Side effects - Brain/body electric zaps when sleeping after MDMA use

[Synesthesiac]

Hi peeps. SWIM has been getting really weird head zaps after a week of MDMA abuse (2g over a period of five days, which SWIM has since vowed to never repeat). Apparently, its like a really short electric shock that lasts for less than a second, it seems to start in the brain (although it happens so quick its hard to tell) and then tingles throughout the rest of the body, but rarely lasts a second or more. It is accompanied by a sudden loud ringing in the ears when it happens, and faint ringing afterwards. This only seems to happen just as SWIM is nodding off to sleep, and makes it hard to sleep. Sometimes if its a powerful one it makes SWIM twitch and some muscles will move. Also this seems to be accompanied by increased sleep paralysis, where you wake up and can think clearly but cant move for a few seconds (happened twice on each previous night). SWIM also seems to be getting those dreams that wake you up with a jump just as your nodding off more frequently. Which is annoying when you've just been awake for half an hour trying to sleep through the brain zaps, only to wake up and have to get through it again. This has happend to SWIM for the last two days or so, starting two days after the binge was over.

I've seen info about things that seem very similar called hypnic jerks or sleep starts, but they seem to last longer than a second, and dont seem to be related to sleep paralysis, MDMA or anything else. Apparently they are nothing to worry about. And sleep paralysis is really unpleasant, but also nothing serious. But SWIMs not sure this is what it is anyway.

SWIMS been taking 50mg of 5-htp a day since the binge, and (somewhat surprisingly for the amount taken) did not get any comedown or negative mental effects, apart from these sleep issues. Infact SWIM has seemed quite energetic and happy ever since.

Anyone else get any, or all, of these symptoms? is it anything to worry about? how long does it usually last? Anything you would recommend? SWIM needs to know, its a bit disconcerting. Thanks for reading.

PS. SWIM was using pure MD, not pills.

[RaverHippie]

You may wanna check out the MDMA forum, I've seen some threads similar to this before, just look back in past threads and have some patience. They should have some other personal accounts and such and possibly some medical causes. Which if I remember correctly was a magnesium deficiency. Which can be found in an herbal supplement nearly anywhere so it's worth attempting! But research first, I could be wrong. Good Luck!

[fiveleggedrat]

Swim agrees very much with the above. Check out the forum for more info, Swim has heard of this before.

[Synesthesiac]

Originally Posted by RaverHippie

You may wanna check out the MDMA forum, I've seen some threads similar to this before, just look back in past threads and have some patience.

Bang on Theres a thread about it just on the second page I looked at. Thats relieving for SWIM, now he knows he's not the only one. Seems quite common infact.

Brain flashes after use

I'll have a read through. Though SWIM has been taking magnesium supplements the last week or so to stop jaw clenching, so its certainly not magnesium deficiency.

Synesthesiac added 144 Minutes and 12 Seconds later...

wow, now SWIMs on the sixth sleep paralysis this night, always happens just as SWIMs dosing off. SWIM wakes up and cant move or open SWIMs eyes for about ten seconds. And last time it happened it felt like someone was grabbing SWIM with two arms and turning SWIM round slowly in his bed weird. Apparently this is called The "Old Hag" Syndrome. A common side effect of sleep paralysis. SWIMs gonna go to his GP in an hour and get a couple of sleeping pills. The zaps seem to have gone away though, which is a good sign.

[Synesthesiac]

well, I'm glad that little episodes over (for SWIM). The zaps seemed to subside pretty much, but the sleep paralysis happened again the next night, when SWIM was dozing off just at the point of going into sleep a really vivid dream would start but as soon as this happened SWIM would wake up, but be unable to move, sometimes the dream would continue, sometimes not and SWIM could open his eyes, but everytime SWIM could not move his body for about 5-10 seconds no matter how hard SWIM tried. Happened nearly 50 times in one night, and was awake for 24 hours because of it. Not a nice experience.

