Disregard Everything I Say

I recently added a comprehensive health effects, potential addiction, and tolerance as well as a legal issues section to everyone of my specific substance guides. I wanted to add this article to specifically include with the MDMA health section; since there was so much information and preventative tips, it was necessary to make it an article on its own. This was so all the information was in one simple place, so people no longer have to trawl through random forum posts. Once again, this article is not written by me, but the same friend of mine who wrote the previous article on “An Explanation of the Effect of Hallucinogens upon the Nervous System".

Negative Effects on Health
Serotonin syndrome occurs when there is an excess of serotonergic activity in the central nervous system (CNS). Serotonin syndrome can often be overcome by resting in a cooler environment. However, occasionally it will turn into a medical emergency, which can be fatal. If dangerously excessive amounts of MDMA are taken, serotonin syndrome may occur.

• Autonomic

Excessive sweating, high body temperature, high blood pressure, increased heart beat, pupillary dilatation, nausea, diarrhoea, shivering.

• Neuromotor

Twitching, restlessness, tremor, in-coordination  rigidity, teeth chattering, reduced opening of jaw, seizures.

• Cognitive-behavioural

Confusion, agitation, anxiety, persistent elevated/irritable mood, insomnia, hallucinations, headache.

Dehydration can occur when taking MDMA; this happens when not enough fluid is consumed to replenish that already lost. MDMA can cause excessive sweating, diarrhoea and hyperthermia on its own, which can exacerbate the dehydration. To prevent dehydration occurring, fluids should be drunk before thirst is felt. Thirst is the preliminary indicator of dehydration. As many ions/electrolytes (essential for many bodily functions) in the body are lost while on MDMA, the best fluids to drink are sports/energy drinks, or water with a tablespoon per litre of table salt added but normal water will always suffice regardless. This restores the electrolytes lost via sweating or diarrhoea.

It is also important to regulate the amount of fluid consumed. If too much is drunk, hyponatremia (water intoxication) can occur. This interferes with the sodium levels, making them lower than normal levels. Symptoms include include nausea and vomiting, headache, confusion, lethargy, fatigue, appetite loss, restlessness and irritability, muscle weakness, spasms, or cramps, seizures, and decreased consciousness or coma. To prevent this occurring, fluid must be drunk at the correct rate, ensuring you sip the water at a slow rate: 
During active e.g. dancing: between 250ml and 500ml every hour.
When inactive: around 250ml every hour.

MDMA interferes with the body’s ability to regulate temperature. This is because it causes vasoconstriction, where the blood vessels closest to the skin constrict, preventing the body from ridding itself of excess heat. Hyperthermia can occur, which is where the body overheats. This can be controlled by staying hydrated and taking breaks from physical activity. If hyperthermia occurs, cease physical activity immediately, and apply cool (but not freezing cold) flannels to the forehead, chest and groin. 

Improving the MDMA Experience
Taking supplements before/after taking MDMA is known as pre/post-loading. There are a number of supplements that can improve the MDMA experience and help with some of the negative effects and neurotoxicity.All these, apart from the SSRIs (prescription only) are cheap and freely available through Google, Amazon, and local health food stores.
5-HTP: This is the precursor to serotonin, and taking it after taking MDMA helps restore levels of serotonin in the body. Due to the depletion of serotonin after taking MDMA, a comedown is often felt the next day or upon ‘coming-down’. Symptoms are very similar to depression, and can include impaired attention, focus, and concentration, as well as drive and motivation, aches and pains, exhaustion, and feelings of sadness. Taking 5-HTP can help relieve these effects, by replenishing serotonin.
SSRIs: If you have access to SSRIs (specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors), these can be taken after a buzz to help restore serotonin levels also. However, taking them before an MDMA buzz appears to dull the buzz.
Magnesium: There is a nerve in the jaw called the trigeminal nerve, which is responsible for innervating the jaw. This nerve is especially sensitive to changing levels of (among other things) serotonin. This causes the jaw to clench and the teeth to grind, known as bruxism or “gurning". Magnesium can be taken before MDMA, and acts as a muscle relaxant.
Vitamin C: Vitamin C has been proven to be effective when combating neurotoxicity of MDMA.

Pre/Post-Loading Recipe
One Hour Before
100mg of Magnesium
1000-2000mg of Vitamin C
After
200mg of 5-HTP

Another effect caused by MDMA is the release of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). ADH is responsible for regulating urination. If more ADH is released, urination will become difficult. This, coupled with the vasoconstriction, makes urination almost impossible. If heat is applied to the genitals, especially when male, this helps reduce the vasoconstriction, and make urination easier.

