Allright only my third post and allready I’m getting a repuatation. Just remember I’m a curious teenager. Here is the question. What are the long term effects of ecstacy on the human body? Sure we’ve all heard stories, and they vary depending on who you ask the dealers, or the paranoid public. Can someone please give me the striaght dope.
Yes, but not as the “drug guy,” but rather as the “no-search guy.” Throwing “ecstacy” and “long term effects” into Yahoo turns up 807 links; several on the first page look promising. Similarly, entering “ecstacy” into our very own search engine returns a dozen or so threads, some of which are exactly what you are looking for.
In the future, please avail yourself of these resources (especially our search function) before posing a question.
The big drug czars had a conference on C-Span the other day concerning Ecstasy and other club drugs. It was pretty damn interesting.
It looks as if long term Ecstasy use will deplete the levels of Serotonin in the brain.
I am a Neuroscience major and let me tell you, this is bad. Very bad.
The depletion supposedly occurs in those areas of the brain that relate to learning and memory and attention. Long term Ecstasy users have shown drastically reduced attention spans, slurred speech, slower reactions, and poor memory capacity.
Of course, saying that Ecstasy alters the chemistry of just one part of the brain is akin to saying that chopping one’s leg off is altering just one part of the body. It’s a bit short sighted to think that way because every single part of the brain is networked and Serotonin is one of the primary neurotransmitters for many of those networks.
I’m sorry. First of all it was a joke I’m certain I’ll gain a much worse reputation if I continue to post. And I did do a search on these message boards, but unfortunatly none of the answers was to my liking. I’d appriciate if someone could tell me exactly what happens to your seratonin levels after prolonged exposure to E. Also if it effects any other chemicals in your brain?
Thank you for the site though it was very informative.
let’s see. so far the links that you’ve been shown give a variety of negative effects. the only answers that said there were minimal or no effects were from people who said roughly “I did it x number of times, and I haven’t noticed any long term effect” which, at best is anecdotal.
you want a diagram to show you exactly which parts of your body you’re potentiall destroying, so that you can decide if it’s a part you’ll care about in 10 years???
I’ve got a t-shirt that says if I’d known I was going to live this long I’d have taken better care of myself.
Ok, yea, I’m over 40, and therefore, it colors my perceptions, but, realistically, too, I was around the 70’s drug culture so it’s not like I have zero experience. Things that would worry me are the fact that the item you’re talking about is not necessarily free from adulteration from the manufacturers. They’re not likely to put a list of ingrediants along the side like you’ll find in the drug store.
and, unfortunately, X is one of those bug-a-boo drug of the moment things, which means that law enforcement agencies freak totally about it, the courts etc. and jail experiences, TRUST me, are not good for your physical and mental long or short term health.
But at least you’re TRYING to find out information. allow me to have my mommy’s hat on for a second more while I point out to you that you’ve already GOTTEN the information you asked for, it’s simply not what you wanted. 
“Thank you for the site though it was very informative.”
Uhhhhh, “though”? I’m not sure how to interpret that.
If you are patient and read through that site it should have the answers to all of your questions.
Depletion of Serotonin levels is what occurs with Ecstasy use. Serotonin is related to many other drugs. I think that Ecstasy also alters Dopamine and Norepinephrine, tow other major chemicals in the brain.
As objectively as possible…Ecstasy ain’t no joke!!!
It’s not like drinking beer, or smoking a joint or some hash. It is bad stuff. If you’re on it, stop.
Okay I’ve been defeated. I give up. I guess wring is right. Maybe I was hoping for some positive effects but I guess that was too much to hope for. Just one more question, and then I promise I’ll shut up. After your seratonin, dopamine, and Norepinephrine levels go down do they ever go back up if you stop taking E?
I don’t know. The paper I read was from '98. I’ll get back to you.