I'm still resrearching it (busy with uni stuff), but it looks as if its related to melatonin. If this happens again, I've got some supplements ready to see if this cures it. But SWIMs not gonna be rolling for another good couple of months, 3.5g of MDMA is quite enough over the period of a month for anyone. Serotonin levels are now beginning to return to normal after a week of abstinence, but more time is definately needed for a full recovery.


Funny thing is that some people say that melatonin causes sleep paralysis, so the obvious reaction would be to deplete your levels further to prevent it. My current guess is that since your brain is deprived of it after MDMA use your brain starts to produce it in very heavy quantities and very quickly to replenish it when you nod off, which is what causes the paralysis. So using a small amount of supplements to boost your levels may avoid this. Something else which is odd about this is that it usually takes your brain about 30 mins (sometimes longer) to enter REM sleep when dreams occur, but SWIM was definately starting very vivid dreams as soon as SWIM nodded off.

The brain zaps are still a bit of a mystery though, as SWIM was using plenty of magnesium during and after use, so its not related to mag' deficiency. Anyone got any other ideas about these surges? I get the odd one here and there when awake too, but its mainly when just nodding off, so is obviously related to a chemical responsible for the transition into hypagognia.

[Synesthesiac]

Aha, found some decent info, seems some SSRI's also cause this problem when people stop treatment suddenly.



http://www.ascp.com/publications/tcp/1997/oct/ssri.html

The cause of withdrawal syndrome following discontinuation of SSRIs is unknown, but the electric shock sensations reported with neck flexion are identical to Lhermitte's sign, which appears with dysfunction of the posterior spinal cord. This suggests change at a neuronal level.14 It has been proposed that inhibition of reuptake initially increases the synaptic concentration of serotonin. Exposure to high concentrations of 5-HT, even for as short as five weeks, may cause down-regulation of receptors. When the SSRI is discontinued the concentration of 5-HT falls. The lower level of 5-HT is insufficient to provide an adequate agonist stimulus for the down-regulated receptors, resulting in withdrawal syndrome.6 Inhibition of 5-HT and norepinephrine receptors may be involved in withdrawal symptoms from venlafaxine.



Paroxetine possesses muscarinic antichoninergic activity and may cause withdrawal symptoms via the same mechanism as the TCAs.18 Compared to other SSRIs, paroxetine is the most pharmacologically selective antagonist at the 5-HT reuptake site.19 The withdrawal syndrome usually subsides within several weeks of discontinuation in most reports. We found no data describing patients at highest risk for the phenomenon.

Also loads of reports on that page with the exact same symptoms swim had, vivid dreams, insomnia, and others, but surprisingly no sleep paralysis, which swim found was common after his brief binge.


Two days into this phase, she experienced the same symptoms as when she tapered from fluvoxamine in the previous study, plus lightheadedness, nightmares, and a "slamming against her head," which she described as "like electricity." She paged the physicians one week later complaining of a worsening of her symptoms, which now included cold hands, night sweats, and intermittent nausea. Her symptoms abated two weeks after beginning the withdrawal phase of the study.

She ran out of her medication while on vacation and within 30 hours she reported nausea, hot and cold flashes, headache, and lightheadedness. She also described an electric shock that traveled through her back and limbs when she moved. Her symptoms worsened over the next two days and she went to a local emergency room. She was restarted on paroxetine at 20 mg/day and within four hours, her withdrawal symptoms were relieved.

Patient number one, a 37-year-old woman, was being treated for major depressive disorder with paroxetine, 40 mg/day for five months. The paroxetine was abruptly stopped and three days later, she reported a feeling of electricity throughout her body, along with vivid dreams, nightmares, tremor, and dizziness. She was restarted on paroxetine at 10 mg/day on the same day and by the second dose, her symptoms had abated.





Looks like the way to stop it is to take an steadily decreasing dose of the substance that caused it, instead of stopping suddenly. But I doubt this would work for mdma, it works quite differently than most SSRI's, but none the less on the same serotonic brain systems. Damn. swim got these again last night, but much milder than before.

