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Ecstasy drug treatment

   Ecstasy, known as MDMA is a synthetic drug with both psychedelic and stimulant effects, as distortions in time and perception and enhanced enjoyment from tactile experiences. MDMA is chemically similar to the stimulant methamphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline. Other street names for the drug include Adam, XTC, hug, beans and love drug. MDMA (3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a stimulant whose psychedelic effects can last between 4 and 6 hours and it is usually taken orally in pill form. Ecstasy exerts its primary effects in the brain on neurons that use the chemical serotonin to communicate with other neurons.

   Currently, MDMA is predominantly a “club drug” and is commonly used at all-night dance parties known as “raves. Rave party attendees who ingest MDMA are at risk of dehydration, hyperthermia and heart or kidney failure. These risks are due to a combination of the drug's stimulant effect, which allows the user to dance for long periods of time, and the hot, crowded atmosphere of rave parties. The combination of crowded all-night dance parties and MDMA use has been reported to cause fatalities.

Cognitive Effects Chronic users of MDMA perform more poorly than nonusers on certain types of cognitive or memory tasks. Some of these effects may be due to the combination between MDMA and other drugs.

Physical Effects In high doses, MDMA can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate temperature. On rare but unpredictable occasions, this can lead to a sharp increase in body temperature (hyperthermia), resulting in liver, kidney and cardiovascular system failure. And unfortunately, death. Other physical effects of ecstasy include muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, feeling faint, tremors, rapid eye movement and sweating or chills.

Neurological Effects Research in animals indicates that MDMA is neurotoxic. On humans, it causes damage to the parts of the brain that are critical to thought and memory, increasing the activity levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Ecstasy causes the release of the neurotransmitters from their storage sites, which increases brain activity and also interfering with neurotransmitter synthesis. It takes the brain a significant length of time to rebuild the amount of serotonin and other neurotransmitters needed to perform important functions. MDMA users have memory problems that persist for at least 2 weeks after they have stopped using the drug. 

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