Hacker News Reader

Comment by Strom | Hacker News Reader

MDMA is a stimulant so it's more likely to promote dancing around than sitting around. MDMA also suppresses social inhibitions, so you're way more likely to talk about your feelings and dreams.

I also think you're setting up quite a bad comparison here. Why is it MDMA + sitting around vs. awesome stuff at Barcelona? How about actual experiences under MDMA vs. sitting in a hotel room in Barcelona? Ultimately MDMA just gives you energy and improves your mood. [1] Whether you decide to do anything interesting or sit around is based more on your character and less about whether you're under the influence of MDMA or not.

[1] MDMA is toxic at high doses and/or without rest. A good rule of thumb would be to not do it more than every two weeks.

View on HN

While MDMA is a stimulant, its effect on the serotonin receptors is considerably more pronounced than the effects on noradrenaline and dopamine also found in most other available stimulants. The increased empathy, positivity and feeling of connectedness resulting from that are much more relevant to the experience described by the GP than mere stimulation.

> MDMA is a stimulant so it's more likely to promote dancing around than sitting around.

In my case it promotes lying in a bed, having sex and confiding everything to the one I actually trust and love. I would never like go outside. The only part of me saying I should try it on a rave once is purely intellectual curiosity, I don't actually want to. I'm 99% sure the only thing I'm going to want once it hits is to be left alone with my wife in a comfortable place where no one can disturb us.

> A good rule of thumb would be to not do it more than every two weeks.

Two weeks still seems a way too short interval though, I strongly recommend to rest at least 2 months, the more - the better.

> Why is it MDMA + sitting around vs. awesome stuff at Barcelona?

Pardon my ignorance, I only framed it the same way GP did ("an evening (presumably at home) doing MDMA" vs. "vacations")

I think a better comparison would be antidepressants. A common class of antideps are called SSRI -- selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. They have a similar mechanism to MDMA -- block the re-absorption of serotonin by neurons, so more serotonin is available for neurochemical processing.

Stimulants mainly act on the dopamine system, although MDMA might act on both systems: dopamine and serotonine.

-----

MDMA is also quite toxic in long-term usage.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3870191/

MDMA works by dumping serotonin out of cells, not by blocking re-absorption. It's why MDMA has much stronger effects than SSRIs.

> MDMA is also quite toxic in long-term usage.

As well as ibuprofen is. Whatever a drug (in both meanings of the word) one should decide with reason when, how much and why take it. I can hardly name a medicine which won't do any harm if you take it chronically or dose too high.

Even plain serotonin, which can be kept elevated by chronic excess of tryptophan in the diet (let alone 5-HTP supplementation) is cardiotoxic.

BTW I've chosen to mention ibuprofen right because it's harmless unless you are taking it for too long. Nevertheless I believe its common alternative - paracetamol (acetaminophen) ought to be mentioned as it's plain deadly and can be considered much more dangerous (in terms of how easy it is to harm yourself severely) than MDMA.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com