[IkBenDeMan]

Originally Posted by Synesthesiac

Hi peeps. SWIM has been getting really weird head zaps after a week of MDMA abuse (2g over a period of five days, which SWIM has since vowed to never repeat). Apparently, its like a really short electric shock that lasts for less than a second, it seems to start in the brain (although it happens so quick its hard to tell) and then tingles throughout the rest of the body, but rarely lasts a second or more. It is accompanied by a sudden loud ringing in the ears when it happens, and faint ringing afterwards. This only seems to happen just as SWIM is nodding off to sleep, and makes it hard to sleep. Sometimes if its a powerful one it makes SWIM twitch and some muscles will move. Also this seems to be accompanied by increased sleep paralysis, where you wake up and can think clearly but cant move for a few seconds (happened twice on each previous night). SWIM also seems to be getting those dreams that wake you up with a jump just as your nodding off more frequently. Which is annoying when you've just been awake for half an hour trying to sleep through the brain zaps, only to wake up and have to get through it again. This has happend to SWIM for the last two days or so, starting two days after the binge was over.

I've seen info about things that seem very similar called hypnic jerks or sleep starts, but they seem to last longer than a second, and dont seem to be related to sleep paralysis, MDMA or anything else. Apparently they are nothing to worry about. And sleep paralysis is really unpleasant, but also nothing serious. But SWIMs not sure this is what it is anyway.

SWIMS been taking 50mg of 5-htp a day since the binge, and (somewhat surprisingly for the amount taken) did not get any comedown or negative mental effects, apart from these sleep issues. Infact SWIM has seemed quite energetic and happy ever since.

Anyone else get any, or all, of these symptoms? is it anything to worry about? how long does it usually last? Anything you would recommend? SWIM needs to know, its a bit disconcerting. Thanks for reading.

PS. SWIM was using pure MD, not pills.

Obviously, this could be caused from toxicity due to impurities

[jaystorm26]

yer man ive had this after sum heavy mdma sessions. a few weeks ago i woke up and thought there was sum1 in my room my heart was poundin my hairs stood on end i tried 2 move but i couldnt i sorta screamed but nothing came out . then i bolted 4 the door 2 get out but it felt like some1 was pullin me back. i fought 4 my life 2 get out of there and tripped over my amplifier and made a right noise on my wooden floor!. then my mum said i came in her room drippin with sweat and was mumblin some1 was in my room. she shit herself thinkin it was a burgler. then i think i started 2 wake up proper. i then went back 2 bed shittin myself like i was 5 years(im 26) old again watched a bit of tele then fell asleep.i was convinced a spirit or demon was 2 blame and after tellin my mate(a major ex pill head) what had happened he said similar stuff had happened 2 him and he advised me 2 at least lay off the stuff. after reasearchin on here it seems my experience =stems from doin 2 much mdma.and prob smokin weed. which is good 2 know it (probably) wasnt a demon tryin 2 take my soul.all i know is it was 10 times a terrifyin as a nightmare and 20 times as real.

[chillinwill]

Originally Posted by jaystorm26

yer man ive had this after sum heavy mdma sessions. a few weeks ago i woke up and thought there was sum1 in my room my heart was poundin my hairs stood on end i tried 2 move but i couldnt i sorta screamed but nothing came out . then i bolted 4 the door 2 get out but it felt like some1 was pullin me back. i fought 4 my life 2 get out of there and tripped over my amplifier and made a right noise on my wooden floor!. then my mum said i came in her room drippin with sweat and was mumblin some1 was in my room. she shit herself thinkin it was a burgler. then i think i started 2 wake up proper. i then went back 2 bed shittin myself like i was 5 years(im 26) old again watched a bit of tele then fell asleep.i was convinced a spirit or demon was 2 blame and after tellin my mate(a major ex pill head) what had happened he said similar stuff had happened 2 him and he advised me 2 at least lay off the stuff. after reasearchin on here it seems my experience =stems from doin 2 much mdma.and prob smokin weed. which is good 2 know it (probably) wasnt a demon tryin 2 take my soul.all i know is it was 10 times a terrifyin as a nightmare and 20 times as real.

You need to go back and re-read the rules as you are in violation of them. Pay special attention to the one regarding self-incrimination. The rules can be found Here

[jaystorm26]

ok sorry thanks!