asianvixen Posted December 2 Report Share Posted December 2 New report about ecstasy use and women:Party Drug Might Harm Women More By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer LONDON (AP) - Ecstasy, the increasingly popular party drug, may cause more brain damage in women than in men, new research suggests. A study published this week in The Lancet medical journal compared brain scans of people who had taken 50 or more Ecstasy tablets in their lifetimes with those of a group who had never taken the drug. The findings indicated women - but not men - lost a significant number of brain cells, even though the men had taken more Ecstasy over the years. Fifty tablets is considered the threshold for increased risk of developing psychiatric problems. Experts said the preliminary findings raised an interesting possibility but that larger studies are needed to confirm the results. Ecstasy, also known as XTC or E, affects serotonin, a brain chemical that regulates mood, emotion, sleep, appetite, memory and sexual behavior. The drug typically induces feelings of euphoria, increased energy and sexual arousal, and makes people feel a need to be touched or hugged. The illegal drug, known scientifically as methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA, is also said to suppress the need to eat, drink or sleep, making it possible to endure parties for two or three days. However, in high doses it can cause a sharp increase in body temperature, leading to muscle breakdown, kidney and heart failure, and death. Studies have shown it also kills brain cells that release serotonin. Scientists are now trying to find out how long the brain damage lasts and its long-term consequences. So far, studies have found that heavy users have persistent memory problems and preliminary research suggests they also have trouble with verbal reasoning and sustaining attention. In the latest study, Dutch scientists compared the brain scans of 69 people, who were divided into four groups. One included people who used drugs but not Ecstasy, the second comprised those who had taken fewer than 50 tablets during their lives. The third, the heavy users, had taken 50 or more Ecstacy pills and the fourth group included people who used to be heavy users but had given up Ecstasy at least a year before the study. The researchers found that compared to the brains of women who had never taken Ecstasy, the brains of heavy Ecstasy female users had weaker concentrations of serotonin transporters, the sites on brain cell surfaces that mop up serotonin from the space between cells after it has finished acting on other cells. If the chemical is not mopped up, further brain signals are prevented from getting through. MDMA gets into the brain cell through the serotonin transporter. A missing transporter means a dead cell, said the study's leader, Dr. Liesbeth Reneman, professor of radiology at the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam. The decline in serotonin transporters was not seen in the men's brain scans, she said. Kathryn Cunningham, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said it makes sense that men and women would respond differently to MDMA. One reason is that amphetamines are cleared from the body more quickly in the presence of testosterone, she said. Another fact that supports the findings is that the female hormone estrogen regulates the serotonin transporter, said Cunningham, who was not involved in the study. ``Estrogen-dependent changes in the serotonin transporter might regulate the brain response, and thus toxicity, to MDMA. And it's conceivable that women may be more vulnerable to brain damage at certain times of the month,'' she said. MDMA was discovered in Germany in 1913 and patented by a pharmaceutical company in 1914. It was intended as an appetite suppressant, but was never marketed because of its side-effects. The chemical structure and effects of Ecstasy are similar to methamphetamine and mescaline - other synthetic drugs known to cause brain damage. Ecstasy gained popularity in the 1990s at all-night dance parties known as raves. Recent reports have shown that Ecstasy use is dramatically increasing in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romy20 Posted December 2 Report Share Posted December 2 Fifty tablets is considered the threshold for increased risk of developing psychiatric problems????Ummmm, ok so who's coming with me to sign myself into a psychiatric hospital??Wow:eek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassa Posted December 2 Report Share Posted December 2 Reading this makes me feel better about deciding to quit doing E. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowgrlnyc Posted December 2 Report Share Posted December 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecstatichigh35 Posted December 2 Report Share Posted December 2 yay i'm a guy, i could roll all i want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msoprano Posted December 2 Report Share Posted December 2 Originally posted by ecstatichigh35 yay i'm a guy, i could roll all i want thats the way i interupt the story as well....not one negative about being a male in that study that they did.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecstatichigh35 Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 we don't have to get pregnent either, i love being a guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echostar Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 Originally posted by ecstatichigh35 we don't have to get pregnent either, i love being a guy yeah we get to pee standing up too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msoprano Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 Originally posted by trancend yeah we get to pee standing up too GUYS RULE....no cramps either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcoleo Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 Yeah, like MSoprano13, I suppose we are indeed made men. We can drop as much as we want and still pee standing up, without the hassles of pregnancy and yucky girlie crap! WOOHOO! PARTY ON! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msoprano Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 i think its time for an official males rule thread....and we got a little off topic on this thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teklord310 Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 ...and if we bleed a band-aid makes it all better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanna11 Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 i don't trust journalists' translations of scientific research, particularly if those journalists are from republican (i.e. white, patriarchal, conservative) journals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elpapi Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 I'm so sorry for the ladies.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nyis4meatheads Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 Originally posted by deanna11 i don't trust journalists' translations of scientific research, particularly if those journalists are from republican (i.e. white, patriarchal, conservative) journals I agree 100%. The story also said that "It's not yet determined how long the brain damage lasts". It's commonly known that brain damage in all forms is PERMANANT, how could a reputable medical journalist make this mistake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milamber3 Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 Originally posted by nyis4meatheads I agree 100%. The story also said that "It's not yet determined how long the brain damage lasts". It's commonly known that brain damage in all forms is PERMANANT, how could a reputable medical journalist make this mistake? I disagree, not all forms of brain damage are permanant and the commonly held belief that they are is false along with the commonly held belief that brain cells dont grow after the brain has reached a certain size. If you don't believe me ask a biologist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 Originally posted by asianvixen New report about ecstasy use and women:In the latest study, Dutch scientists compared the brain scans of 69 people, who were divided into four groups. ahhahaha... i find it funny that they used 69 ppl for an ecstacy experiment... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asianvixen Posted December 3 Author Report Share Posted December 3 Originally posted by deanna11 i don't trust journalists' translations of scientific research, particularly if those journalists are from republican (i.e. white, patriarchal, conservative) journals "republican journal?" Are you referring to the Lancet Medical Journal? It's one of the most reputable journals in the medical profession. Ask any credentialed doctor. It's to the U.K. medical profession what the New England Journal of Medicine is to the American medical profession. Moreover, the author of this article works for the Associated Press, not some republican journal, and hardly considered a fountain of conservatism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest00901 Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 I know that ive done waaaaaay to much E in my day, and I quit 5 months ago but before that I was doing it for like almost 3 years straight....uh oh time to check into the mental ward Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest00901 Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 Bump:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wannabeclubchk Posted December 3 Report Share Posted December 3 dancesafe.org has a great slide show on how e works and what the problems with it are (and yes, each source of info is going to be biased in how they present things, white patriarchal conservative medical journals or dancesafe or any other source). Long and short of it, the serotonin cells are damaged when e confuses the serotonin reuptake "ports" and they start to take in dopamine, which is converted by the monoamine oxidase in those cells into a substance which is toxic to the serotonin cell. They have found in rats that a dose of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor like paxil will dramatically decrease thesenegative effects even when given up to 6 hours after the e is taken. They didn't mention anything about a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, but that prevents the digestion of the serotonin, therefore the dopamine. Now, if I remember correctly, GHB causes a dopamine dump, so concurrent use of the two are probably not a great idea, without an SSRI or MAOI.So everyone, run right out and claim social anxiety disorder or PMDD and get your supply of Paxil!momma always said, do your research before you do your drugs! Please correct any misinfo I may have spouted off here, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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