don't put you down for posting the message, however, some may take a more ignorant approach and honestly be upset. Do smokers like to hear that what they are doing isn't good for them?

For me, X is most definately a release once a month or so, but I would never complain about decreased seratonin levels because of it.... Plain and simple, people know when they are hurting themselves.

Dieslgrl