MDMA can be taken safely without using any of these supplements, and most dangers generally come from overuse, over a long period of time, or unnecessary excessive doses. The information above can be used to seriously diminish the negative health effects and sometimes notoriously unavoidable comedown that is experienced for some in the days after taking MDMA.

Onset : 30 - 120 minutes
Duration : 4 - 8 hours

Dosage,
Low : 250mg / 250mg
Medium : 300mg / 300mg
Strong : 350mg / 350mg
Heavy : 400mg / 400mg 

This article is going to serve as a complete breakdown and categorization for the consistent subjective effects that are induced across all people who undergo the DXM and DPH combination experience. This is something that I am writing because, although there are an infinite amount of possible drug combinations, almost all of them simply induce the effects of the two separate drugs on top of each other in a very predictable manner. However, these two substances do just the opposite of that, producing a very unique synergy when taken together, potentiating the positive aspects of the other substance whilst simultaneously suppressing its negative side effects; all with distinct visual and hallucinatory effects that are found on neither of these substances when taken on their own. 
If you are not familiar with the effects or chemistry of either of these substances, you can learn in detail about DXM by clicking here, along with a similar analysis and breakdown of the DPH trip right here.

Physical effects:
The body high of this combination is that of a mild glow that encompasses the body, with a tingling sensation at the ends of the fingers and toes. It is a relaxing and a completely lethargic state felt alongside the sensation that gravity has increased itself in intensity many times over, resulting in an unnaturally heavy body and consistently causing trippers to want to lay down on a comfortable spot and avoid engaging in any physical activities. 
Since this is accompanied by feelings of dehydration and dry mouth, it is important for trippers to try and remember to consistently take small sips of water throughout the duration of the experience.
As a user increases their dosage, physical detachment and dissociation begins to take its toll and the body high is slowly taken over by a decrease in tactile input, along with a feeling of numbness and disconnection, which is eventually capable of becoming completely anaesthetic-like in its effects. This can be described as starting out with sensations of being somehow physically removed from the body, physical autonomy and a proportional lack of motor control. In terms of mobility this combination results in more than a simple lack of motor control and spatial awareness, creating a hilariously strange and robotic style of movement in its users every single time they try to walk or perform basic movements. This is a style of movement known by the dissociative community as the “Robo Walk”.
The greatest thing about the physical effects of taking DXM and DPH in a combination is the way in which they both lessen the negative side effects of the other substance. For example, thanks to DPH’s nausea suppressing abilities, this combination is significantly less likely to make you feel like you desperately need to vomit than simply taking DXM by itself. In return, DXM’s dissociating and anesthetic like qualities have an extremely positive effect on the unbearably strong physical dysphoria which DPH is infamous for. This completely eliminates the muscle cramps, nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, restless leg syndrome, extreme dehydration and occasionally irregular heart beat experienced when DPH is tried simply by itself. This allows the unique delirium, hallucinations and visual effects of the DPH experience to become much more accessible to your average person.

Cognitive effects:
The thought patterns of a typical DPH + DXM trip are characterized by that of a general sense of detachment and dissociation, accompanied by delirium and a partial to complete loss of ability to reason or think rationally.
As a user increases their dosage, mental detachment begins to take its toll and any thoughts present within the brain are slowly taken over by bizarre mental states of dissociation. These can be described at lower levels as feelings of detachment from the external environment, making the world seem as if it were being watched through a TV, a dream or just intrinsically unreal in some way. This creates feelings of being mentally withdrawn from the environment, allowing people to look at their lives from an almost third person perspective.
Alongside this, an inability to process basic information becomes present, with trippers finding themselves in states of confusion, disorientation and mild paranoia. They are often unable to process basic things such as language or events that are happening around them, resulting in the unique effect of trippers speaking in nonsensical and meaningless statements with unusually sinister undertones or complete gibberish with no decipherable words of any sort.
As the detachment increases proportional to the dosage consumed, the mind becomes sedated and the ego becomes severely suppressed and inhibited, eventually resulting in ego death. This impairs cognitive functioning and suppresses the short term memory until it begins to struggle or become completely incapable of holding onto a normal thought for any length of time. This is an effect that is worsened by this combination. Large amounts of amnesia and memory loss are experienced, with trips often becoming forgotten completely or only remembered in short snippets, even immediately after they’re over. This happens in much the same way that our dreams are almost always forgotten and rarely remembered in their entirety.
In terms of the mentally dysphoric effects that are usually experienced when DPH is taken by itself, the universal experience of extreme paranoia, panic, depression, agitation, nervousness and feelings of impending doom seem to be completely suppressed when combined with DXM. This results in a trip that is almost completely devoid of overwhelmingly bad vibes whilst still maintaining a somehow sinister or other worldly and nightmarish theme to it.

