Unbelievable Case of Ecstasy Damage

I've just been reading a report on a case study involving MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or Ecstasy) use in a man only known as "Mr. A" from the U.K.

Now, the report isn't that new - it's from 2006 - but it still contains some extremely frightening information on the drug, Ecstasy, and its possible long-term effects.

The case study involves a man in England who quit using the drug after several years of steady use. He went to professionals at St. George's Medical School in Tooting, London England UK for help. He had quit using the drug several months earlier but still felt like he was under the influence of the drug when he was desperate to get help for his problem.

At the time of publication of this report, Mr. A. had not taken MDMA/Ecstasy for 7 years but was still suffering with severe mental health and physical health side-effects of the drug. Some of the side-effects listed were: paranoia, depression, hallucinations and memory problems. As far as physical effects, Mr. A. still suffered with severe and painful muscle rigidity at his neck and jaw - sometimes so pronounced that opening his mouth was impossible.

What is worse is that medical professionals (in 2006, anyway) believed there was a high possibility that these effects would be permanent.

Mr. A's MDMA drug use:

Started around age 21, whereby he would take approximately 5 doses per weekend, on average. He continued this way for about 2 years then started to increase the amount and frequency of drug use until he was ingesting approximately 3 and a half pills per day for a while. He increased this dosage further until he was, at a peak time of addiction, taking a whopping 25 pills per day! He took this dosage, daily, for about FOUR YEARS!

Professionals have calculated the number of pills Mr. A. probably took overall and come up with an astounding sum of 40,000 pills!

You can read the rest of the article yourself from the link below:

The strange case of the man who took 40,000 ecstasy pills in nine years This article is from guardian . co . uk website.

Mr. A. was also a heavy cannabis user. A few of his symptoms became a little less serious when he acted upon doctors' suggestions to stop using cannabis - but overall, his memory and concentration difficulties persisted. Some of the hallucinations and paranoia were stopped or lessened by his avoidance of cannabis.

He started treatment with specialists in brain injuries and, for a while, went on anti-psychotic medication but unfortunately, Mr. A. discharged himself prematurely from treatment (according to a Dr Kouimtsidis). Mr. A. went back to cannabis use and the doctors and specialists 'lost him.'

Here's a statement (remember, this was published in 2006):

"Unfortunately, he discharged himself before we were able to complete the assessment," says Dr Kouimtsidis. "We continued to support him. But he started to use cannabis again and he dropped out. We tried to re-engage him but we lost him about a year ago."

The Guardian site where this article is published attempted to find Mr. A., as well, in order to re-connect him with treatment, but The Guardian couldn't find the man.

This article shocked me in its entirety because I've known people to have overdosed and ended up in the hospital for taking just less than 25 tablets of ecstacy! This article tells of a man who, quite regularly, dosed himself up on 25 pills on a daily basis.

Obviously, not without extremely harmful - probably life-long - damage...

1950's Anti-Drug Video (The Terrible Truth)

Here's an interesting Anti-Drug Video from the 1950's

It's a little CHEESY but was probably a pretty shocking view in its time!

It's about 10 minutes long...



Allow the video to load fully so it runs smoothly

It's mainly about Heroin addiction

The Twelve Steps In My Own Words.

In order to understand ANYTHING, I usually have to define what the Twelve Steps mean to me and use my own words and phrasing to make my head believe that these Twelve Steps are going to work for me.

My words will be in bold.

The Twelve Steps:


1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
[I admit to having no control over alcohol - that alcohol controls me. I admit that my life has become CHAOS and that I can no longer live with alcohol present in my life.]
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
[If I trust in the Creator that I believe in, my life can be recovered and the insanity of active-addiction can stop.]
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
[I am not supposed to be in control of everything in the world, much less EVERY single facet of my life. I can stop being a control freak, let the Creator take care of things beyond my control, and show me how to live.]
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
[Search internally for my flaws, my past bad actions, my present flaws, mistakes, and know my true perceptions of the world right up to today.]
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
[Admit my past mistakes, decisions and actions, my past perceptions, understand how I created my own problems or if I did not create some of them - and share this information with someone in order to stay away from 'keeping secrets' and harbouring bad thoughts.]
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
[Be ready for change, make the decisions to MAKE THE CHANGES necessary to become a better person - and - prepare for THE LOSS of things I grew comfortable with even though they were bad for me.]
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
[Know that I can't do all the removal myself where my faults are concerned - ask for help and more importantly, ACCEPT help when it arrives - even if this is uncomfortable at first and comes from unexpected sources.]
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
[Make the list, be honest about who I hurt, and gather the strength to make amends.]
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
[Correct mistakes where possible, and if this is not accepted by some people, make the effort, anyway, to the best of my ability.]
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
[Evaluate self for strengths as well as returning old bad habits and where old habits or new mistakes occur, 'Say Sorry' and mean it - and also resolve to correct.]
11. Sought though prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
[Allow the Creator and those with more knowledge in spiritual matters to help me grow spiritually. This means dedicating time specifically to spiritual matters - and also - responding to new and different spiritual instruction.]
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
[Be visible in matters regarding my recovery - and be helpful wherever 12 Step programs are present in my life - whether it's meetings, talking to other recovering addicts or merely taking care of myself properly so that I can be a good example.]