Experiences - Memory and Ecstasy

[Readux]

Ok SWIM has rolled enough times to realize that his memory sucks while on MDMA. He was wondering if everyone had this problem? Whenever he rolls, he just remembers parts of the night, SWIM would really love to remember more!

Is this bad? Or are SWIYs experiences similar? Is there any other way besides not rolling that would sustain good memory such as vitamins or supplements?

[Squeekz]

when SWIY did E, he thought he could recollect everything quite well, except the order in which it happened. This didnt bother SWIY because as long as he remembered what happened then great! Is it something like this or does SWIM blackout, much like alcohol? Also, SWIY thought it was great being able to remember everyone's name throughout the night, not like alcohol where he'd forget a girl's name 2 minutes after meeting her. Was that a problem for you? You should try drinking vitamin water with antioxidants, (my favortie is Glaceau XXX acai-blueberry-pomegranate with triple antioxidants, fucking declicious!), I had no hangover and no memory loss and i had 3 or 4 of those bad boys. love your avatar btw, deadmau5 for life!

[julian]

This happens to swim also. The days after using MDMA swim and his friends try to piece the night back together always saying "Oh yea, I remember that!" Swim thinks this is good and bad. It kind of adds to the mythical nature of ecstasy because swim can only remember that he had the best night of his life, but cannot remember exactly why it was the best night of his life. Of course this is bad because swim would love to remember every minute detail because it is such a profound experience.

[Squeekz]

lol, if you want a mystery to solve the next day, stick with alcohol. you should listen to comedian Nick Swardson talk about it, he's hilarious

[Readux]

Would SWIY say candyflipping will reduce memory even more? SWIM has actually heard some people having very "clear" trips.

[Gradient]

There is a relatively substantial and growing body of literature on the subject - yes, it's astute of you to realize that prolonged MDMA exposure causes memory deficits, specifically in recall. This has been primarily attributed to the alteration of serotonergic receptor distribution over the cortex. Some research suggests it is due to an overall depression of receptor expression, while others specifically argue that it is the aggregation of receptors towards the occipital (visual) cortex that disrupts the modulatory activity of serotonin in LTP processes further subcortically. It's activity is localized to SERT, or the serotonin transporter protein, and prolonged exposure to the compound causes a depreciation of the activity of this transporter.

Despite the inherent arguable assumptions made by the researchers on poly-drug users, here is an example of such a study from a cursory google scholar search:
Michael John Morgan1
Abstract Evidence from both animal, and human, studies suggests that repeated administration of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; “ecstasy”) produces lasting decreases in serotonergic activity. Serotonin is believed to play a modulatory role in a variety of psychological processes, including learning and memory. There are recent reports that polydrug users, who have used ecstasy recreationally, exhibit selective impairments in memory. However, these studies did not compare ecstasy users with polydrug users who had not taken ecstasy, leaving open the possibility that the memory deficits may be associated with a history of use of other illicit drugs.  The present study used the Rivermead Behavioural Memory test to investigate immediate and delayed recall in: 25 polydrug-users who had taken more than 20 tablets of ecstasy (MDMA group), 22 participants (polydrug controls) who had never taken ecstasy, but, otherwise has personal characteristics (e.g. age, gender, education, height, weight), and illicit drug use histories, that were generally not significantly different from those of the MDMA group, and 19 participants who had not used illicit drugs but who also had similar personal characteristics (non-drug controls). Participants in the MDMA group recalled significantly fewer ideas (approximately 75% of the number of ideas recalled by participants in either of the other two groups), in both immediate and delayed recall conditions. The two illicit drug-using groups did differ in their estimated IQ scores and their duration of use of LSD, but only the latter proved to be a statistically significant covariate, and the difference in recall performance between the MDMA and polydrug controls groups remained statistically significant when this variable was treated as a covariate. The present findings provide the first evidence that deficits in memory performance in recreational ecstasy users are primarily associated with past exposure to ecstasy, rather than with the other legal and illicit drugs consumed by these individuals, and are consistent with reduced serotonergic modulation of mnemonic function as a result of long-term neurotoxic effects of MDMA in humans.