Visual effects:
The visuals and distortions experienced during a DPH and DXM combination trip are surprisingly psychedelic in places, despite the fact that this trip is technically classed as a dissociating and delirious state, not a psychedelic one.
In terms of the specific style of visuals, they can be described as indescribably complex and intricate webs of ever shifting geometric forms which are very slow in their movements when compared to visuals experienced with traditional psychedelics such as LSD or Mushrooms. It has a colour scheme which is dark in its palette and somehow ominous or sinister in its appearance and style. They manifest themselves in a traditional psychedelic manner when the eyes are closed but appear as static, unmoving shapes and geometry which the external environment morphs into when the eyes are open and looking at any single point, always resetting once the person double takes. This is an unusual visual effect because both dissociative and psychedelic visuals do not do this, instead preferring to manifest themselves as a fast moving and flat translucent veil across the visual field which cannot be interacted with.
The distortions and alterations of open eye perception experienced on this combination are once again, surprisingly psychedelic in comparison to either of these substances when taken by themselves. The external environment begins to generally morph, melt, bend, flow and shift in an extremely fluid fashion. This has a distinctive indescribable style to it, with a large amount of blurriness, as well as significantly less detail and clarity when compared to the distortions found within LSD and Mushrooms. 
Another distinct visual effect which I have not found on any substance besides this very specific combination is a distortion which exclusively effects textures. This causes textures to become 3-Dimensional, rising up out of the surface which they reside upon in a strangely intricate and static fashion that looks similar in appearance to condensed, mostly opaque and coloured smoke.
None of the above effects however, although many in number and intense experience wise are the focus of this trip when this combination is taken at anything above low doses. At moderate to high doses the trip becomes completely dominated by extremely detailed and vivid delirious hallucinatory states. These are unique in that they offer solid hallucinations which display themselves seamlessly into waking consciousness and the external environment like fully formed dreams or delusions. In contrast, classical psychedelics and dissociatives have progressive levels of multiple all-encompassing sensory effects, before reaching the level of concrete hallucination. It’s only with delirium that you can experience solid hallucinations of people, objects, forms, creatures, etc within and interacting with your external environment. As these increase in vividness and detail in a way that is proportional to dosage, they start with extremely detailed transformations of existing objects but eventually become all encompassing alternate realities and imagined landscapes of infinite possibility.
When experienced, these hallucinations are always believed to be real in much the same way that we happily accept the logic defying and nonsensical plots to our dreams. This is an unavoidable factor of delirium that can for obvious reason, go wrong if somebody perceives a negative or scary hallucination, which causes them to injure themselves or the people around them. This means that serious precautions have to be taken before anybody even considers undergoing a trip such as this.

Conclusion:
Although this is not an experience that I wish to repeat on any sort of regular basis, the DXM and DPH combination is an extremely fascinating one, making delirium accessible to me in a way that DPH on its own never could. This is something that is owed purely to its horribly dysphoric physical and mental effects. This combination should never be taken by beginners and is not for the faint hearted, due to its very sinister undertones in its hallucinations and general vibe of the trip. If you want to try this drug however, both substances are freely available and unscheduled throughout every country in the world and easily accessible through the power of google search. Keep in mind however that neither of these drugs are 100% physically safe, especially when taken repeatedly on a regular basis. You’ll need to do some independent research on both of these substances before you even consider trying an experience such as this.

Induced happiness and genuine happiness are two altered states of consciousness that can be bought about in an individual by various different drugs. However genuine happiness does not depend on being brought about by a drug in the same way that induced happiness does and can be indirectly reached through perfectly sober means.
Many drugs such as opiates, stimulants and certain anti depressants all chemically alter the brain in such a way that forces happiness on its user regardless of their circumstances in life and emotional instabilities; it’s these sorts of drugs that deal with the symptoms rather than the causes of depression and should therefore be avoided as a means of coping.
Drugs such as psychedelics however do not force a meaningless state of euphoria on its users and instead act as mood enhancer that forces them to look at and deal with their personal problems. It’s this sort of thinking that can lead to intense states of genuine happiness into its user that can be experienced throughout sober life by means of a radical switch in perception and should therefore be used as a means of introspection throughout society.