Ecstacy and Serotonin

Ecstacy is a mood altering drug producing number of psychological effects like good feeling about oneself, euphoric feeling and kills fear and overcomes trauma within us, and leads to expressive emotional feeling. Ecstacy effects are observed for about 4-6 hours after taking one tablet. There is lot of ecstacy information supporting MDMA for its positive psychological effects and treating depression. There are various mechanisms suggested that are cause of these ecstacy effects.

Serotonin

Serotonin is a natural antidepressant present in our body. It is a neurotransmitter that regulates many vital and basic functions in the body. It is naturally produced in the body when required and broken down. It acts by creating a synapse which allows signal transfer from one brain cell to the other. All psychological ecstacy effects are actually those that are produced by serotonin. There are serotonin receptors present in our body to which this natural antidepressant binds and produces its effects. Ecstacy use in long term leads to the damage of serotonin system of brain.

Ecstacy Effects

Ecstascy causes the release of enormous amounts of serotonin into the synapse. It increases serotonin receptor binding significantly. The excess serotonin in the synapse is removed by reuptake transporters. Ecstacy increases these reuptake transporters and reverses their roles. The serotonin remains bound to the receptors and might lead to their damage. The damaged serotonin receptors may not be able to conduct correct synapse and lead to more depressed feeling, due to lower levels of serotonin. There is lot of ecstacy information available that suggests the damaging adverse effects on sensory nerve fibers.

There is a natural way that the body follows to manage the levels of natural antidepressant in the brain. MDMA is an external drug that we give to the body which might lead to forced effects of natural antidepressant which alters these natural ways of body leading to dangerous effects. Following are some long term effects that MDMA may lead by disruption of serotonin receptors:

• It may cause loss of sleep that is termed as insomnia which is controlled by the serotonin system in the normal state of mind.
• It may cause loss of appetite and lead to improper eating habits as hunger is also controlled by serotonin. The impairment of these receptor cause disruption of such normal functions of body.
• It leads to hypothermia which in severe cases may cause fatal organ function.
• It causes increase in the heart rate.
• It leads to depression, anxiety and emotionally low feeling.

All the hazards are due to serotonin dysfunctions. Many ecstacy information studies by various researchers show that it has many other adverse effects on the normal functioning which cannot be then treated. Doctors might find it difficult to control these adverse effects. They might cause permanent health disorders. In fact it also increases the drug tolerance which might prove much more harmful as more amount of drug would then be consumed to produce desired effects.  It is a complex mechanism that is controlled by our brain and such external mood altering drugs may impair it adversely.