Here's another, pretty sexy looking study on the intriguing 5-HT2a receptor distribution specifically:
L. Reneman1, J. Booij1, B. Schmand2, W. van den Brink3 and B. Gunning4
Abstract  Rationale: Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is known to damage brain pre-synaptic serotonin (5-HT) neurons. Since loss of 5-HT neurons has been implicated in memory loss, it is important to establish whether MDMA use may produce changes in postsynaptic 5-HT receptors and memory function in humans. Objectives: To investigate whether MDMA use leads to compensative alterations in post-synaptic 5-HT2A receptors and whether there is a relation with memory disturbances. Methods: Brain cortical 5-HT2A receptor densities were studied with [123I]-5-I-R91150 SPECT in five abstinent MDMA users and nine healthy controls. Memory performance was assessed using RAVLT. Results: [123I]-5-I-R91150 binding ratios were significantly higher in the occipital cortex of MDMA users than in controls, indicating up-regulation. Mean cortical 5-HT2A receptor binding correlated positively with RAVLT-recall in MDMA users. Conclusion: Our preliminary results may indicate altered 5-HT neuronal function with correlated memory impairment in abstinent MDMA users

Good of you to pick up on the memory irregularities. SWIM might consider taking a break from the compound. I would think that prolonged MDMA exposure should elicit some similar motor and behavioral disturbances caused by amphetamine exposure as well due to down-regulated dopaminergic receptor expression. Psychomotor stimulants can be nasty business over the long term.
Despite the fact that one of those studies suggests that combination with LSD may potentiate serotonergic irregularities caused by MDMA, it certainly doesn't sound like a confident conclusion gleaned from their data judging by the abstract.

I would've just posted the links, but this is my 49th post.

[Readux]

nice read! thanks SWIM will definitely watch his consumption rate as his memory while rolling seems to be getting worse :/

[RaverHippie]

my raver friend learned to just live in the moment and accept that the night will likely be remembered as a blur. He rarely uses mdma maybe once every two months and has used it less than fifteen times over two years. The poor memory while rolling and the days following trying to recall the duration of time while rolling were always present from the first exposure. It has not turned into something more severe but rather with experience he is able to recall more.

[buzzman]

SWIM feels sometimes when he does MDMA, he teleports to the location he wants to be, so one may count the inbetween bits as memory loss.

[Garethn]

when swim went on a MDMA binge swim's memory turned to mush... pritty much all the time and never wanting to eat which led to savage weight loss!!! since then swim has been on a 6 month detox from all drugs and feels much better and still is detoxing! i hope people can understand this now hahaaa now you know wat i mean by musshhh....lol

Reputation Comments on this post:

lets try english please.

[elementality0x]

oh fersure, swims memory started getting worse and worse when he began rolling more and more.
Fish Oil helps very much though with your memory
5htp helps as well, it just needs to be devoured before and after the roll to help serotonin levels which in turn will help swiys melotonin levels.
Swiy can also get melotonin from a local supermarket or health food store, that specifically helps with the memory part of the brain.
Combination of all of those will help the absolute best though :]

[Readux]

Thanks! SWIM will definitely be trying out fish oil the next time around.

[gransonik]

Take a shitload of pictures!!|!

Notice how swiy remember things clearly if someone says something to "spark" ones memory.
its all there, swiy just need a jumpstart.

also, swim went to his last rave straight sober, and feels that regular memory isnt that much greater than rolling memory days later.
do swiy next rave sober, and see if their is a big difference.
and if swiy cant rave sober, then swiy going for the wrong reasons!

[kethead]

swim had 4 puma pills and half g ket in hardcore rave last night. she cant rememer after 3am either. she can just remember her friends silhouette thats how she could find cloarkroom. also she`s been told that she snogged 3 different guys. she could barely remember after a while.

[Gradient]

Article Published: 1994

I just uploaded this document to the archive, but I thought some of the members subscribed to this thread might be specifically interested in this research. This particular article says that MDMA (and MDA) actually enhances spatial and non-associative learning in rats - an interesting find. This certainly doesn't mean that MDMA enhances memory in humans, but it may translate to a selective enhancement of components of learning and memory given lower doses of MDMA.

Here is a particularly concise summary of the findings:

"In summary, MDMA, like the parent compound methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), enhances both conditioned and unconditioned responding. Because this dual effect has not been seen with related psychedelic compounds, the effect appears to be unique to this class of phenylethylamine drugs." (abstract)

-G

[AngelicFruitcake]

Get a video camera and record the whole night lol. SWIM is honestly planning on doing this next time she rolls haha

[Readux]

Actually, whenever SWIM takes pictures while rolling, he seems to remember everything during that picture. Recording the whole night would be awesome!