Many users report feeling extremely drained the day after MDMA use. This 'day after' effect means for many MDMA users that they need to plan 2 days for the experience: one for the peak experience and one day to recover with very little to do.

Many users also experience post-MDMA depression starting often on the second day after the experience and lasting for one to 5 days, although a small percentage of users report depressive symptoms for weeks afterwards. For some, the week-after depression starts immediately upon coming down. These depressive symptoms include irritability, lack of motivation, extreme moodiness, unexplained crying, inability to focus on complex tasks, memory disruption, and sometimes lingering visual distortions. Some users actually report feeling better than normal for a week or so after taking MDMA. The negative aftereffects of taking MDMA appear to be worse with higher frequencies of use, higher dosages, and perhaps total lifetime usage.


Summary of User Comments on MDMA Hangovers, After Effects, Depression, and "Loss of Magic"
by Erowid, March 1997

The following is a summary of the comments we collected in interviews in person and by email trying to address the question of MDMA After-Effects, Hangovers, Depressions, and "Loss of Magic". A collection of some of the comments we received can be found on the User Comments page. Some of these comments were in response to our Long Term MDMA Use Questionaire.

After MDMA use:

1) Some people feel in better spirits and more focused after an MDMA experience, usually for 1-5 days. Most people, for their first number of uses of MDMA (1-25) experience very little negative side effects aside in the days after use and some find they enjoy these days.

2) Some people feel less able to focus mentally on tasks for 1-7 days.

3) Some people find their vision is fuzzier for 1-7 days.

4) Some people experience a fuzziness of memory or lack of ability to focus on 'trivial tasks' such as remembering phone numbers for up to 6 weeks after ingestion.

5) Some people experience balance problems or dizziness for up to 4 weeks after use. This is normally associated with dangerously high doses or overly frequent use (multiple days per week).

6) Some people experience mild to strong depression for 1-14 days after use.

7) Some people's experience of the after effects changes with increased use, going from feeling good after MDMA use to feeling quite bad.

8) Some people find that after a certain number of uses of MDMA (from as low as 10 sessions, average of samples somewhere between 15-25, no good data here), MDMA no longer feels as 'good', the good feelings dont last as long, the body load during the experience is greater, the near term (1-2 days) aftereffects are significantly worse, and the longer term (1-4 weeks) after effects become noticeably unpleasant.

9) Some people never experience any 'loss of magic' from MDMA.

10) For some people, no length of hiatus returns MDMA to its original effects. The 'loss of magic' appears to be a lifetime cumulative effect.

12) Taking MDMA doses on successive days seems to enhance the negative effects and decrease the positive effects of MDMA.

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Questions Resulting from this Summary

From all this, we have a couple of wonderments that we would love to see clinical data for..

We wonder if the rate at which one 'loses the magic' from MDMA can be in any way correlated with frequency/dose levels.. The lab data on rats suggests that large doses of MDMA or more frequent doses of MDMA cause certain types of neurological changes more than small and less frequent doses do.

Can one's lifetime cumulative use ability be extended by keeping doses low and infrequent ?

Can the lifetime scorecard be extended by using vitamins, or prozac, or other admixtures to buffer whatever changes are taking place?

Can the lifetime cumulative 'magic' be correlated in any way to neurological changes (Ricaurte et al) ?

If you'd like to share your experience of after-effects (or lack thereof) from MDMA (Ecstasy) use, submit this form.