I’m of the opinion that there are two sides to every situation. Yes, X is bad for you - anything that makes you feel that bad the next day is bad for you, and there is clinical evidence that it is damaging to your brain (just like alcohol, hmmm why don’t people ever talk about that?), but I also believe that I have experienced positive effects in terms of self-exploration (intellectual, emotional and physical) spirituality, and interpersonal relating (emotional and physical - hee hee) And, just like in every situation in life, you weigh the “pros” against the “cons.” Oh yeah, and, just like in every situation in life, moderation is the key.
By the way, Cartoongod, I’m NOT telling you that I think you should go out and do a bunch of X.
I buzzed throught the abstracts of several more recent papers and saw that most of them haven’t addressed this yet.
They did say that current Ecstasy users and users who had been off of Ecstasy for 2-6 months did test about the same on memory tests and such.
Ecstasy hasn’t been around long enough or of interest for long enough for them to do long term tests.
BUT! I found one test of interest (it’s on that site).
Altered Serotonin Innervation Patterns in the Forebrain of Monkeys Treated with MDMA Seven Years Previously: Factors Influencing Abnormal Recovery.
by G. Hatzidimitriou; U.D. McCann; G.A. Ricaurte
Journal of Neuroscience Vol 19 (No 12) June 15, 1999, 5096-5107
This test basically said that there was a little bit of recovery in the Serotonin neurons in monkeys who had been given Ecstasy 7 years earlier.
QUOTE
“Seven years after treatment, abnormal brain 5-HT innervation patterns were still evident in MDMA-treated monkeys, although 5-HT deficits in some regions were less severe than those observed at 18 months…”
You should remember, however, that “Additional studies are needed to better understand these and other factors that influence the response of primate 5-HT neurons to MDMA injury and to determine whether the present findings generalize to humans who use MDMA for recreational purposes.”
Good luck.
I once heard that someone once talked about that.
It’s about 20 years since E started to become a mainstream dance culture drug here. About 5-8 years ago i knew three, maybe four, people who really got into E and they just never came back from it. They’re different people from who they were before and it’s really quite sad. Concentration loss, pretty directionless, jittery people who know enough to know things aren’t how they were or should be. They just can’t get it back together. Those are the early casualties I saw, for other’s it’s less extreme and maybe still developing in others. Difficult to gauge objectively.
You should be wary, the percentages are more against you with E than with many other social drugs and the clinical evidence is now validating informal observation. It’s a naughty one.
Thank you Manhattan for that link. Many people have looked at the effects of alcohol on the brain and human body in general.
The difference between Ecstasy and alcohol is that with alcohol there is a larger gray area of use (e.g. social drinking). Nobody has a little ecstasy with dinner after a hard day…
Alright, alright, what I meant (but obviously didn’t say)was: yes, x causes brain damage, but come on, so do other, more socially acceptable drugs, like alcohol. I did not mean to imply that it has never been studied. I meant to imply that people KNOW that alcohol causes brain damage, but choose not to discuss it. But anyway.
And, Grendel69, I know some people who take a little x after a bad day, but not with dinner, it’s better on an empty stomach.
ok Boots, yes you have the right to fry your brain cells to a crisp if you so desire.
However, let me point out a few details
A… you might NEED those little hummers some day, and frankly having worked with a number of folks who fried a few too many, it really isn’t funny in person, it’s very, very sad.
B. with alcohol, to beat a dead horse, you can be pretty certain exactly what you’re getting per “dose”, you know the relative percentage of alcohol, there’s much data about how the body metabolizes it, and the rate it’s absorbed and dealt with in the body. Yet, EVEN with that info available, a significant number of young people every year (especially during college days) literally drink themselves to death. like the kid who drank 24 shots to celebrate his 21st birthday. So, Even WITH lots of info available, people still make poor choices with it, let alone some substance that ISN’T regulated.
ok? so, yes, there are similarities but there are very important differences. Frankly that arguement (yea, but alcohol is legal) was used by my generation first. so there.
I just have a chip on my shoulder where alcohol is concerned.
me too - I’ve seen many fried by booze, as well as other drugs. just that we know a bit more about it. no hard (liquor) feelings, really. 
Good. None here either.